Ben Martin leads by one at Corales Puntacana Championship

HONOLULU, Hawaii – The Kuchar’s finally have a dog. It has been a long running promise from Matt Kuchar to his sons Cameron (11) and Carson (9) that if he won a major championship they could have a dog. While the Sony Open in Hawaii at Waialae Country Club – which Kuchar won by four strokes on Sunday for his ninth PGA TOUR win – is not a major it does come with a nice perk for the champion. A state of the art AIBO robotic dog. Both Cameron and Carson were all smiles as they accompanied their father on his tournament winner duties. “It’s going to be a great addition to the family. We are going to have some fun with AIBO,â€� Kuchar beamed with his trademark smile. “We talk about getting a real dog, but AIBO is going to have to be our little real dog for the time being.â€� While clearly excited with his new pet Kuchar was obviously more pleased to have collected his second win in three starts on the PGA TOUR. The wait was not nearly as long between drinks as previously.  The 40-year-old waited 1,667 days between his seventh and eighth TOUR wins but it took just 64 days to get this one. RELATED: Final round, Sony Open in Hawaii The former PLAYERS Champion moved to second in the FedExCup behind Xander Schauffele. “I’m tickled, thrilled to have won two events this early in the year,â€� Kuchar said. “To have won two out of three starts on the PGA TOUR is mind boggling to me. It absolutely sets up the year to be in great position for the FedExCup. There is a lot of year left and a lot of great things that are out there to be done.â€� Having started Sunday two shots in front of Andrew Putnam, Kuchar made the turn one back of last season’s Barracuda Championship winner following some early stumbles. But a 5-under 30 back nine blitz pushed the veteran to 22 under for the week, ultimately four clear of his nearest challenger. And he’s ready for more success. While not making any outlandish promises Kuchar was happy to be reminded of Vijay Singh’s early 40s. Singh won 22 times on TOUR after entering his fourth decade of life including the FedExCup in 2008. “I would certainly like to (do what Singh did),â€� Kuchar said. “He set a great example. Certainly showed that is possible. A number of guys showed that it is possible. It’s nice to know that. “It’s not like you hit 40 and you have to go away. There are guys that have done great. Certainly I’m off to a way better start than I would’ve expected. Feels good. I hope to continue.â€� While the PGA TOUR is getting younger and younger each year the veteran continues to adapt impressively. “Thankfully golf requires so many different things to be going right. It’s not just power game or a putting game,â€� Kuchar added. “There are so many facets to the game that it allows people to play for a long time and play competitively and play great for a long time. I am grateful that the game requires so many different facets to it. It’s not just a long-drive contest.â€� Next up for the Kuchar family is a two-week vacation on other Hawaiian islands and they are already planning their return to Maui for next year’s Sentry Tournament of Champions. And now they get to bring the dog. CHIP SHOTS FROM THE SONY OPEN Over the course of the four rounds runner up Andrew Putnam led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting (+10.894), making an incredible 447 feet, seven inches worth of putts. Read about his efforts here. Marc Leishman closed with a bogey-free 64 to finish T3 a week after being T4 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui. He is third in the FedExCup. “If I could have made a few more putts today then who knows what might have happened but overall it is a good few weeks in Hawaii,â€� he said. “Two good finishes and a nice bank of FedExCup points keeps me up there in the standings.â€� With rounds of 67-68-64-65 Davis Love III finished seventh at 16 under. It was the 54-year-old Hall-Of-Famer’s first top 10 since the 2017 Wyndham Championship. He says he will be a more regular feature on the PGA TOUR this season. “I kind of committed to some of my sponsors that this was going to be pretty much a regular TOUR year,â€� he admitted. “I’ve been struggling to get to 15 events the last few years because of different injuries; some self-inflicted and some wear and tear. I felt like I owed it to my sponsors and myself to give the TOUR a full shot. I will play some Champions Tour events to fill in, but I am committed to playing at least two events a month all the way through the start of the next season.â€� Corey Conners leveraged his Monday qualifying effort into a tie for third, the best finish by a Monday qualifier this season. Conners was runner up at the Sanderson Farms Championship as a regular member of the field and now sits 19th in the FedExCup. Charles Howell III’s love affair with the Sony Open in Hawaii continued. He’s now made the cut in all 18 trips to Waialae Country Club and his T8 was his 10th top 10. He has two runner ups and two thirds. “If I stay healthy I’ll never miss this one,â€� Howell III said. “I can control the showing up part… The finishes, I don’t know … but it would be awful special to one day win here.â€� Defending champion Patton Kizzire finished with a 5-under 65 to be 13 under and tied 13th. Brian Stuard shot rounds of 66-69-64-66 to finish T8, his first top 20 result since a T4 a year ago at Waialae. CALL OF THE DAY

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Here are nine tidbits from the final round of the THE PLAYERS Championship that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. THE PLAYERS Stadium Course TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, has been the host since 1982 and plays 7,189 yards to a Par-72. Winner Webb For the first time in 107 starts on TOUR Webb Simpson is back in the winner’s circle. His final round 73 saw him post 18-under-par 270 to defeat a trio of chasers by four shots. The 2012 U.S. Open champion becomes the ninth player to win THE PLAYERS Championship and the national championship. Simpson’s record-setting seven-shot lead after 54 holes was never sliced to less than four as he meticulously navigated Pete Dye’s house of horrors. His worst golf of the day came on a three-hole stretch (Nos. 8-10) that saw him square two bogeys and give the field hope that a collapse just might be on the cards. Nope. He birdied both of the Par-5 holes on the back and not even a water ball on the last could make this interesting for the peloton. Simpson played the Par-5 holes in 13-under for the week and led the field in driving accuracy (46 of 56) and SG: putting. He holed just over 455 feet of putts on the week to claim his first top-10 in nine PLAYERS starts. His previous best finish was T16 last year so to say he’s figuring it out here is a huge understatement. In 11 starts in 2018 he’s now cashed T5 or better in five of them, including three of his last six. He held the 54-hole lead at Colonial last year, collected T8 at the Travelers and hit the podium at the Wyndham Championship in third alone. One of his daughter’s names is Wyndham in case you’re wondering where you might use him next. PGA TOUR Fantasy Game presented by SERVPRO top selections: Gamers watched in horror in the final round as Stenson couldn’t keep up, Spieth closed with a quad and Johnson couldn’t break par on a course with four Par-5 holes playing 7,013 yards. Nobody said this would be easy and this week never is. PGA TOUR One & Done presented by SERVPRO top selections: The only thing worse in this game besides a MC is burning a guy in a big event and he doesn’t fire. The brilliant front-runner Day continues to reinforce that winning fuels his fire instead of satisfying the need. He closed with bogey-free 68 and those who piled on this week were rewarded and will move up. Wrong Newcomer There wasn’t any argument that Bryson DeChambeau entered the week on fire with three top-four finishes in his last four starts and should have commanded attention in his maiden voyage. Instead it was Xander Schauffele who took home the honor, and major cash payment, as the best newcomer this week (T2). He’s collected top-10 finishes at Erin Hills, TPC Old White, East Lake GC, Riviera and now TPC Sawgrass in not even two full years on TOUR. He led the field in SG: tee to green and sand saves. Dy-No-Mite Gamers were leery entering the 2017-18 season as they saw Jimmy Walker deal with Lyme disease last year. The season-long and weekly investors have both been rewarded for their patience as he’s now rattled off nine of his last 10 weekends. On top of that he’s cashed four top-25 checks in a row with a pair of top 10’s. His T2 included a bogey-free 68 in the final round is his best finish at THE PLAYERS. #Play72 All eyes were on Tiger Woods-Jordan Spieth pairing Sunday after they both shot 65 in Round 3 to break into the top 10. Woods played his first 13 holes on Saturday in eight-under. He played his first 13 holes on Sunday six-under and was on the prowl. For the second round in a row he bogeyed No. 14 and the momentum died. He fell out of the top 10 with a double on No. 17, his first ball in the water in his last 13 events on that hole. There were plenty of positives to take but he’s not the finished article. … Charl Schwartzel rebounded from a tough 73 in Round 3 as he stormed home in 32 to T2. He only made six bogeys on the week and that play as resulted in three top-10 finishes on the bounce. Noted. Not yet. But it’s coming. New No. 1 Justin Thomas posted 68-66 on the weekend with the only blemish on the card to finish T11 and take over the No. 1 spot in the OWGR. He’ll never be happy with T11 but not too many guys have been No. 1 in the world so I think he’ll survive. Thomas will be bummed this event is moving to March as eight of his 15 rounds have been in red figures and his stroke average is 70.73. Johnson, who needed to beat Thomas and end up in the top 10, achieved neither as he ended T17. This season Johnson has a win, two seconds and two other top-10 paydays and is NO LONGER NO. 1?!?!?!?! Defending Champ Curse For the 36th time at TPC Sawgrass the defending champ went quietly into the good night. Only Adam Scott (T8, 2005) posted a top-10 finish in defending this century. Si Woo Kim opened with the best score of a defender with 67 on Thursday but faded playing his final three rounds three-over for T63. Sunday Silence I could have stuck Jordan Spieth in #Play72 above since his quad on the final hole knocked him from T17 to T41. I’m not sure which rounds I’ll remember most from the week, the 75 to open and 74 to close or 68-65 in the middle two rounds. … World No. 14 Tommy Fleetwood stuck all four rounds under-par for the week and finished T7. I don’t think I saw one shot of his on Sunday as he crept up the leaderboard while others faded away. Study Hall The final round scoring average was the lowest of the week at 70.014 as TPC Sawgrass played just 7,013 yards. The scoring average for the week was 71.275, almost a full shot under-par for the last May event, as the course was in all-time best condition according to many of the pros. … Brooks Koepka tied the course record (63) but couldn’t crack the top 10 (T11). His bogey-free round was one of four on Sunday. … Charles Howell III collected T17 for his first top 25 in 16 tries. … Bubba Watson’s form couldn’t carry through four rounds this week. His 68-71 was followed by 73-73 for T57.

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