Justin Thomas wins RBC Heritage in playoff to end 3-year drought

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Justin Thomas ended nearly three years without a victory Sunday by making a birdie putt from just outside 20 feet in a playoff at Harbour Town to beat Andrew Novak in the RBC Heritage.

Thomas played bogey-free in dry, fast conditions for a 3-under 68, making a 25-foot birdie putt on the 16th that looked like it might be the winner until Novak, who grew up in South Carolina, matched him with a birdie of his own for a 68.

Novak, who has had three good chances to win in his last 14 tournaments, had an 8-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole in regulation that was left all the way.

In the playoff, Novak missed from just inside 35 feet, setting the stage for Thomas. The putt was so pure that Thomas dropped his putter before the ball dropped, stooping over and clutching both arms to celebrate a 16th PGA Tour win that felt long overdue.

His previous win was the PGA Championship at Southern Hills in May of 2022. His game slipped and he missed the FedEx Cup playoffs for the first time in 2023, and he was left off the Presidents Cup team a year ago.

Thomas and Novak finished at 17-under 267, three shots clear of anyone else.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ingrid Lindblad won the JM Eagle LA Championship in her third start as an LPGA Tour member, avoiding a playoff when fellow rookie Akie Iwai bogeyed the final hole at El Caballero Country Club.

Playing a group ahead of Iwai, Lindblad shot a 4-under 68 to finish at 21-under 277. The 25-year-old former LSU star from Sweden made the last of her six birdies on the par-5 11th and parred the final seven holes.

Iwai followed a third-round 64 with a 69 to fall a stroke short. The 22-year-old Japanese player’s twin sister, Chisato, tied for 11th at 15 under after a 68.

On the par-4 18th, Iwai drove to the right over a bunker into rough, then hit a 9-iron from 150 that bounced near the flag and went off the back edge. From a good lie in choppy rough, she ran the downhill chip past the hole and missed the comebacker.

Lauren Coughlin (70), Esther Henseleit (64), Miyu Yamashita (66) tied for third at 19 under. Nasa Hataoka had a 63 to get to 18 under.

PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic (AP) — Garrick Higgo took advantage of Joel Dahmen’s late meltdown to win the windy Corales Puntacana Championship for his second PGA Tour victory.

Higgo got an unexpected share of the lead when Dahmen missed a 1-foot par putt on the par-3 17th for his second straight bogey, and won when Dahmen couldn’t get an 8-foot par attempt to fall on the par-4 18th.

Playing in the group ahead of Dahmen, Higgo also bogeyed the 17th, then parred the 18th for an even-par 72 and a 14-under 274 total. Dahmen shot 76 after leading after each of the first three rounds in the event he won in 2021 for his lone tour title.

Higgo, a 25-year-old left-hander from South Africa, also won the 2021 Palmetto Championship at Congaree. The former UNLV player earned a two-year exemption with the victory, but doesn’t get a spot in the Masters.

Dahmen tied for second with Alejandro Tosti (68), Keith Mitchell (71), Jeremy Paul (72) and Michael Thorbjornsen (73). Thorbjornsen missed a 4-foot par putt on 18.

SHANGHAI (AP) — Wu Ashun made five birdies on the back nine for a 6-under 65 that enabled him to overcome a four-shot deficit in the final round and win the China Open for the second time.

The victory came 10 years after the 39-year-old Wu first won the China Open. It was his fifth career victory on the European tour.

Li Haotong and Eugenio Chacarra of Spain, who began the final round tied for the lead at Enhance Anting Golf Club, each closed with a 1-over 72.

Wu finished on 14 under to win by one shot over Jordan Smith of England, who birdied his last hole for a 67. Yannik Paul of Germany shot 69 and finished alone in third, while Li and Chacarra shared fourth place with Zecheng Dou (70).

LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. (AP) — Neal Shipley won his first Korn Ferry Tour title when he holed a 25-foot birdie putt on the fifth extra hole to beat Seungtaek Lee in the Lecom Suncoast Classic in a tournament that ended Saturday.

Shipley, the low amateur at the Masters and U.S. Open last year, closed with a 7-under 64 to get into a playoff with Lee, who shot a 66. They finished at 18-under 266, one shot ahead of Korn Ferry points leader Hank Lebioda (65).

Shipley, who started the year with conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour, moved to No. 3 on the points list.

Renato Paratore of Italy won for the second straight week on the Challenge Tour when he closed with a 4-under 66 for a one-shot victory over David Law and Sebastian Garcia in the Abu Dhabi Challenge. ... Shuri Sakuma finished with a 5-under 67 for a two-shot victory in the KKT Cup Vantelin Ladies Open on the Japan LPGA. ... Shinsil Bang closed with a 7-under 65 for a one shot victory over Dasom Ma in the Nexen Saint Nine Masters on the Korea LPGA.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Akie Iwai hits from the seventh tee during the final round of the LPGA's JM Eagle LA Championship golf tournament at El Caballero Country Club Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)

Ingrid Lindblad putts on the sixth green during the final round of the LPGA's JM Eagle LA Championship golf tournament at El Caballero Country Club Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)

Ingrid Lindblad hits from the sixth tee during the final round of the LPGA's JM Eagle LA Championship golf tournament at El Caballero Country Club Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)

Justin Thomas waves to the gallery after making a putt on the 18th hole during the final round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Hilton Head Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Justin Thomas celebrates after winning the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Hilton Head Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Justin Thomas celebrates after winning the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Hilton Head Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Venezuelans on Saturday were scrambling to understand who is in charge of their country after a U.S. military operation that captured President Nicolás Maduro.

President Donald Trump delivered a shocking pick: The United States, perhaps in coordination with one of Maduro's most trusted aides.

Delcy Rodríguez has served as Maduro's vice president since 2018, overseeing much of Venezuela's oil-dependent economy as well as its feared intelligence service. But she is someone the Trump administration apparently is willing to work with, at least for now.

“She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” Trump told reporters of Rodríguez, who faced U.S. sanctions during Trump’s first administration for her role in undermining Venezuelan democracy.

In a major snub, Trump said opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was awarded last year's Nobel Peace Prize, didn't have the support to run the country.

Trump said Rodríguez had a long conversation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in which Trump claimed she said, “‘We’ll do whatever you need.’”

“I think she was quite gracious,” Trump added. “We can’t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind.”

Rodríguez tried to project strength and unity among the ruling party's many factions, downplaying any hint of betrayal. In remarks on state TV, she demanded the immediate release of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and denounced the U.S. operation as a flagrant violation of the United Nations charter.

“There is only one president in this country, and his name is Nicolás Maduro," Rodríguez said, surrounded by top civilian officials and military commanders.

There was no immediate sign that the U.S. was running Venezuela.

“What will happen tomorrow? What will happen in the next hour? Nobody knows,” Caracas resident Juan Pablo Petrone said.

Trump indicated that Rodríguez had been sworn in already as president of Venezuela, per the transfer of power outlined in the constitution. However, state television has not broadcast any swearing-in ceremony.

In her televised address, Rodríguez did not declare herself acting president or mention a political transition. A ticker at the bottom of the screen identified her as the vice president. She gave no sign that she would be cooperating with the U.S.

“What is being done to Venezuela is an atrocity that violates international law,” she said. “History and justice will make the extremists who promoted this armed aggression pay.”

The Venezuelan constitution also says a new election must be called within a month in the event of the president’s absence.

But experts have been debating whether the succession scenario would apply here, given the government’s lack of popular legitimacy and the extraordinary U.S. military intervention.

Venezuelan military officials were quick to project defiance in video messages.

“They have attacked us but will not break us,” said Defense Minister Gen. Vladimir Padrino López, dressed in fatigues.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello appeared on state TV in a helmet and flak jacket, urging Venezuelans to “trust in the political leadership and military” and “get out on the streets” to defend the country’s sovereignty.

“These rats attacked and they will regret what they did,” he said of the U.S.

A lawyer educated in Britain and France, Rodríguez has a long history of representing the revolution started by the late Hugo Chávez on the world stage.

She and her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, head of the Maduro-controlled National Assembly, have strong leftist credentials born from tragedy. Their father was a socialist leader who died in police custody in the 1970s, a crime that shook many activists of the era, including a young Maduro.

Unlike many in Maduro’s inner circle, the Rodríguez siblings have avoided criminal indictment in the U.S. Delcy Rodríguez has developed strong ties with Republicans in the oil industry and on Wall Street who balked at the notion of U.S.-led regime change.

Among her past interlocutors was Blackwater founder Erik Prince and, more recently, Richard Grenell, a Trump special envoy who tried to negotiate a deal with Maduro for greater U.S. influence in Venezuela.

Fluent in English, Rodríguez is sometimes portrayed as a well-educated moderate in contrast to the military hardliners who took up arms with Chávez against Venezuela's democratically elected president in the 1990s.

Many of them, especially Cabello, are wanted in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges and stand accused of serious human rights abuses. But they continue to hold sway over the armed forces, the traditional arbiter of political disputes in Venezuela.

That presents major challenges to Rodríguez asserting authority. But experts say that Venezuela’s power brokers have long had a habit of closing ranks behind their leaders.

“These leaders have all seen the value of staying united. Cabello has always taken a second seat or third seat, knowing that his fate is tied up with Maduro’s, and now he very well might do that again,” said David Smilde, a sociology professor at Tulane University who has conducted research into Venezuela's political dynamics over the past three decades.

“A lot depends on what happened last night, which officials were taken out, what the state of the military looks like now," Smilde said. "If it doesn’t have much firepower anymore, they’re more vulnerable and diminished and it will be easier for her to gain control.”

Shortly before Trump's press conference, Machado, the opposition leader, called on her ally Edmundo González — a retired diplomat widely considered to have won the country’s disputed 2024 presidential election — to “immediately assume his constitutional mandate and be recognized as commander-in-chief."

In an triumphant statement, Machado promised that her movement would “restore order, free political prisoners, build an exceptional country and bring our children back home.”

She added: “Today we are prepared to assert our mandate and take power."

Asked about Machado, Trump was blunt: “I think it would be very tough for (Machado) to be the leader," he said.

“She doesn’t have the support or respect within the country.”

Venezuelans expressed shock, with many speculating on social media that Trump had mixed up the two women's names. Machado has not responded to Trump's remarks.

Goodman reported from Miami.

Venezuelan Vice President and Oil Minister Delcy Rodriguez gives a press conference at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)

A supporter of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro stands on a median strip waving a national flag in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)