Stefano Mazzoli birdies 18th hole in Dominican Republic, completes comeback for first PGA Tour win

A pair of 66s on the weekend in the Dominican Republic proved to be enough to catapult Stefano Mazzoli to the top of the leaderboard of the 2026 Corales Puntacana Championship.

The 29-year-old Italian won in dramatic fashion for the first time on the PGA Tour on Sunday, with a birdie at the 18th hole to get to 20 under for the first time all tournament.

He got some help from 54-hole leader Todd Clements, who double-bogeyed the par-4 13th and squared again three holes later at 16. Clements had a chance on his 72nd hole to force a playoff against Mazzoli but his birdie putt attempt came up just short and he settled into a T-2 finish at 19 under with Gordon Sargent.

“Haven’t really been in this position before so I didn’t really know what to expect,” said the 23-year-old Sargent who was playing in the second to last group and had a chance to get to 20 under on the 72nd hole. “I wanted to be confident but you have to prove it to yourself too. Nice to kind of play good, hang in there, have a chance kind of coming down the last couple. Definitely a big confidence builder.”

The final opposite-field event on the Tour’s 2026 calendar saw Mazzoli — making just his third Tour start — walk away with a $720,000 payday from the $4 million purse.

“It’s been a rollercoaster, this past year,” the DP World Tour rookie told Golf Channel in an emotional interview after learning he had won the tournament and accepting an exemption to play next year.

“You doubt yourself quite a lot, but I’ve always been really determined on working, sacrifice and everything since when I was a kid,” Mazzoli said. “I knew since 15, 16 that this is what I wanted to do so I was really happy to do it even if maybe other people outside from school and everybody else was looking at me like kind of weirdly, why is this guy not coming to the cinema with us. Like I knew this is what I wanted to do and I was really happy to do it and wake up early or go to bed early at night.”

A little more than a month into his Tour career, Ben James finished T-4 at 18 under with Will Gordon. James had posted a bogey-free 66 on Friday and flirted with his first win on Tour but could find just one circle in his final 11 holes in the Caribbean before carding a 2-under 70 on Sunday.

The PGA Tour makes its return to the Twin Cities next week. Here’s a look at the field, which includes world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and defending champion Kurt Kitayama.