Christiaan Bezuidenhout had his best round of the week on Sunday as he closed the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship at the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida with a four-under-par 67.
Bezuidenhout birdied the last two holes of his final round after making three birdies and a bogey through 16 holes, and that lifted him to seven-under-par for the tournament and a share of ninth place.
He was just five shots behind the winner, Peter Malnati of the United States, who won his second PGA Tour title after closing with 67 to hold off fellow-American Cameron Young by two shots. In a share of third on nine-under were Chandler Phillips of the United States and Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes.
Bezuidenhout hit his tee shot on the par-three 17th to six feet to make birdie there, and his approach on 18 to inside nine feet for his closing birdie. His performance projects him to rise five places to 15th on the FedExCup rankings.
Malnati, a 36-year-old golf everyman of sorts with his floppy bucket hat and yellow golf ball, is guaranteed, as a PGA Tour winner again, a spot in the Travelers Championship, now a reduced-field Signature Event played on what he considers to be the most fun golf course on the PGA Tour, TPC River Highlands in Connecticut.
“That’s my major,” he said. Oh, and he should soon be receiving an invitation to the Masters in Georgia in three weeks as well. “I will probably accept it,” Malnati deadpanned, having never played the event before in his 10-year tour career.
