Brooke Henderson kisses with her trophy after winning the Evian Championship on Sunday in Evian, eastern France. Laurent Cipriani/Associated Press
EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — So much had happened in a chaotic final round of the Evian Championship – a spectator unwittingly picking up a stray ball, a pair of four-putts in the final group, a seven-way tie for the lead — that it was hard to know what to expect as Brooke Henderson walked down the fairway on the 72nd hole.
The Canadian was in a share of the lead with LPGA rookie Sophia Schubert and had just had a lucky escape when her wild hook off the tee at the par-5 No. 18 flew into trees and bounced out to relative safety.
Now in the middle of the fairway, could Henderson make birdie to win the second major title of her career, six years after her first at the Women’s PGA Championship in 2016 when she was only 18?
Henderson handled the pressure, hitting her third shot to 8 feet and rolling in the putt for an even-par round of 71. She was soaked in champagne by fellow players after clinching a one-stroke victory that certainly didn’t come easy.
“Definitely not my best today,” Henderson said. “I just tried to stay patient and remind myself that I was still in it.
“I made some clutch putt and shots down the stretch which really helped.”
After all, Henderson went into Sunday with a two-stroke lead and having barely been out of position all week at Evian Resort Golf Club in rounds of 64, 64 and 68.
That was wiped out after the first hole, though, thanks to a birdie from playing partner So Yeon Ryu (73) and a bogey from Henderson.
So began the craziness of the final round of the fourth major of the year, when there were 13 changes to the lead.
At No. 5, Ryu had a double bogey to gift Henderson a three-stroke lead. At the next hole, Henderson also four-putted for a double and saw her lead slip to one.
By that time, Olympic champion Nelly Korda – who started six shots behind Henderson but was soon only three behind – had pushed her approach shot into the rough near a path and seen a spectator wander up to the ball and pick it up.
The ball had to be replaced to a best estimate of where it was picked up, and Korda went on to make a double of her own.
Henderson was knocked out of the lead for the first time – if only briefly – when Schubert made birdie at No. 12 to move onto 15 under, breaking a seven-way tie for first place.
Henderson managed to keep pace with Schubert with birdies at Nos. 14 and 15, and a clutch par putt at No. 16.
The pair were tied for the lead after reaching the 18th, with Schubert playing in the group ahead of Henderson.
Schubert played it better but her birdie putt came to rest barely an inch from the cup — she had to settle for a 68 — just after Henderson had sent away her ugly drive.
Henderson chipped out into the fairway and pulled off her fourth birdie of the day, three of them coming in the final six holes.
She finished on 17-under 267.
PGA TOUR: Tony Finau shot a 4-under 67 to win the 3M Open in Blaine, Minnesota, by three strokes, erasing a five-stroke deficit with 11 holes left as Scott Piercy tumbled out of the lead down the stretch at windy TPC Twin Cities.
Piercy followed his tournament-record 54-hole score with a wince-inducing 76 to tie for fourth, four strokes back.
Finau finished at 17-under 267. Sungjae Im (68) and Emiliano Grillo (71) tied for second place. James Hahn surged up the board with a 65 to match Piercy and Tom Hoge (70) at 13 under.
Piercy bogeyed four of six holes before a triple-bogey implosion on No. 14, allowing Finau – playing in the preceding trio – to take over for good on his way to his third career tour victory.
SENIOR BRITISH OPEN: Darren Clarke birdied the last hole to beat a resurgent Padraig Harrington and win by one shot in Gleneagles, Scotland.
Clarke and Paul Broadhurst were level at 9 under overall after the third round but it was Harrington, a three-time major winner, who soared into contention at Gleneagles with a 3-under 67 to pressure Clarke on the last hole.
The 53-year-old Clarke held firm with a birdie to post a 69 to finish 10-under 270 overall and add a senior major to his Claret Jug at the British Open in 2011.
Play was suspended following heavy rain in the early evening with Clarke and Broadhurst still having five holes left when play resumed at 8 p.m. local time.
Argentine Mauricio Molina and American Doug Barron both posted 65s to end in a six-way tie for third place at 8 under, along with four-time major champion Ernie Els (68), Thongchai Jaidee (68), Steven Alker (70) and Broadhurst.
Broadhurst fell back with a 1-over 71 and finished one shot ahead of Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie after he hit a 69.
EUROPEAN TOUR: Scottish golfer Richie Ramsay claimed his fourth European tour title by winning the Cazoo Classic by one shot in Southport, England.
The No. 329-ranked Ramsay punched the air and roared with delight after holing a par putt from 10 feet at the last hole at Hillside near Liverpool, northwest England.
He shot 3-under 69 and finished on 14-under 274 overall, earning his first title since the Trophee Hassan II in March 2015.
Englishman Paul Waring, who led after the first two rounds, shot 70 and was alone in second place. Five players were tied for third place another shot back: Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult (67) and Robin Petersson (68), Dutch player Daan Huizing (69), Scotland’s Grant Forrest (70) and France’s Julien Guerrier (72).
Guerrier led by one shot heading into the final round as he sought his first professional win.
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