Jon Rahm moved into the lead with a birdie at the 14th hole on Sunday and saved pars the rest of the way to hang on and win the Mexico Open in Vallarta, Mexico.
The Spaniard posted a 2-under-par 69 to finish at 17-under 267, one shot better than Brandon Wu, Tony Finau and Kurt Kitayama.
Wu and Finau shot matching rounds of 8-under 63 early in the day at Vidanta Vallarta to shoot up the leaderboard and put pressure on Rahm. The world no. 2 had one bogey and three birdies on the day, the last coming on a left-to-right 11-foot putt at the par-5 14th.
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Rahm held at least a share of the lead after all four rounds. He has now won at least one event in six straight seasons.
Though Rahm entered the week as the heavy favorite, his victory broke a nearly 11-month title drought dating to the U.S. Open last June.
Rahm had a scare at the par-5 18th when his drive missed left and he had to punch out. Faced with 143 yards to the hole on his third shot, he landed it on the fringe and two-putted for par.
Kitayama played with Rahm and posted three birdies on a bogey-free front nine to make a push. But bogeys at Nos. 10 and 14 held him back, and a birdie at the last hole gave him a 3-under 68 to land in the tie for second.
Finau carded a blazing 31 on the back nine with a birdie-eagle-birdie stretch at Nos. 13-15. His second shot at the par-5 14th was just short of the green, but his downhill lag putt hit the back of the cup and dropped.
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Like Finau, Wu avoided bogey on Sunday and carded one eagle with six birdies. His eagle came at the par-3 sixth on a 14-foot putt. It was Wu's career-low round and best finish on the PGA Tour.
It marked the first season that Mexico's national open was a PGA Tour-level event. Abraham Ancer and Alvaro Ortiz posted the best finishes among Mexican players at 6-under 278. Carlos Ortiz signed for a 5-under 279.
Lahiri lifts his game on final day to end T-15
Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri carded a bogey-free 5-under 67 on the final day to finish T-15 at the Mexico Open.
He finished 20 places higher than where he was after three rounds.
With his third Top-15 finish in last four starts, Lahiri has begun to move in the right direction and his game has been showing a good upward trend. Lahiri was second at the Players Championship and T-13 at Texas Open.
Lahiri started with five pars, two of which could have been birdies from 11 and 10 feet. Finally a birdie came his way on the sixth when he almost chipped in for an eagle from 87 feet.
He tapped in for a birdie from four inches. On the very next hole, he again missed a six-footer for birdie and came out with just a par. So, in first seven holes, he had one birdie and two other near-birdies and one near chip-in. He got his second birdie on ninth and turned in 2-under.
On the back nine, he continued to give himself great chances and converted three of them, though it could have been more. He did a big putt from 35 feet for a birdie on Par-4 15th.
Lahiri moves up three places to 55th on the FedExCup standings but stays 85th on the World Rankings.
(With inputs from PTI)
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