Bill Haas made the biggest putt of them all Sunday at Riviera the putt that won the Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles.
Haas closed with a 2-under 69 and wound up in a three-way playoff when Phil Mickelson made a birdie putt from just outside 25 feet on the 18th hole, and PGA champion Keegan Bradley joined him with a 12-foot birdie putt. The tournament was decided on the second extra hole, the par-4 10th, perhaps the most interesting par 4 in golf.
Haas had to play safe from behind the green, then rolled in a 45-foot birdie putt. Mickelson was short and hit a flop shot over the green into a bunker.
Bradley missed a 15-foot putt to extend the playoff. Haas won for the fourth time in his career.
Haas, the FedEx Cup champion, captured his fourth career PGA Tour title and moved to No. 12 in the world.
Mickelson, who rallied from six shots behind with a 64 to win last week at Pebble Beach, was trying to become the first player since Tiger Woods in August 2009 to win back-to-back on the PGA Tour.
Mickelson missed three straight putts from just inside 10 feet on the back nine -- two for par, one for birdie -- but atoned for it with his birdie on the 18th, the longest putt he made all day.
CHAMPIONS -- Kenny Perry shot a 2-under 70 for his second Champions Tour title, cruising to a five-shot victory in the ACE Group Classic in Naples. Perry birdied three of his first eight holes, and no one ever got closer than four shots after that. Perry totaled 24 birdies -- two short of the tour record for a 54-hole event.
EUROPEAN PGA -- Jbe Kruger of South Africa won his first European Tour title, protecting his overnight lead by shooting a 3-under 69 for a two-shot victory at the Avantha Masters in New Delhi.
LPGA -- Top-ranked Yani Tseng successfully defended her LPGA Thailand title for her 13th LPGA Tour victory, birdieing the final two holes to hold off playing partner Ai Miyazato by a stroke. The 23-year-old Taiwanese star shot a 6-under 66 to finish at 19-under 269 on Siam Country Club’s Pattaya Old Course in Chonburi, Thailand.
NATIONWIDE -- Skip Kendall won the Nationwide Tour’s season-opening Colombia Championship in Bogota.
