Dawie van der Walt overcame a poor start on Sunday and carded a closing level-par 72 in the final round of the Fortinet Championship in Napa Valley, California, to finish in a share of 22nd in his return to PGA Tour action.
Van der Walt made three bogeys in his first four holes to slip to seven-under for the tournament. But he got things back on track with a birdie on the sixth, and then he made three straight pars to the turn. He made another bogey on the 10th, and birdies on 12, 14 and 16 enabled him to get back to 10-under for the tournament, nine strokes behind the winner Max Homa of the United States.
Homa won at 19-under by one shot from Maverick McNealy, with Chile’s Mito Pereira in third on 16-under-par.
Elsewhere, Retief Goosen rounded out a solid weekend on the PGA Tour Champions with a top-10 finish in the Sanford International in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Goosen carded a one-under 69 to close, finishing on eight-under in a share of seventh behind Winner Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland. Clarke defeated KJ Choi and Steve Flesch 0on the second hole of a sudden-death play-off after the three had finished regulation play on 12-under, two clear of Miguel Angel Jimenez and Rod Pampling.
Goosen made three birdies and two bogeys in his closing round, and Ernie Els had a four-over 74 to close on two-under for the tournament in a share of 33rd. David Frost was on seven-over in 71st.
