Spieth wins Valspar in playoff

JORDAN SPIETH and his world-class short game paid off big yesterday in a playoff victory in the Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla.

Spieth holed a 12-foot par putt on the 18th hole to join a three-man playoff with Patrick Reed and Sean O'Hair, then won on the third extra hole by making a 30-foot birdie putt.

Reed made a 30-foot birdie on the last hole that got him into a playoff, and he made two improbable par saves in the playoff until Spieth beat him at Innisbrook. O'Hair was going for his first win since 2011 and had a 12-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole that caught the lip.

Spieth saved par on his final three holes for a 69. He goes to No. 6 in the world.

"A crazy back nine," said Spieth, who won for the second time in his PGA Tour career and fourth time worldwide.

The 21-year-old Spieth was three shots behind with six holes to play when he made two birdies to catch a faltering Ryan Moore, and then saved par on his final three holes.

Spieth earned a small measure of redemption against Reed, a friend and Ryder Cup partner. Reed beat him in a playoff at the Wyndham Championship in 2013 for the first of Reed's four PGA Tour wins.

In other tournaments:

* Peter Malnati won the Brazil Champions in Sao Paulo for his second Web.com Tour title, birdieing the final three holes for a 5-under 66 and a four-stroke victory.

* So Yeon Ryu won her first World Ladies Championship title, beating overnight leader and defending champion Inbee Park by one shot in the European Tour tournament in Haikou, China. Ryu was the 2011 U.S. Women's Open champion.

* George Coetzee won the Tshwane Open in Pretoria, South Africa, at the golf course he grew up playing on, making birdie on No. 17 to take the title by a shot from Jacques Blaauw.

* The Cincinnati Bengals agreed to a 4-deal deal with end

Michael Johnson

, bringing back a player who was a key part of their defense. Johnson left as a free agent and played last season with Tampa Bay, which released him last week. Johnson played 79 games for Cincinnati from 2009-13. With Johnson, the Bengals had one of the NFL's top defenses, finishing third in yards allowed in 2013. Without Johnson, the unit slipped to 22nd overall last season. Although injuries to their linebackers were a big factor, they also failed to get much out of their line. The Bengals were last in the league in sacks and gave up 500 yards a franchise-record three times.

*

Donald Young

led a parade of upsets at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., with the American beating 31st-seeded

Jeremy Chardy

, 6-4, 6-2. No. 11

Grigor Dimitrov

nearly followed some of the other seeded players out of the tournament, needing three sets to hold off

Nick Kyrgios

, 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-6 (4), over 2 hours in 90-degree weather. On the women's side,

Heather Watson

upset seventh-seeded

Agnieszka Radwanska

, 6-4, 6-4, and

Elina Svitolina

knocked out 10th-seeded

Lucie Safarova

, 7-6 (5), 7-5.

*

Lewis Hamilton

beat teammate

Nico Rosberg

in a 1-2 finish for Mercedes at the Australian Grand Prix, as the team extended its 2014 dominance into the opening race of the new Formula One season. Hamilton led from start to finish and beat Rosberg by 1.3 seconds at the Albert Park circuit, with

Sebastian Vettel

finishing third in his first race for Ferrari.

* Kenyans Daniel Limo and Ogla Kimaiyo won the Los Angeles Marathon, and Jared Ward and Blake Russell captured the USA Track & Field National Championships that were run at the same time.

* Richie Porte, of Australia, mastered tricky conditions to win the Paris-Nice bike race for the second time after being fastest in the final time-trial stage.