Swafford secures invite to The Masters with second victory at The American Express, having won his maiden PGA Tour title at the same event in 2017; Power finishes in tied-14th alongside world No 1 Jon Rahm in California
Monday 24 January 2022 11:21, UK
Hudson Swafford produced a strong finish to win The American Express for a second time, as Ireland’s Seamus Power saw his hopes fade on the final day in California.
Swafford mixed an eagle and eight birdies with two bogeys to card an eventful final-round 64 on the Stadium Course at PGA West, seeing him finish on 23 under and two ahead of compatriot Tom Hoge.
Brian Harman shared third place with Lanto Griffin and Lee Hodges, while Francesco Molinari's bogey on the last meant the Italian had to settle for a closing 68 and a tie for sixth.
Power began the day just two off the lead but double-bogeyed the opening hole and carded a closing 74 to slip into an eight-way tie for 14th, leaving him in a group including world No 1 Jon Rahm.
Swafford began the day three shots off the lead and fell further behind with a bogey on the first, but bounced back to birdie the second, fifth, sixth and eighth to remain in contention.
The 34-year-old then started the back nine with a hat-trick of birdies and followed a bogey on the 13th with another birdie on the next to lead by two, only to drop another shot on the 15th.
With Harman making a birdie on the 18th and former Open champion Molinari doing likewise on the 16th there was suddenly a three-way tie for the lead, only for Swafford to hit a superb approach to the par-five 16th to set up an eagle from eight feet.
A birdie on the 17th effectively sealed the win and Swafford made his only par of the back nine on the 18th, securing a third PGA Tour victory and first since the 2020 Corales Puntacana Club and Resort Championship.
"This was definitely a special one," Swafford said. "A third win, and about a month ago my father passed away and his birthday was this week, so I know he was following and watching and to get it done, it was awesome."
Victory lifts Swafford from outside the world's top 150 to 61st in the latest standings and also earns him an invite to The Masters, live this April on Sky Sports' dedicated Masters channel.
