Jason Dufner wins CareerBuilder over Lingmerth on 2nd playoff hole

The 38-year-old Dufner earned $1,044,000 for his fourth victory on the PGA Tour and first since the 2013 PGA Championship.

Lingmerth, however, was unable to make his birdie putt to win, and Dufner got up and down, sinking a clutch 15 foot putt to extend the playoff. Both hit their drives off to the right into the rough, but Lingmerth carried his left into the water and Dufner safely hit on.

Dufner tapped in for par, then closed with another par to force the playoff.

Dufner finished with a 2-under 70 on PGA West’s TPC Stadium Course to match Lingmerth at 25-under 263.

Dufner and Overton opened on PGA West’s Nicklaus Tournament Course. His bogey-free round Sunday included seven birdies. “If I hit it the way I’ve been hitting it, driving it in play, I think there’s a lot of birdie opportunities still”. “So, it was unusual just how the mindset changes when this becomes the so-called easier one and you have to get it”.

Conditions are pretty good for scoring. Na, who is seeking his first victory in almost five years, has five runner up finished in the past two years.

“You give me 68, I probably would have walked away and not played today, ” Hadwin said.

“I was actually kind of cold, ” Lingmerth said. “I believe I will only get better as the days, weeks, years go on because my swing is back on plane and the touch is there”.

His nearest challenger is still Jamie Lovemark, who shot a fine round of 65 on the Stadium Course which will host Sunday’s final 18 holes. “I’m happy to be playing good golf again”.

Ready or not after a long layoff and swing changes, Lefty had a prime Saturday tee time on the Pete Dye-designed course that was dropped from the tournament rotation after its 1987 debut. He made a 20-footer on No. 3, hit a 9-iron out of a bunker to 3 feet on 4, two-putted the par-5 fifth and sixth, and made it five in a row with a 12-footer on 7. “Didn’t putt great. But I had a couple shots that I holed out”.

“I told the guys (his playing partners) that I was going to have a good back nine … that I was about to do something good and it happened”, Dufner told Golf Channel.

Lingmerth received $626,400. He tied for second in the 2013 edition of the tournament, then known as the Humana Challenge.

Canada’s Adam Hadwin sits in third place on 20 under after shooting 64 at the Tournament Course.

Mickelson, playing for the first time since the Presidents Cup in September, said he was encouraged by his progress with changes to his game.