Help Centre

Paul Casey has became the first back-to-back winner in the 19 years of the PGA Tour's Valspar Championship and it was every bit as tough as he expected.

Not because of Dustin Johnson but because of Innisbrook Resort.

Casey held his nerve down the tough closing stretch for a one-over 72.

On Sunday's final hole, the 41-year-old blasted out of a fairway bunker safely to 20 feet for a two-putt par and a one-shot victory over Jason Kokrak and Louis Oosthuizen.

It was the first time since this event joined the PGA Tour schedule in 2000 that the winner was over par in the final round.

Australians Curtis Luck (73) and Matt Jones (72) finished in a share of 13th at three under.

It was world No.491 Luck's best result of the season as the 22-year-old pocketed $121,940 ($A172,281).

He had made only four cuts from 10 events this season, earning $89,830 ($A126,893), but found some form late last month with a tied 25th in Puerto Rico.

The Copperhead course was so dry and fast in the final round that no player shot better than 68 and the average score of 72.143 was the second-toughest final round his year behind rainy, windy Riviera.

"Today wasn't easy," Casey said. "Last year's win was so big. It felt like my first victory as a pro.

"I'm getting older but I feel like I'm getting better."

Casey finished at eight-under 276 and moved to No.11 in the world rankings.

Kokrak (71) and Oosthuizen (69) each had a share of the lead on the back nine until one mistake cost them.

Nothing came easily for Johnson, who started Sunday's one shot behind Casey.

The world No.1 failed to make a birdie putt in his round for the first time in 31 tournaments worldwide to card a three-over 74 for a share of sixth.

The tournament allowed players to choose whatever name they wanted for the caddie's bib.

Casey went with "The Champ," and he found one positive to the week before he even collected his trophy.

"I don't have to change the caddie bib (for next year)," he said.

Australian Scott Hend beat Spanish overnight leader Nacho Elvira with a birdie on the first playoff hole to win the co-sanctioned $3 million Maybank Championship after wild weather triggered a dramatic finish on Sunday.

Hend was leading Elvira by a single stroke with the leading pair on the final fairway when torrential rain started falling on the Saujana Golf and Country Club.

The first crack of thunder came as Elvira hit his approach shot to the 18th green and, with lightning flashing around them, the players were forced off the course before either could attempt a putt.

They returned after a delay of 100 minutes and Elvira nailed his birdie putt from 30 feet for a two-under-par 70 to tie the scores at 15-under 273 and force the playoff.

"What a putt by Nacho... it was fantastic," Hend told reporters.

"If I was to go out there and hit that putt you would say you would hole it one in 10 times. It was an amazing putt, and in the situation he holed it."

Hend looked in trouble when he landed in a greenside bunker on the first playoff hole but it was his turn to celebrate minutes later when he landed a four-footer after his opponent's birdie putt had stopped just short of the hole.

It was a third European Tour and 10th Asian Tour title for the big hitting 45-year-old, who spent two years on the PGA Tour from 2004.

"Obviously I had a bit of luck on the playoff hole. If you don't have any luck you won't win," Hend said.

Hend, who started the round three shots behind the Spaniard, had made all the running on another day of stifling heat in the Malaysian capital with six birdies and a single bogey as he hit a 67 for the second day in a row.

"I felt like I played fantastic on the back nine. I nearly holed a lot of putts, just missing," Hend said.

"I just had to keep my head on and stay patient. The worst case scenario was a playoff."

Elvira, who led by two shots coming into the final round, had never really got going but a birdie at the 16th finally put him under par for the day, and a shot behind Hend overall, to set up the late drama.

Arnold Palmer Invitational winner Francesco Molinari hopes his rapid ascension to the top ranks in world golf inspires a generation of golfers in his native Italy.

Swashbuckling, seven-time major winner Arnold Palmer, who died in 2016, was credited with popularising golf during the 1960s and '70s.

Molinari hopes he has the same effect in football-mad Italy.

"I'm doing my best," world No.7 Molinari said with a grin.

Molinari drained a 44-foot birdie putt on the 18th at Bay Hill to shoot an eight-under-par 64 and in the two hours that followed, none of the final groups could match his 12 under (276) total.

Molinari beat overnight leader Matthew Fitzpatrick (71) by two shots, while Tommy Fleetwood (68) Sungjae Im (68) and Rafa Cabrera-Bello (69) shared third place at nine under.

Molinari started the final round five shots from the lead but secured his fourth worldwide win in 10 months with a sizzling final round.

It also came with a $US1.6 million ($A2.3m) winner's prize.

Molinari became Italy's first major champion when he claimed last year's British Open - in addition to victories at the European Tour's flagship BMW PGA Championship and his maiden PGA Tour title at the Quicken Loans event.

The 5-foot-8 golfer grew up in northern Italy's Turin, home of European football powerhouse Juventus FC.

But golf was not a popular sport.

"(Access) wasn't particularly cheap or easy; we were just lucky our family was into golf and that's how we got into it," Molinari said.

"(Italians are not) exposed to that much golf, but 'Arnie' was such a global icon that this tournament was one that we watched, my brother and I, at home many times.

"We have the (2022) Ryder Cup coming (to Italy), so hopefully they can make the most of it.

"I hope kids are watching me, like I was watching Costantino (Rocca) many years ago and, in a few years from now, I'll be sitting on the couch watching some other Italian kid playing on the PGA Tour."

Meanwhile, Australia's Aaron Baddeley started the final day just two shots from the lead but faded with a 74.

Baddeley squandered a chance to claim his first PGA Tour win since July 2016 and claim one of the automatic exemptions to this year's British Open - which were awarded to the top-three finishers not already exempt.

They went to South Koreans Im and Sung Kang and American Keith Mitchell.

Australian Marc Leishman, the 2017 winner at Bay Hill, signed off with a respectable 70 to earn a four-under total and a share of 23rd.

Dustin Johnson arrived in Mexico trying to figure out what was wrong with his swing, but left Sunday night with his 20th career PGA Tour victory and sixth World Golf Championship win.

Over 72 holes, only two were worse than par. No one got closer than two shots to him all weekend.

The 34-year-old finished at 21-under 263, the lowest score by five shots in the three years at Chapultepec, closing with a 5-under 66 for a five-shot victory over Rory McIlroy.

"This is a big one for me, and it gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the year," Johnson said.

The American became the 38th player in PGA Tour history with 20 victories, which makes him a lifetime member when he puts in 15 years.

He won the Saudi International earlier this month and he will return to No.1 in the world next week.

McIlroy did all he could, making six birdies in a seven-hole stretch on the back nine, and closed with a 67.

"I was making birdies and going nowhere," McIlroy said.

"He just played great this week. Hats off to him. He's arguably the best player in the world. And he's got two wins already this year, and he has been one of the best players for a long time."

Johnson finished 10 strokes clear of third-placed Englishmen Paul Casey (65), Ian Poulter (68), and Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat (68).

Australian Cameron Smith made three birdies on his back nine to scratch his way to a one-under-par 70 and a share of sixth place at 10 under, along with Sergio Garcia and Patrick Cantlay, who also both carded rounds of 70.

Tiger Woods got his first top 10 of the year with a final round 69 leaving him 13 shots behind Johnson.

Johnson won the Mexico Championship in 2017 when he was playing the best golf of his life, with three straight victories against the strongest fields, only to suffer a back injury when he slipped down the stairs in his rental house on the eve of the Masters.

"It's the closest I've felt to that since I got hurt two years ago," Johnson said.

"I finally feel like everything is getting very close to where I was then. If I know I'm hitting it well and driving it good, it's going to give me a lot of confidence."

A sizzling final-round 66 wasn't quite enough for Minjee Lee to claim her second LPGA tournament win of the year, the Australian finishing two shots shy of Nelly Korda at the Swinging Skirts Taiwan Championship on Sunday.

American Korda shot a flawless four-under-par 68 in the final round to win her maiden LPGA title. She is the younger sister of Jessica Korda, who has won five titles on the tour

The 20-year-old daughter of former Australian Open tennis champion Petr Korda shared the overnight lead with local hope Wei-Ling Hsu but two birdies and an eagle were enough to win her the title on 13-under 275 for the tournament.

Lee was in fine touch as she reeled off six birdies in her bogey-free round of 66 including back-to-back efforts on 17 and 18.

The world No.5 finished at 11-under at the Ta Shee Golf and Country Club and enjoyed the day's best round.

She was left to regret her one-over start on Thursday which left her five shots off the early pace of England's Jodi Ewart Shadoff who ultimately faded to finish in a share of 12th at three-under.

American Ryann O'Toole was third at ten-under.

World No.9 Shanshan Feng and compatriot rookie Yu Liu withdrew before the tournament after being told they should not play by someone "high up" in China, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.