Golf roundup: Brooks Koepka beats Rory McIlroy for first World Golf Championships win

Brooks Koepka turned his final-round duel with Rory McIlroy into a runaway for his first World Golf Championships title.

Koepka had three birdies in a four-hole stretch on the front nine to take the lead and never trailed the rest of the way, closing with a 5-under 65 for a three-shot victory in the FedEx St. Jude Invitational.

With his third victory of the season, Koepka wraps up the regular-season points title a week early and claims a $2 million bonus from the Wyndham Rewards program. He is assured to going into the FedEx Cup playoffs as the No. 1 seed.

Koepka finished at 16-under 264 and earned $1.745 million.

McIlroy, in his first final-round pairing with Koepka, didn’t make a birdie until the 14th hole on the TPC Southwind and closed with a 71 to tie for fourth.

Webb Simpson had a 64 to finish second. Marc Leishman (67) was another shot back. Tommy Fleetwood (66) and Matthew Fitzpatrick (69) joined McIlroy at 11 under.

Koepka won for the seventh time on the PGA Tour, and he became the sixth player to win a major championship and a World Golf Championship in the same year. He won the PGA Championship for the second straight year in May, and was runner-up in the Masters and U.S. Open. He tied for fourth last week at the British Open.

He also had a pair of top 10s in this WGC when it was at Firestone, and he had a pair of top 3s at the TPC Southwind when it was the St. Jude Classic.

Bernhard Langer wins Senior British Open

Bernhard Langer beat Paul Broadhurst by two shots to win the Senior British Open for his record-extending 11th senior major title.

Starting three shots off the overnight lead held by Broadhurst, the 61-year-old German fired a 4-under 66 to finish at 6-under 274 for his fourth Senior Open title, a tournament record.

After heavy rain delayed the round by almost six hours, the two-time Masters champion opened with four birdies on the front nine and added two more on Nos. 13 and 14 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes to build a four-stroke lead. He completed the round with a couple of bogeys on the 15th and 17th.

Broadhurst shot 71 to come second.

Retief Goosen of South Africa closed with a 66 to tie for third with American Tim Petrovic (68) with a 3-under 277.

In his last appearance at the tournament, three-time champion Tom Watson (73) finished tied for 64th at 9 over. On Saturday, the 69-year-old American announced he wouldn’t be playing at the event again. In his 18 appearances, he never missed the cut.

Jin Young Ko wins Evian Championship

Jin Young Ko clinched her second major title of the season, firing a final round 4-under 67 in the rain Sunday to win the Evian Championship by two shots with a 15-under total of 269.

Winner of the season’s first major, the ANA Inspiration in April, Ko closed out the victory after playing partner and longtime leader Hyo Joo Kim lost control with a triple bogey at the par-3 14th.

Ko took the two-shot lead she was given, and added a birdie at the par-4 No. 17, to hold off strong finishes by American rookie Jennifer Kupcho (66) and Shanshan Feng (68).

The 24-year-old South Korean played the par-5 18th with a two-shot cushion and no drama. Kim (73) made a birdie to join a three-way tie for second.

The winner’s check of $615,000 lifted second-ranked Ko atop the LPGA money list with almost $2 million this season.

Collin Morikawa wins Barracuda Championship

Collin Morikawa birdied his last three holes Sunday to win the Barracuda Championship, making him the second recent college alumni to win on the PGA Tour this summer.

Morikawa closed with seven birdies against no bogeys in the modified Stableford scoring system, giving him 14 points at Montreaux Golf and Country Club.

The Cal graduate finished with 47 points for a three-point victory over Troy Merritt, who had an eagle chip on the par-5 18th for the win and wound up making par when the chip ran 12 feet by the hole.

Morikawa joins Matthew Wolff of Oklahoma State as players who have gone straight from college to winning on the PGA Tour. Morikawa was runner-up to Wolff at the 3M Open in Minnesota three weeks ago.