Cauley wins Canadian Open, Lowry finishes in tie for 29th
by Fintan O'Toole · The42BUD CAULEY WON the Canadian Open on Sunday, capturing the first title of a PGA Tour career that was nearly derailed by the injuries he suffered in a 2018 car crash.
The 36-year-old American conjured four of his seven birdies on the back nine at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley, firing a five-under par 65 for a 17-under total of 263 and a two-stroke triumph over former US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick of England.
Shane Lowry finished in a tie for 29th after a round of one-over 71. That left him eight-under for the tournament. He reached the turn at one-under, picking up birdies on the 3rd and 8th holes, bouncing back from a bogey on his opening hole.
Lowry dropped further shots at the 10th, 11th, and 17th, before rounding off with a birdie on 18.
Cauley, a star amateur and one of the game’s brightest prospects when he arrived on tour 15 years ago, suffered six broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a broken left leg in his 2018 accident.
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He painstakingly worked his way back to the tour, but in 2021 complications from post-crash reconstructive surgery again took him off the course, an absence that would last until 2024.
Cauley started the day one off the lead and jumped to the top of the leaderboard with a birdie chip-in from the rough for birdie at the 12th.
It was his fifth birdie of the day and his second in a row. He rolled in a 13-foot birdie at 13 and had a four-shot lead after a 16-foot birdie putt at 15.
He made a lucky escape at 16, where his errant tee shot hit a cart to land in the rough while avoiding the trees, but his lead was down to two after a bogey at 17.
At 18, his tee shot landed in deep rough above a bunker. His awkward shot out found the fairway and his third landed on the slope of the green that had funnelled multiple balls into the water.
His ball stayed up and Cauley hot-footed it to the green to mark it, finally two-putting for par to close out the win.
The victory earned him a place in the US Open that tees off on Thursday at Shinnecock Hills.
Fitzpatrick, the 2022 US Open champion who has three PGA wins already this season, tuned up for the third major of the year with a six-under par final round that included six birdies and an eagle at the par-five 18th.
Norway’s Viktor Hovland was third after a 65 for 266.
Elsewhere on the LPGA Tour, Leona Maguire finished in a tie for 27th at the Dow Championship, finishing on six-under with Lindy Duncan in the alternate shot event in Missouri.
The winners, Gina Kim and Yana Wilson, finished on 17-under.