Blair, Snedeker lead heading into Sony Open final round

The Ogden native and Fremont High alum slotted in three birdies in four holes on the front nine, including a 21-footer on the par-4 eighth hole to put him at 2-under after hitting for bogey on the par-3 fourth hole.

JOHANNESBURG – Haydn Porteous kept his nerve to go bogey-free through the final round and win the Joburg Open by two shots for his first European Tour title.

Snedeker was stuck on 17 under with five holes remaining, having managed only two birdies to go with one dropped shot, but he stayed in touch with Gomez by picking up a shot at the 14th. This is the third time he’s been in the final group in his last four starts.

Snedeker and Blair were the only players who stayed with him.

Both Gomez, from 15 feet, and Snedeker, from 12, had earlier missed birdie putts on the first extra hole, also the 18th.

“If you’re just off the green and have a good lie in the fringe, you’re nearly always going to want to putt it”, says Weeks.

“I feel like I’m playing great, so it should be fun”, Snedeker said. The second-year PGA Tour pro hit an excellent shot with his hybrid from just off the green on the par-3 17th, but his birdie bid just missed. “And then I realized this week… how it feels, what should happen, and when I do hit a bad shot, I kind of know where it comes from”.

Fabian Gomez, of Argentina, follows his drive off the 16th tee box during the final round of the Sony Open golf tournament, Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016, in Honolulu.

He shook off momentum sapping bogeys at 13 and 14 to birdie the last two holes.

The 25-year-old could have held the outright lead had he converted a birdie putt from inside three feet at the last, but despite that miss he remains satisfied with his overall performance. He used a fairway metal to putt out of light rough, and a television replay made it look as though the end of the club might have been touching his body.

Englishmen Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Andy Sullivan won singles matches to complete weekend sweeps and help Europe rout Asia 18 1/2-5 1/2 in the EurAsia Cup at Shah Alam, Malaysia. South Africa’s Zander Lombard had a 71 to finish second. While he finished well back of champion Jordan Spieth, Snedeker’s T-3 effort was a sign he had found form again and had overcome the embarrassment of an 84 at the Australian PGA Championship in December. He still made up two strokes with a six-under outing to tie Snedeker, who was perched atop the leaderboard after the first two rounds.

I always remember I won a Tar Heel Tour event in Greensboro and I had to be in Memphis the next day for my U.S. Open sectional qualifying.