SAN MARTIN, Calif. — Jonas Blixt is a frustrated hockey player turned golfer. He’s also a winner in his first season on the PGA Tour.
“I was more interested in hockey. I wanted to be a hockey player," the Swede said Sunday after his breakthrough victory in the Frys.com Open. “I never really got big enough or good enough to play. Golf kind of suited me pretty well."
Blixt was a defenseman and played hockey well into his teens.
“It’s the greatest sport ever," he said. “The lockout just kills me."
The third PGA Tour rookie to win this season, Blixt holed a 4-foot par putt on the final hole for a 3-under 68 and a one-stroke victory in the Fall Series event at CordeValle. He earned $900,000 and a tour exemption through the 2014 season.
“The weird part is I’ve been working on some stuff with my swing, and I wasn’t feeling completely 100 percent about my swing," Blixt said. “I just told myself, ‘Just give it a good hit every time and see what happens. Just focus. You can’t do anything better than your best.’ That’s what I did on every shot."
He finished at 16-under 268.
Tim Petrovic and Jason Kokrak tied for second. Petrovic had a 64, and Kokrak shot a 68. Third-round leader John Mallinger had a 72 to tie for fourth at 14 under with Jimmy Walker, Vijay Singh and Alexandre Rocha. Walker closed with a 62, and Singh and Rocha shot 68.
Blixt made a 9-foot birdie putt on the par-5 15th for a share of the lead, and holed a 7 1/2-footer on the short par-4 17th to pull ahead. He set up the birdie on 17 with an approach shot from the rough.
“It was a bad lie, but the ball came out well," Blixt said.
Two strokes behind Mallinger entering the round, Blixt birdied the first two holes, but gave back the strokes with bogeys on the next two. The 28-year-old former Florida State player made a birdie on the par-4 sixth, then had eight straight pars before the birdie on 15.
Blixt was making his 19th PGA Tour start. He finished third last week in Las Vegas.
Also on Sunday:
Park rallies for LPGA victory
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Inbee Park rallied to win the LPGA Malaysia for her second victory of the year, closing with a 4-under 67 to beat fellow South Korean player Na Yeon Choi by two strokes. Park took the lead with a tap-in birdie on the par-4 13th and moved two shots ahead with another short birdie putt on the par-4 14th. She got away with bogeys on the final two holes when Choi made a double bogey on the par-3 17th in her closing 71.
Funk scores Champions win
CONOVER, N.C. — Fred Funk won the Greater Hickory Classic for his second Champions Tour title of the year and eighth overall, holing a 2-foot birdie putt on the final hole to beat Duffy Waldorf by a stroke. The 56-year-old Funk closed with a 3-under 69 on Rock Barn’s Jones Course to finish at 15-under 201. He also won eight times on the PGA Tour.
Lowry takes Portugal title
VILAMOURA, Portugal — Ireland’s Shane Lowry won the Portugal Masters for his second European Tour victory, finishing with a 5-under 66 to beat England’s Ross Fisher by a stroke. Fisher had one last chance after Lowry bogeyed the 18th, but the Englishman also had a bogey.
Stefani gets second Web win
MIAMI — Shawn Stefani won the Miccosukee Championship for his second Web.com Tour victory of the year, closing with a 3-under 68 for a five-stroke victory over Australia’s Alistair Presnell. Stefani finished at 15-under 269 at Miccosukee Golf and Country Club, and earned $108,000 to jump from 16th to fourth on the money list with $303,311.
