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ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- The largest PGA Tour playoff of the year at the RSM Classic didnt finish before darkness Sunday, and it wont include Billy Horschel when it resumes.Horschel, the highest-ranked player in the five-man playoff at Sea Island, burned the edge of the cup with his birdie putt at No. 18 on the first playoff hole. Stepping over a routine tap-in from 2 feet, he blocked it to the right and was eliminated.Mackenzie Hughes, the Canadian trying to become the first rookie to go wire-to-wire in 20 years, had a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 18 on the second extra hole and it turned away to the left. It already was plenty dark, and there was no chance to play another hole.Hughes, Blayne Barber, Camilo Villegas and Henrik Norlander were to return at 8 a.m. on Monday to finish the final PGA Tour event of the year.So much is at stake for all of them, starting with a trip to the Masters.Norlander and Villegas dont have full status on the PGA Tour this year -- Norlander received a sponsors exemption -- and a victory would take care of that. Hughes began his rookie season just six weeks ago and has a honeymoon planned in the offseason. Barber is going for his first PGA Tour victory.Hughes narrowly missed birdie chances on the 15th and 16th holes, but holed a 5-foot par putt on the 18th in regulation for a 1-under 69 to join the playoff.Norlander, who closed with a 65, stuffed a 9-iron into 3 feet on the 18th in regulation and was the first to reach 17-under 265. Barber ran off back-to-back birdies on the back nine, and he had a 12-foot birdie attempt at the 18th that he missed on the low side. He shot a 66.Villegas played the best coming down the stretch. Two shots behind with three to play, the Colombian hit an aggressive drive on the par-4 16th that set up wedge for a short birdie, then holed an 18-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the par-3 17th to tie for the lead. He made a 6-foot par on 18 for a 68.CME GROUP TOUR CHAMPIONSHIPNAPLES, Fla. -- Ariya Jutanugarn was unable to accept the CME Globe trophy when it was first being presented to her, needing both hands to hold a big plastic cube stuffed with $1 million in cash.Thats a great way to end a season.Jutanugarns breakout year ended with a haul of prizes Sunday at the CME Group Tour Championship- the LPGA Tours player of the year award, the money title and the season-long Race to CME Globe points competition that comes with a $1 million bonus.A winner of five tournaments in a year that started slowly with a major meltdown in the California desert and turned around with her winning three consecutive starts in May, Jutanugarn held off Lydia Ko for all three of those trophies.In Gee Chun made a 10-footer for birdie on the final hole to win the scoring title by the slimmest of margins, making her the first player since Nancy Lopez in 1978 to win both the Vare Trophy and rookie of the year in the same season. If Chuns final putt had not fallen, Ko would have won the Vare.Charley Hull won the tournament for her first LPGA Tour title. The English player shot 66-66 in a bogey-free weekend to finish at 19-under 269.So Yeon Ryu (67) was second, Jennifer Song (68) followed at 15 under, and Jutanugarn (69) was 14 under with Mo Martin (68) and Beatriz Recari (68). Chun (70) was seventh at 13 under.Ko (72) tied for 10th at 11 under.WORLD TOUR CHAMPIONSHIPDUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Henrik Stenson won the Race to Dubai title for the second time in four years, and Matthew Fitzpatrick won the World Tour Championship.Stenson shot 7-under 65 on Jumeirahs Earth Course to stay ahead of his rivals in the year-long race. The Swede earned a bonus of $1.25 million as the European Tours top player.The 40-year-old Stenson, who also won the Race to Dubai in 2013, tied for ninth at 12-under 276 -- in a group that included Rory McIlroy (65).Fitzpatrick closed with a 5-under 67 to finish at 17-under 271, a stroke ahead of fellow Englishman Tyrrell Hatton (68).AUSTRALIAN OPENSYDNEY -- Jordan Spieth made a 10-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to beat local hopes Cameron Smith and Ashley Hall for his second Australian Open title.Spieth, the American star who won the Masters and U.S. Open last year, had to sink another clutch par putt on the 18th hole at Royal Sydney to join Smith and Hall at 12-under 276.Hall and Smith each shot 66. Four players held the lead at various times on a dramatic final day, including Spieth, who was playing the Australian Open for the third time. He also has a runner-up finish (2015) to go along with his wins in 2014 and 2016.PEBBLE BEACH INVITATIONALPEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Scott McCarron won the Pebble Beach Invitational, birdieing the par-5 18th for a 4-under 68 and a one-stroke victory over fellow PGA Tour Champions player Kevin Sutherland.The 51-year-old McCarron finished the three-course event at 10-under 278. He won twice this season on the PGA Tour Champions.Sutherland birdied four the last five holes for a 67.Andrew Putnam was third at 8 under after a 65. Vans Sk8 Hi Leather . Now, with Game 6 set for Fenway Park and an 8:07 p.m. ET first pitch, the Detroit Tigers face the unenviable task of having to beat the Boston Red Sox twice, on the road, to advance to the World Series. Vans Sk8 Hi Reissue . The Lightning are 2-0 so far on a four-game road trip, giving the club five straight wins as the guest and improving Tampas away record this season to 11-8-2. http://www.vansshoesclearancesale.com/vans-sk8-hi-clearance.html . Tests earlier this week revealed a Grade 2 left hamstring strain for Sabathia, who was hurt in last Fridays start against San Francisco. Its an injury that will require about eight weeks to heal. He finished a disappointing campaign just 14-13 with a career-worst 4. Vans Shoes Outlet ., and Rudi Swiegers of Kipling, Sask., took sixth spot on Saturday in pairs at the NHK Trophy ISU Grand Prix figure skating competition. Vans Shoes Wholesale . -- The goal posts lying flat on the field, Arizonas fans lingered on the field, congregating around the locker room entrance nearly 30 minutes after rushing out of the stands. Time, perhaps, for the invocation of a few small mercies. Anything, so long as it inserts a little calm and perspective into the psychodrama which seems to afflict Wales along with every autumn programme.Things could, and very often have been worse. Think back four years to the same point in the World Cup cycle, when Wales went into the autumn proclaiming top four ambitions, and wound up instead plunging into the third seeds. This time theyve finished fifth. While that isnt proof against a gruesome Six Nations, it makes it likelier that Wales will be among the second seeds when the 2019 draw is made -- later than last time, but still ridiculously early, next May.And when something has happened only three times in 110 years, it is not to be sniffed at. South Africa may be at what many reckon is an all-time low, but still had to be beaten. So too did Argentina and Japan. And while one would hope for Wales to beat both at home, neither is to be taken for granted.There were fine individual performances, with the mild frustration that the best -- from Ross Moriarty and, particularly against South Africa, Justin Tipuric -- were in the back row, already richly served. Leigh Halfpenny re-integrated himself after a years absence. And if there were continuing reminders of Sam Warburtons physical fragility and the loss of Rhys Webb, it has to be accepted that any rugby team at any time will have to cope with injured absentees.And while four matches remains one too many, at least this year we are spared the spectacle of Welsh players being plunged straight back into European competition, with an inevitably deleterious effect on performances in the pivotal third and fourth weekends of the pool stage. This time, that is Englands problem.So why the angst? One reason was the hideous 32-8 mullering inflicted by Australia on the opening weekend, a humiliation on a scale which it seemed -- except perhaps for odd occasions against the All Blacks at their best -- was a thing of the past. It is one thing to be out-thought and narrowly defeated by Australia -- an all-too familiar script over the past few years -- but still more disappointing to be outplayed, including several cases of simple out-muscling, in pretty much every phase and for a 24-point defeat to, if anything, understate the gulf between the teams.Anyone told that Saturday evening that Wales would win their remaining matches might have felt some relief. But there is little sense of that now, in part because of the nature of those victories.One element is perhaps an underrating of Japan and Argentina. But another is that Wales play was so dull, unimaginative and stereotypical. Nothing new about that, one might say. Wales have been dull, unimaginative and stereotypical for the last few years, but grateful for the results that power rugby has brought, particularly in the Six Nations. This, again, is nothing new -- Welsh antecedents of Warrenball include, arguably, the power-based Triple Crown Rugby with which John Gwilliams teams won Grand Slams in 1950 and 1952.But one difference is that the Welsh public had been offered hints of something more varied and interesting over the last couple of years. The displacement of Alex Cuthbert by Liam Williams and Mike Phillips by Rhys Webb in the first choice starting line-up pointed Wales in a new direction, with power leavened by subtler footballing skills.And there is clearly a desire to move on among the Welsh coaching staff. Wonderfully though Jamie Roberts has served Wales, the willingness to bench him against Argentina and South Africa also showed recognition that straight Warrenball will no longer serve.ddddddddddddAt the same time such transitions are tough. Players must learn new habits and instincts, and to apply learning from the training field into pressurised match situations in front of large, demanding crowds. Mistakes of the sort seen against Japan are inevitable, and it becomes all too easy to retreat into older, safer modes and to cling on for instance to the selectorial comfort object represented by the experience and physical presence of the haplessly out-of-form Cuthbert.One has to feel some sympathy for Robert Howley, in a position of responsibility without power. If he does well, Warren Gatland still returns in 2017 for another two years. But doing badly could trash his chances of the succession once and for all.And we also might wonder if the academies are producing the right sort of player. There are gymrats aplenty, and those who are happy to be told what to do. But are they encouraging the sort of player on whom the most effective Welsh traditions have been founded -- the instinctive ball players who have the skills and imagination to play with their heads up, responding to match situations as well as to gameplans?Sam Davies is that kind of player. But does the Wales management truly have the confidence of its apparent convictions? If it did, it would surely have given him rather more game time, if not so much of it at fullback, and in particular would have started him ahead of the safer but somewhat prosaic Gareth Anscombe against Japan.Nor do the management always help themselves. Howleys comments about having to earn the right to offload suggests a continuing subordination to structure. Of course Wales must get defensive and set-piece fundamentals right -- their absence was the most alarming aspect of the surrender to Australia -- but whether or not to offload is surely a matter of recognising and taking opportunities as they occur rather than any process of earning.And if the exciting Keelan Giles really is old enough if hes good enough, why was the opportunity not taken to give him a few minutes at some point ? A succession of tight finishes did not, admittedly, help. But giving anyone a debut at any time has an element of risk. Among Wales previous teenage shooting stars Tom Prydie ultimately was not good enough, but George North was. The only way to find out was to give them game time. Not taking that calculated risk in the autumn means either forgetting him for the rest of the season, or taking it amid the far greater pressures of the Six Nations.And that of course is the final element in the Welsh mood, a sense of lagging behind the progress apparently being made by the other five. We can see the power, the confidence and the strength in depth, of England. Ireland not only beat the All Blacks, but seem to be unearthing a fresh generation of backs with the heads-up, close-to-the-line quality that Wales wants but somehow lacks. France might, with a little more composure, have beaten the All Blacks, Italy beat the Boks -- whatever their quality, a huge psychological breakthrough for the Italians -- and the Scots are now sourcing dynamic centres with extremely Welsh names.A mood of unease is better, one supposes, than depression or outright panic, both of which have gripped Wales during past autumn programmes. But it is hardly an uplifting frame of mind with which to confront the Six Nations. Mercies come little smaller. ' ' '