Dufner’s 65 gives him the lead in the desert

Dufner held off hard-charging Swede David Lingmerth with a par on the second playoff hole at PGA West’s TPC Stadium Course to win the $5.8 million CareerBuilder Challenge, Dufner’s first PGA victory since winning the 2013 PGA Championship.

The duo finished the 72 regulation holes at 25-under 263.

Don’t believe me? After pulling his tee shot on the par-3 17th hole at the CareerBuilder Challenge into the rocks, Dufner was warned by another pro to not try and chip it out. Lingmerth, meanwhile, hit his second shot within 20 feet of the pin. The Belgian missed an eagle putt on No. 18 by an inch. He opened with a 64 on Thursday on the Nicklaus Tournament Course for a share of the lead and had a 65 on Friday on the Stadium Course to take a one-shot advantage. Both players missed the fairway, but Lingmerth played first from the right rough, and he pulled his second shot off the rocks and into the guarding water hazard.

He was replaced in the top five by American trio Andrew Loupe, Phil Mickelson and Kevin Na who tied for third place, having all finished at 21-under-par 267.

Dufner started the day as joint leader on eight under and made hay on the front nine, peppering his card with birdies at holes one, two, five, seven, eight and nine.

“It just helps when you shoot 30s and 29s”, Dufner said.

“Darren knows what I can do, so I don’t think it was imperative (to play well here)”, Sullivan said, “but it bodes well when you do”. “I’m showing up to win tournaments this year and play good golf every week”.

On his great escape on the 17th, he added: “I thought the ball was in the water, I got a great break and sometimes you need these things to happen to win”. The Stadium Course had a stroke average of 71.029 in ideal scoring conditions the first two days, almost two shots higher than the Nicklaus and La Quinta layouts. “I’m just trying to hit each shot as good as I can and not let results and outcome dictate how I feel or how I think out there….” Joost Luiten of the Netherlands eagled No. 18 to move into second place on 11 under, one shot ahead of Rory McIlroy (70), Thomas Pieters (64), Matthew Baldwin (67), Branden Grace (66) and Byeong-Hun An (69).

It marked his fourth career victory, and first since the 2013 PGA Championship.

Mickelson, playing for the first time since the Presidents Cup in September, said he was encouraged by his progress with changes to his game. The 28-year-old circled birdies at Nos.