HOUSTON (AP) — Gary Woodland won the Houston Open on Sunday, an emotional moment that seemed so improbable 30 months ago when he had brain surgery and even two weeks ago when he opened up about his frightening struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Woodland took a one-shot lead into the final round and stretched it to seven shots until coasting home to a trophy that felt as big as his U.S. Open title at Pebble Beach in 2019.
He closed with a 3-under 67 to win by five shots over Nicolai Hojgaard.
Woodland finished at 21-under 259 for his first victory since the U.S. Open, and the fifth of his career. This one came with a big bonus — it makes him eligible for the Masters in two weeks.
Hojgaard fell back with a double bogey on the par-3 seventh and never caught up. He shot 71 and easily stayed in the top 50 in the world ranking to secure his Masters invitation. Daniel Berger, Jake Knapp and Matt McCarty also were added to the Masters field through the world ranking.
PHOENIX (AP) — Hyo Joo Kim beat Nelly Korda for the second straight week, pulling away around the turn Sunday and closing with a 3-under 69 for a two-shot victory in the Ford Championship.
Kim was poised to break the LPGA Tour’s scoring record for 72 holes until one mistake led to a double bogey on the eighth hole and allowed Korda to pull within one shot. But the American missed a pair of short putts, Kim made an 18-inch birdie and the lead was back to four shots.
Korda never got any closer until the tournament was out of reach, finishing eagle-birdie for a 67.
Kim, who also won the Ford Championship last year, now has back-to-back wins for the first time in her career, both against Korda. Last week in the Founders Cup, the 30-year-old South Korean held off a Sunday charge by Korda.
Kim finished at 28-under 260, three shots short of the LPGA's scoring record.
NEW DELHI (AP) — Alex Fitzpatrick overcame a six-shot deficit with a blazing run of birdies Sunday to overcome Eugenio Chacarra with a 3-under 69 to win the Indian Open, finally joining his older brother as European tour winners.
Matt Fitzpatrick, the 2022 U.S. Open champion and a nine-time European tour winner, won the Valspar Championship last week in Florida. It’s the first time brothers have won in consecutive weeks on the PGA Tour and European tour.
Fitzpatrick had a pair of early bogeys that dropped him six behind Chacarra through five holes of the final round at DLF Golf and Country Club. Ten holes and seven birdies later, Fitzpatrick led by one shot as the Spaniard faded badly on his way to a 75.
Fitzpatrick made double bogey on the 18th hole and still won by two shots at 9-under 275.
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Stewart Cink closed with 6-under 65 for a four-shot victory Sunday in the Hoag Classic, his second title this year on the PGA Tour Champions.
Cink built a two-shot lead after 36 holes when he closed out the second round by holing out from the fairway for an albatross on the par-5 18th.
Freddie Jacobson caught him early with three straight birdies, only to make double bogey on the par-3 eighth hole to fall back. Cink poured it on along the back nine at Newport Beach Country Club with three birdies on his last five holes.
Zach Johnson (65) and Ernie Els (67) tied for second.
SAVANNAH, Georgia (AP) — Davis Lamb won his first Korn Ferry Tour title on Sunday, pulling away from John Pak and 18-year-old Blades Brown with a 4-under 68 for a two-shot victory in the Club Car Championship.
Brown had a chance to become the youngest winner in Korn Ferry Tour history, starting the final round tied with Pak. He was one shot behind Lamb until consecutive three-putt bogeys on the 15th and 16th holes. He closed with a 72 to finish alone in third.
Pak shot 71. He needed birdie on the par-5 18th for any chance and narrowly missed a 12-foot putt. Lamb hit his wedge into 6 feet and made the putt to finish on 19-under 269. Lamb, who played most of his college career at Notre Dame, moved to No. 3 on the Korn Ferry points list.
Cameron John closed with a 4-under 68 and won the season-ending The National Tournament with a 6-foot birdie putt in a playoff against Daniel Gale (64) for his third win this year on the PGA Tour of Australasia. Travis Smyth won the Order of Merit to earn a European tour card for next year. He was followed by John and James Marchesani, who get Challenge Tour cards. ... Martin Vorster closed with a 6-under 66 for a two-shot victory in DNi Tour Championship on the Sunshine Tour in South Africa. ... Saki Nagamine had a 6-under 66 for a two-shot victory over Jiyai Shin in the AXA Ladies Golf on the Japan LPGA.
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Gary Woodland celebrates after sinking his final putt on the 18th green to win the Texas Children's Houston Open golf tournament Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
Gary Woodland holds the championship trophy after winning the Texas Children's Houston Open golf tournament Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
NEW YORK (AP) — First-time Tony Award host Pink kicked off Sunday’s telecast by leading a crowded, exuberant version of “Lady Marmalade” and John Lithgow took home the first award for “Giant.” A blockbuster revival of “Death of a Salesman” was racking up awards even before the halfway mark.
Lithgow won best lead actor in a play as children’s author Roald Dahl in Mark Rosenblatt’s production set in 1983, when the author is facing intense backlash to his antisemitic comments. The role earned Lithgow his first Olivier Award in London and now the Tony for lead actor in a play, his third.
The win puts Lithgow in an exclusive group of actors who have won in three separate acting categories. He previously won featured actor in a play for “The Changing Room” and lead actor in a musical for “Sweet Smell of Success.”
“Two Tony bookends with 53 years between them," he said. "In those years, I have worked with hundreds of just fantastic theater artists. I’ve had dozens and dozens of ecstatic moments on the stage, but I have to tell you right now, this moment has got to be one of the best.”
A revival of “Death of a Salesman” won at least five Tonys, nearing the record for most statuettes ever won by play revival, which is seven.
Laurie Metcalf won her third Tony for playing Willy Loman’s wife opposite Nathan Lane in “Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman,” which also won for lighting, scenic design and sound design. Joe Mantello won best director for a play.
Pink started the show spinning and then dangling uncomfortably from a harness over the stage, dressed like Peter Pan. Former host Neil Patrick Harris stepped in to suggest the first-time host just be herself. “You’re Pink, Pink. You can do anything,” he told her.
After lifting Harris off the stage with her legs, Pink relented to his suggestion of being “less Pan-ish” by taking off her harness, adding a top hat and leading an extended “Lady Marmalade” that included contributions from dozens of performers including Lea Michele and Megan Thee Stallion — plus some strange, new lyrics like “Gitchie, gitchie, Laurie Metcalf” — and ended with some 170 performers on stage and crowding the aisles.
In her opening remarks, Pink, who has not yet gotten a Broadway credit, called herself theater’s second-biggest fan after her teenage daughter, Willow. “I’m not here just to steal peoples’ wigs, although I will be doing that. I’m here to celebrate the hardest-working people in show business,” she said.
“Schmigadoon!” and “Death of a Salesman” each went into the main telecast with a lead of three Tonys after a pre-show on Pluto TV hosted by Laura Benanti and Tituss Burgess that announced the more technical awards. Qween Jean became the first openly trans Tony winner ever for making the costumes for “Cats: The Jellicle Ball.” Kai Harada, nominated twice for the sound design of a musical, didn’t initially know which one he had won for until told onstage — “Ragtime.”
Twenty-four Broadway shows are hoping to nab at least one win Sunday across the 26 Tony categories, which can mean the difference between keeping the doors open and pulling down the curtain.
There will be performances from the seven best new musical and best musical revival nominees: “The Lost Boys,” “Schmigadoon!,” “Titanique,” “Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York),” “Cats: The Jellicle Ball,” “Ragtime” and “The Rocky Horror Show.”
Other performances include the original lead cast members of “The Book of Mormon” — Josh Gad, Andrew Rannells, Rory O’Malley and Nikki M. James — this year celebrating its 15th anniversary. Leslie Odom, Jr. will sing “Without You” from “Rent” during the In Memoriam section, in honor of that show’s 30th anniversary.
Another show celebrating a milestone, “Chicago” now at 30, will have a performance slot featuring Pink, as well as Queen Latifah, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Alex Newell, Adrienne Warren, Julianne Hough, Whitney Leavitt and Dylan Mulvaney. Plus, “A Chorus Line,” which last year celebrated its 50th anniversary, will get a special tribute by Rachel Zegler.
The competition for best new musical is between four very different shows: “Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York),” an opposites-attract rom-com; “The Lost Boys,” a stage adaptation of a 1987 teen movie vampire thriller; “Schmigadoon!,” which gently mocks Golden-Age Broadway shows; and “Titanique,” a camp musical comedy that reimagines the 1997 movie “Titanic.”
The two top best play nominees are “Giant,” exploring accusations of antisemitism against children's author Roald Dahl, and “Liberation,” about a consciousness-raising women’s group in the 1970s that explores inequality, gender roles and racism.
There are intriguing races in both the revival categories: A “Death of a Salesman” is competing for best play revival with a modern-set “Oedipus” led by Marc Strong and a sweet “Every Brilliant Thing” starring Daniel Radcliffe.
The best musical revival pits a new “Cats” reimagined as a “Pose”-like competition show, the sweeping American history show “Ragtime” and a rollicking, frisky “The Rocky Horror Show.”
For more coverage of the 2026 Tony Awards, visit https://apnews.com/hub/tony-awards.
Bill Rauch, left, and Zhailon Levingston accept the award for best direction of a musical for "Cats: The Jellicle Ball" during the 79th Tony Awards on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at Radio City Music Hall in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
John Lithgow accepts the award for best performance by a leading actor in a play for "Giant" during the 79th Tony Awards on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at Radio City Music Hall in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Maya Rudolph, left, and Cole Escola present the award for best performance by a leading actor in a play during the 79th Tony Awards on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at Radio City Music Hall in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Host Pink, left, and Shoshana Bean perform during the 79th Tony Awards on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at Radio City Music Hall in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Bernadette Peters speaks during the 79th Tony Awards on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at Radio City Music Hall in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Neil Patrick Harris, left, and Host Pink perform during the 79th Tony Awards on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at Radio City Music Hall in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Omari Wiles, left, and Arturo Lyons accept the award for best choreography for "Cats: The Jellicle Ball" during the 79th Tony Awards on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at Radio City Music Hall in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Host Tituss Burgess speaks during the 79th Tony Awards on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at Radio City Music Hall in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Kristin Chenoweth speaks during the 79th Tony Awards on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at Radio City Music Hall in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
