GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Aaron Rai took advantage of Max Greyserman’s late meltdown to win the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first PGA Tour title.
Rai closed with a 6-under 64, with the 29-year-old Englishman making a 6 1/2-foot birdie putt on the par-4 18th to post at 18-under 262 in the regular-season finale at Sedgefield Country Club.
Greyserman, the 29-year-old former Duke player, shot 69 to finish two strokes back on a day when everyone played 36 holes and some a few more in the event washed out by rain Thursday and delayed Friday and Saturday.
Rai was four strokes back after Greyserman holed out from 91 yards for eagle on the par-4 13th, then had an unexpected share of the lead a hole later when Greyserman drove out-of-bounds and made a quadruple-bogey 8 on 14.
Greyserman — who shot 60 in the second round — birdied the par-5 15th to pull a shot ahead, then four-putted the par-3 16th for a double bogey and parred the last two holes.
J.J. Spaun (64) and Ryo Hisatsune (67) tied for third at 15 under.
The top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings qualified for the playoff opener next week in Tennessee.
SNOQUALMIE, Wash. (AP) — Stephen Ames successfully defended his Boeing Classic title, birdieing the par-5 18th for a 5-under 67 and one-stroke victory over Ernie Els, Steven Alker and Robert Karlsson
The 60-year-old Ames, a naturalized Canadian from Trinidad and Tobago, won has third PGA Tour Champions title of the season and ninth overall. He won four times on the PGA Tour.
Ames finished at 11-under 205 at The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge.
Els and Alker played alongside Ames, each shooting 68. Els also has three victories this season. Second-round leader Karlsson shot 75 in the final group.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Matt McCarty won the Pinnicale Bank Champions for his second victory in his last four stars to take the Korn Ferry Tour season points lead, closing with a 4-under 67 to beat Danny Walker by a stoke.
McCarty finished at 14-uder 270 at The Club at Indian Creek. Already assured a PGA Tour card next season, he jumped from second to first in the standings with two events left in the regular season.
The 26-year-old McCarty won the Price Cutter Charity Championship four weeks ago for his first career victory and tied for second last week in the Utah Championship.
Danny Walker shot 72. T.J. Vogel (70) and Brandon Crick (70) were 12 under.
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Rianne Malixi beat Asterisk Talley 3 and 2 to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills, three weeks after routing Talley in the U.S. Girls’ Junior final.
Last month in the U.S. Girls’ Junior, the 17-year-old Malixi — from the Philippines — beat Talley 8 and 7 at El Caballero in Tarzana, California, the largest championship-match blowout in tournament history.
Malixi is the second player to win both events in the same year, joining Eun Jeong Seong in 2016. She has verbally committed to play at Duke, with plans to begin play in 2025.
The 15-year-old Talley, from Chowchilla, California, led 1 up Saturday after the first 18 holes of the 36-hole championship match were moved up a day because of expected rain Sunday.
Malixi was 3 up after 26, and Talley took the next three holes to it. They halved the 30th, Malixi won the next three with birdies and closed it out with par halve on the par-5 34th.
Peter Uihlein won the International Series England for his first Asian Tour victory. The American closed with an 8-under 63 for a seven-stroke victory at Foxhills in Surrey, England. He finished at 20 under, shooting a course-record 61 in the second round. .. Ren Yonezawa closed with a 7-under 64 for a three-stroke victory in the Japan Golf Tour's Yokohama Minato Championship. He finished at 2-under 262. ... Brandon Robinson-Thompson of England ran away with the Farmfoods Scottish Challenge for his second Challenge Tour title. He won by eight strokes, shooting a 5-under 66 to reach 22 under. ... Yui Kawamoto closed with a 1-over 73 for a one-stroke victory in the Japan LPGA’s NEC Karuizawa 72. She finished at 11 under.
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Aaron Rai, of England, reacts to his putt on the ninth hole during the final round of the Wyndham Championship golf tournament in Greensboro, N.C., Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
Aaron Rai, of England, poses with the trophy after winning the Wyndham Championship golf tournament in Greensboro, N.C., Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
A key employee who labeled an experimental submersible unsafe prior to its last, fatal voyage began his testimony Tuesday before U.S. Coast Guard investigators.
David Lochridge is one of the most anticipated witnesses to appear before a commission trying to determine what caused the Titan to implode en route to the wreckage of the Titanic last year, killing all five on board.
Lochridge is former operations director for OceanGate, the company that owned the Titan and brought it on several dives to the Titanic going back to 2021. He claimed several years ago that he was fired for raising safety concerns.
His testimony began a day after other witnesses painted a picture of a troubled company that was impatient to get its unconventionally designed craft into the water. The accident set off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration.
Among those killed was Stockton Rush, co-founder of OceanGate. The company, based in Washington state, suspended its operations after the implosion.
OceanGate's former engineering director, Tony Nissen, kicked off Monday's testimony, telling investigators that he felt pressured to get the vessel ready to dive and refused to pilot it for a journey several years before Titan's last trip.
“‘I’m not getting in it,’” Nissen said he told Rush.
When asked if there was pressure to get Titan into the water, Nissen responded, “100%.”
But asked if he felt that the pressure compromised safety decisions and testing, Nissen paused, then replied, “No. And that’s a difficult question to answer, because given infinite time and infinite budget, you could do infinite testing.”
OceanGate's former finance and human resources director, Bonnie Carl, testified Monday that Lochridge had characterized the Titan as “unsafe.” Lochridge is expected to provide more perspective on what caused the implosion.
Coast Guard officials noted at the start of the hearing that the submersible had not been independently reviewed, as is standard practice. That and Titan's unusual design subjected it to scrutiny in the undersea exploration community.
During the submersible's final dive on June 18, 2023, the crew lost contact after an exchange of texts about the Titan's depth and weight as it descended. The support ship Polar Prince then sent repeated messages asking if the Titan could still see the ship on its onboard display.
One of the last messages from Titan’s crew to Polar Prince before the submersible imploded stated, “all good here,” according to a visual re-creation presented earlier in the hearing.
When the submersible was reported overdue, rescuers rushed ships, planes and other equipment to an area about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Wreckage of the Titan was subsequently found on the ocean floor about 330 yards (300 meters) off the bow of the Titanic, Coast Guard officials said.
Scheduled to appear later in the hearing are OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein and former scientific director, Steven Ross, according to a list compiled by the Coast Guard. Numerous guard officials, scientists, and government and industry officials are also expected to testify. The U.S. Coast Guard subpoenaed witnesses who were not government employees, said Coast Guard spokesperson Melissa Leake.
Among those not on the hearing witness list is Rush’s widow, Wendy Rush, the company’s communications director. Asked about her absence, Leake said the Coast Guard does not comment on the reasons for not calling specific individuals to a particular hearing during ongoing investigations. She said it’s common for a Marine Board of Investigation to “hold multiple hearing sessions or conduct additional witness depositions for complex cases.”
OceanGate has no full-time employees at this time but will be represented by an attorney during the hearing, the company said in a statement. The company said it has been fully cooperating with the Coast Guard and NTSB investigations since they began.
The time frame for the investigation was initially a year, but the inquiry has taken longer. The ongoing Marine Board of Investigation is the highest level of marine casualty investigation conducted by the Coast Guard. When the hearing concludes, recommendations will be submitted to the Coast Guard’s commandant. The National Transportation Safety Board is also conducting an investigation.
Coast Guard's Thomas Whalen, left, speaks with Nicole Emmons, right, during a break for the Titan marine board formal hearing inside the Charleston County Council Chambers, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)
Coast Guard's Thomas Whalen speaks with another Coast Guard member during a break for the Titan marine board formal hearing inside the Charleston County Council Chambers, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)
Jason Neubauer, board chairman, of the investigative board for the Titan marine board formal hearing pauses for a moment of silence inside the Charleston County Council Chambers Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)
Coast Guard members of the investigative board for the Titan marine board formal hearing pause for a moment of silence inside the Charleston County Council Chambers Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)
Coast Guard members of the investigative board for the Titan marine board formal hearing take an oath inside the Charleston County Council Chambers Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)
A key employee who called the Titan unsafe will testify before the Coast Guard
FILE - This undated image provided by OceanGate Expeditions in June 2021 shows the company's Titan submersible. (OceanGate Expeditions via AP, File)
A key employee who called the Titan unsafe will testify before the Coast Guard
