Bubba Wins 1st Event in Sudden Death at Travelers Championship
It was largest comeback on the PGA TOUR since Padraig Harrington also came from six back to win the 2007 British Open.
Bubba Watson, the long-hitting left-hander from the Florida Panhandle, closed with a 4-under 66 to match Verplank (64) and Pavin (66) at 14 under. Pavin dropped out on the first extra hole.
After making a 3-footer on the par-3 16th to win, Watson hugged wife Angie and began crying. He said he was so nervous, he could not feel his arms on the final putt.
"I'm a very emotional guy," he said. "I cry all the time. When I go to church on Sunday, I cry at church. I couldn't get the 'Yes' out of 'I do' at my wedding. The pastor said, 'You got to say it. You can't just nod. You can't nod.'
"Everybody has issues. My family had some issues. My dad is battling cancer. My wife last year thought she had a tumor in her brain. We got lucky with that one, and now, we're battling with my dad. It's emotional."
Verplank left his tee shot short and left of the green on the second playoff hole and missed an 8-foot par putt. Watson, who had a 48-footer for birdie, was able to steady his nerves enough to get it close.
The 50-year-old Pavin, who was taking a break from the Champions Tour to scout players for the Ryder Cup, was eliminated on the first playoff hole after hitting his tee shot just 219 yards (101 yards shorter than Watson) and putting his approach into a bunker short of the 18th green. He chipped to 3 feet, earning a standing ovation.
"The playoff was a little disappointing to me," he said. "I kind of popped up a three-wood there and left myself in a pretty precarious spot."
"Now, it's just time to go back and play with golfers my own age," he added.
Justin Rose, coming off his first PGA TOUR win at the Memorial Tournament, had a three-stroke lead entering the final round, but the shot a 75 to tie for ninth at 11 under.
"It was obviously my tournament to lose," Rose said. "I could have shot 1-over par today and won the golf tournament. It's disappointing. It wasn't overly difficult today."
Watson almost won on the first playoff hole, hitting a sand wedge within an inch of the cup from 128 yards out.
But Verplank made an 8-foot birdie putt to extend the playoff.
Verplank started the day in 13th place, eight strokes behind Rose, while Pavin and Watson were both six back.
Verplank eagled the 13th and 15th holes to move into contention. But a birdie try on 17 lipped the cup. Shot of the Day: Rd. 4, Travelers
Scott Verplank eagles the 15th hole, chipping-in from the green-side bunker, on his way to a second-place finish. Bubba Watson nails his approach on the first playoff hole, sticking his shot from the fairway to inches on his way to victory at the 2010 Travelers Championship.
"When I holed it on 15, I looked at the leaderboard, and I wasn't that far back. I needed to birdie one of the last couple holes," Verplank said.
Courtesy of AP, ESPN, and http://www.majorschampionships.comJustin Rose Closes In
Shooting a 2-under 68 to take a three-stroke lead over Ben Curtis into the final round of the Travelers Championship. Rose closes in on his 2nd PGA victor. Rose, the 29-year-old Englishman who won the Memorial tournament presented by Morgan Stanley three weeks ago but then failed to qualify for the U.S. Open, had a 16-under 194 total at TPC River Highlands after setting the tournament 36-hole record with rounds of 64 and 62."It was just a day when nothing went in on the greens at all," said Rose, a stroke off the best 54-hole total in tournament history. "The tale of the day was that I made nothing on the greens. The longest putt I made was 4 feet, 10 inches for par on 17.
"So, I'm really happy to have a day like that on the greens and still shoot 68 and still maintain my lead.
Curtis, the 2003 British Open champion, shot a 64. Vaughn Taylor (67) was 11 under, and Ricky Barnes (64), Scott McCarron (66), Brendon de Jonge (67), Bubba Watson (67), Matt Jones (68), Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin (69) and Bill Lunde (69) were 10 under.
Charlie Wi cut Rose's lead -- four strokes after the first two days -- to two early in the round, but that was as close as Wi or anyone else could get.
Rose birdied Nos. 5 and 6 to open a six-stroke lead before Curtis -- seven strokes back at the start of the round -- pulled within three with five back-nine birdies.
"I thought the start was key for me today," Rose said. "I hit a lot of good shots early in my round. Birdies at 5 and 6 really felt like it got the round going and brought me back into the comfort zone."
Rose drove into the water on the 13th hole en route to his first bogey in 37 holes.
"I had only one real bad swing -- on the tee on 13," Rose said. "There was a little bit of wait there. It was just a bit of a slack tee shot, I suppose. After that, I played really well. I bounced back well from the only bogey of the day."
Despite making only one birdie in the final round, the 30-year-old from Northern Ireland was steady amid the stars of his generation and closed with a 3-over 74 to become the first European in 40 years to capture America's national championship.
He seized control after a shocking collapse by Dustin Johnson, then failed to get flustered by the three stars behind him, who have combined for 184 victories and 21 majors. All he had to do on the final hole was two-putt for par from 20 feet to join a distinguished list.
"To win at Pebble Beach, to join the names -- Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Tom Kite, Tiger Woods, me -- wow!" McDowell said. "I'm not quite sure if I belong in that list, but hey, I'm there now. It's a pretty amazing feeling."
Almost as surprising was the guy who gave McDowell the most trouble. Gregory Havret, a Frenchman who is No. 391 in the world, played with heart until he failed to convert putts over the final holes. He shot 72 and finished one shot behind.
"When you have Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els there, you're not expecting Gregory Havret to be the guy you've got to fend off," McDowell said.
Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els
They couldn't win a U.S. Open that was there for the taking. Els had nothing to say. Mickelson tried to laugh. And Tiger? His body language said it all. Woods could relate. And point to three holes -- the third, 10th and 12th. A par and two bogeys. Enough mistakes to cost him a fourth Open and a 15th major.
At the third he wound up in the deep rough, but found an opening, muscled the ball out and parred. At 10, he went right -- and into a hazard.
“I didn't know the wind was down,” he said. “I thought it was more a crest and that brought the right side into play. I fired at the pin on 10. Steve said take dead aim right at it, and in my heart I said no. There was no chance. I have a sand wedge in my hand, and I can't play at that flag. You land the ball on the green. It will go past the flags.
“I had a 10-, 15-footer after that because I aimed at Greg's ball,” he explained. “I went against my own -- I know things and hit the ball to the right and then hit the wrong club on 12. My instincts were telling me to hit a five, play it to the right, just draw it in there, and we thought four would be better, hold it up against the wind and I made just an awful swing.”
“Every putt I missed was from above the hole,” he said. “Yesterday I made everything because it was all below the hole. These greens are bumpy enough where putts above the holes it's just pot luck. But below the hole it takes a lot of that break out, and the putts I had today that were below the hole I made them.”
Ask Mickelson, the lone member of the Big Three without an Open and with four runner-up medals. He birdied the first hole to get to even for the tournament and plodded through the front nine. He bogeyed the 10th, then the 14th with a 12-foot par putt that, well, summed up the day.
"I don't know if there was a camera behind me, I don't know if it got a good shot of my putt or not from a low angle, but it was interesting to see the route it took,” he said. “Well, it wiggled left the first few feet, and then it wiggled right and was going right in the middle and then it wiggled left, right at the hole and went over the edge and I thought that it -- I thought it was going to snake in there and it just didn't quite do it."
"Other than the first six or seven holes, it just wasn't there,” said Mickelson, whose magic faded on the weekend after a Friday 66. "It got progressively tougher, the pins placements got progressively more difficult. And there just wasn't the opportunities really for birdie.”
Someone asked what it was about Pebble that kept scores high in a week where three players shot 66s.
"I'm not really sure,” Mickelson said, catching himself. “I kind of know, but I would rather not get into it. It just doesn't sound good. I mean it was just tough. It was a tough day on the golf course.”
Tough enough to take away a chance for him to start a MickelSlam. Tough enough for Woods to wonder if the process will be complete in three weeks at St. Andrews.
"I feel like I put some pieces together this week," Woods said. "It's a process. It's a long process, but I've put some of it together, and I hit some shots this week that I haven't hit in a long time.
"I feel like I can play now,” he added. “I’ve got a feel for my game, my shape of my shots, what I'm working on, and the two Major Championships I finished I had a chance to win both of them. So it's not too bad."
Courtesy of AP, ESPN, and http://www.majorschampionships.com
Pebble Beach Sat. Updates
Dustin Johnson shot a 5-under 66 Saturday to build a three-shot lead after the third round of the U.S. Open. Tiger Woodscomes back with his best round of the year to get into contention.
Johnson, the two-time defending champion in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, overpowered the course and birdied his last two holes, hitting 6-iron into the par-5 18th to build a three-shot lead over Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell and leave him one round away from a major championship.
"If I keep hitting like I've been hitting and putting it in the spots on the green, then I'm going to be tough to beat," said Johnson, who was at 6-under 207.
McDowell struggled down the stretch, fell out of the lead on the 17th and finished with an even-par 71. He will play in the final group Sunday, with a familiar face -- and a familiar game -- directly in front. Woods was alone in third, five strokes back after his own 66.
Nine shots out of the lead after a pair of sloppy bogeys early in his round, Woods hit his stride by making the vital putts and producing extraordinary shots that have been missing since he returned to competition two months ago.
Downhill birdie putt on the 17th.
Woods followed that with an aggressive 3-wood on the 18th, carving it around a cypress and out toward the Pacific and onto the green to about 15 feet for a two-putt birdie. It was his eighth birdie of the round, the most he has ever made in a U.S. Open.
"It's been a while," Woods said. "I hadn't played good enough for anyone to cheer anything. So it was nice to actually put it together on the back nine and put myself right back in the championship."
The 25-year-old Johnson, often overlooked among the stylish young stars in golf, put on a powerful display that led Woods earlier this week to call him "stupid long."
The U.S. Golf Association moved the tees forward on No. 4 to make it play 284 yards up the hill and tempt players to try to drive the green. Johnson did just that -- with a 3-iron to four feet for an eagle. And on the 18th, the same hole where Woods hit 3-wood off the tee and 3-wood onto the green for the loudest cheer of the day, Johnson got there with a driver and a 6-iron.
"Length is an advantage a lot of places, but definitely here, especially if I'm hitting it in the fairway," Johnson said. "Because the ball is going a long way. I'm hitting it extra far."
Johnson is not flashy. He's not a fist-pumper. And he didn't sound the least bit flustered about taking a three-shot lead into the final round of the U.S. Open.
"This is what I live for ... to go out and have a chance to win a U.S. Open," he said.
Johnson, McDowell and Woods were the only three players who remained under par, while Ernie Els (72) and Gregory Havret of France (69) were at even-par 213.
Phil Mickelson stumbled at the start, nearly fell apart along the coastal holes when he had to play one shot right-handed, and had to scramble for par on the closing hole when his tee shot bounced off the rocks and rolled back down on the beach.
Mickelson, runner-up in the U.S. Open a record five times, wound up with a 73 and was seven shots out of the lead.
"I didn't hit it as well as I did yesterday, so I had to fight pretty hard to get some up-and-downs -- some ridiculous up-and-downs -- to keep it within striking distance," said Mickelson, who was at 1-over 214.
After bogeys on the second and third holes, Woods ran off birdies on the next three and made the turn in even par. Birdies on the 11th and 13th holes got him closer to the conversation, and the final three holes set off a series of cheers that could be heard from all corners of the peninsula.
He rolled in a 12-foot birdie from the 16th, then made the tough, downhill 15-footer from the fringe of the 17th, raising his index finger in the air.The old Tiger showed up on the 18th hole.
"I said it yesterday, it's a process," Tiger said. “You have to just build. All the Opens that I've won I've had one stretch of nine holes. It doesn't have to be on a back nine or a front nine, just a nine-hole stretch where you put it together.
“That's what most Open champions have done, and I did it today. I got myself back in the championship with those nine holes.’’
He did it two years ago at Torrey Pines, too. He was five back at the start of that Saturday afternoon and he went on another ridiculous run. An eagle at the 13th. A chip-in at 17. An eagle at 18. The 54-hole lead all to himself. Thirty-six holes later, he won his third U.S. Open. On a shredded knee.
"It feels good to be able to control my ball,’’ he said. “Especially in this wind. And to control the shape, the flight, and where I was landing the ball. I was landing the ball on my numbers. Whether it was into the wind or downwind I was landing the ball on my numbers."
Courtesy of AP.
McDowell fired a 68 on Friday morning to move into sole possession of the lead But Mickelson surges 6/19/10
Phil Mickelson makes big move, tied for second. Mickelson, tied his career-low round at a U.S. Open with a 5-under 66, joining Els, Japanese teenager Ryo Ishikawa and two-time AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am winner Dustin Johnson at 1 under.
"Certainly my mood is better," the No. 2-ranked player said. "I'm a lot cheerier and I feel much better about my position in the tournament and heading into the weekend than I did after yesterday's round.
"I knew I was playing well. I knew I was putting well. Even though I putted terrible yesterday, I knew it was close. And to be able to make that change and get it going ... I'm looking forward to the weekend."
"I'm not a massive golf historian, I'd be lying if I said I was," McDowell said. "But winning major championships is what I've dreamed of all my life and what I've practiced for. ... I feel I'm as ready as I'm ever going to be.
Graeme McDowell is two shots ahead
"That doesn't mean my name's on the trophy this Sunday afternoon. There's a hell of a lot of work to do. This course is ready to bite you any second. I'm going to be relaxed and disciplined and try to keep control of my emotions and see where that leaves me Sunday afternoon."McDowell on the ninth hole Friday hit the second ball left off his club and knew he'd hit it too hard and was urging it to stop. He had a 15-footer from the fringe coming back, and then stared down a 4-footer for the bogey.
"I was just trying to get out of Dodge," McDowell said. "You've got to accept on this golf course, you get out of position, you're going to make bogey, simple as that. ... I think the golf course is fair and I think it rewards good golf, and that's all you can ask for."
"This win has been a huge springboard for me," said McDowell, whose stroke average of 69.6 as a senior at UAB bested those of Luke Donald and Tiger Woods. "A springboard of confidence, springboard for a good summer. I'm trying to use the momentum that I had in Wales. I feel very relaxed and very under control of what I'm doing, just trying to feed off that confidence."
"I really had three great looks at the golf course between myself and my caddie. I really think that we're very good at putting a game plan together. We're very sensible, we're pretty good strategizers when it comes to that kind of stuff."
"I made a promise that I would do better today," he said. "I feel well prepared. But it doesn't matter how well prepared, this golf course can still bite you and you have to be sensible out there."
Awful Greens in the Afternoon 6/18/10
The average score was 75.25
A punishing opening round on a picturesque day with Shaun Micheel and Paul Casey making birdie putts on the 18th hole to share the lead at 2-under 69 with Brendon De Jonge.
"There's a long way to go," Woods said after opening with a 74, five shots out of the lead and one better than Mickelson's 75. "Just keep plugging along and see where I come Sunday afternoon."
It won't get any easier -- not for Woods, Mickelson, or even the leaders.
"I'm not thinking about what kind of score might win this golf tournament," Ian Poulter said after a hard-earned 70. "I'm just happy to go out there and play as good as I possibly can. But I will tell you the golf course is difficult. There's not going to be many good scores on it today. And I can't see it getting easier."
Woods hit every green Thursday in opening with eight pars -- extending his streak to 34 holes without a bogey in a U.S. Open at Pebble Beach -- but never gave himself many good looks at birdie. His day ended badly, with a three-putt bogey from the fringe on the 16th, missing an 8-foot birdie on the 17th and laying up in a bunker to take bogey on the 18th for a 3-over 74.
"I hit the ball well enough to shoot a good score," Woods said. "These greens are just awful. They're moving every which way.
Miscues
Aaron Baddeley thought he had an ace on the 17th when his shot caught the lip. He four-putted for a double bogey.John Rollins was tied for the lead at 2 under when he put his tee shot into the rough at the far end of the hourglass green. He shanked his chip toward the 18th tee, left his third shot in the gnarly rough and wound up with a triple bogey.
Morgan Hoffmann of Oklahoma State was at even par, a remarkable performance for a college kid in his first U.S. Open. But he hit two balls into the ocean on the 18th -- the first one on a ricochet off the tree in the middle of the fairway -- and took a quadruple-bogey 9.
"My favorite hole on the golf course," Hoffmann said. "I was looking forward to it all day."
Lee Westwood, the No. 3 player in the world who has a second and two tied-for-thirds in the last three majors, had a 74. He played with Woods and Ernie Els, who had a 73
Pebble Beach 6/16/2010
The U.S. Open is returning to Pebble Beach in 2010 for the fifth time.Tiger Woods hasn't been Woods for almost a year, maybe longer. His wife (for now) is said to be asking for $750 million in a divorce settlement. In his last event before the U.S. Open, Woods tied for 19th at the Memorial. In his last three tournaments Woods has missed cut, a WD because of a bad neck and a T-19. For the first time since 2000 Woods is not the favorite to win at Pebble Beach.
Phil Mickelson turns 40-years-old today and he's finally the best player in the game. Five times a runner-up in the U.S. Open, Mickelson returns to Pebble Beach, one of his favorite courses, a left playground.
Camilo Villegas has one career top 10 at the U.S. Open, a T9 in 2008 at Torrey Pines. Hunter Mahan finished T6 last year at the U.S. Open. Ernie Els has two victories in 2010 and enters the U.S. Open as one of the US Open favorites.
Tom Watson received a special exemption to the U.S. Open this year. Watson won the 1982 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.
In the last five U.S. Opens, Woods has four top-10 finishes. In a press conference, Tiger Woods said his game has been rounding into form just in time for the Open.
"For some reason, people are very curious about my life," he said Tuesday afternoon in his latest State of the Tiger address.
Why or how are things differnt for Tiger?
"Way different, way different," he said. "I've played so much more since then. I only had a few weeks to get ready for Augusta after being off for quite a while. Now, I've been playing tournament golf basically since April.
"So it's just," Tiger said, smiling, "much different. He's playing for a "W".
He hasn't played at Pebble Beach since 2002. Pebble Beach is a magical place for Woods.
When in one of the most dominating victory in the history of majors golf he won the Open by 15 strokes.
"Yeah, that was a good week," Woods said. "That was a good week."
"As far as my game," said Woods, now his own swing coach, "I'm very excited about how it's progressed. … I'm actually really excited to get out there and tee it up on Thursday."
Pebble Beach. Will Woods do it again?-- and this tournament -- the Pebble Beach, U.S. Open -- this is where Woods won in historic, preposterous fashion. Woods says "yes".
In The Rough - St. Jude Classic Sat. 6/14/2010
Westwood Wins St. Jude
The Englishman who finished tied for fourth at The Players Championship this year won the St. Jude Classic for his second career PGA Tour victory and first since 1998, beating Swede Robert Karlsson on the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff Sunday.
"It just shows you, don't expect nothing in this game because you never know what's going to happen next," said Westwood, who won with a birdie on the fourth extra hole.
"You try to do the right thing all the time," Westwood said. "It doesn't always work for you. I've been in contention a lot, especially this year, and I suppose I got a break today with other people's misfortune but made the most of it and took a chance."
Westwood became the first European to win the tour's third-longest event only after Robert Garrigus blew a three-stroke lead on the final hole of regulation with a triple bogey. He bogeyed the first playoff hole.
Westwood started the final round trailing by three strokes, birdied three straight holes to grab the lead. But he bogeyed No. 17 after flying an 8-iron over the green. He was preparing to head off the course when told to stick around behind the 18th green.
He wound up taking home the $1.008 million winner's check after the longest sudden-death playoff at Memphis with a 68-270 total.
"It's amazing how things pan out," Westwood said. railing by a stroke as he came to the par-5 16th, Westwood only managed par after leaving a bunker shot some 30 feet short of the hole. On the par-4 17th, he airmailed the green on his approach and made bogey before finally parring in.
That put Westwood three behind Garrigus. Only this time it was someone else who tripped over themselves.
Garrigus stumbled into the playoff and fell out of it with a bogey on the first hole after his tee shot landed behind a tree on No. 18. hen Westwood, who shot a final-round 2-under 68, had finished regulation at 10 under, he didn't know there would be a playoff. "You certainly don't think three behind ... ," Westwood said. "It's amazing how things pan out."
Courtesy of Associated Press 2010
"I figured ... if the Blackhawks can win the Stanley Cup, I can win a PGA Tour event," Garrigus said. "I kept thinking about the Blackhawks all day."
Robert Garrigus sole leader for 1st time in PGA.
"I took a peek on No. 11, saw that I was right there near the lead or maybe birdied to take the lead or something like that. I just put it out of my head," Garrigus said. "After that, I really didn't look. I didn't know what anybody was doing behind me. I was just concentrating on my game, which I should probably do tomorrow.
Robert Karlsson, who shot a 68, is within striking distance of becoming the first European to win this event -- the tour's third oldest dating to 1958. He chipped in from 24 feet on No. 18 to stay close.
"My game I'm trying to get around. I'm very, very happy with it. I played well," Karlsson said.
Lee Westwood, ranked No. 3, had led after the first two rounds, had four bogeys and finished with a 71 that left him tied with Heath Slocum (66) at 8 under.
"I'm only three back so anything can happen," Westwood said.
2003 PGA Championship winner Shaun Micheel (70) was tied with Tim Petrovic (70) and Lee Janzen (70) at 6 under.
Garrigus opened with a 67 and 66. He started the third round only two strokes back of Westwood and Garrett Willis and was in a group just ahead of them with Karlsson and Janzen. Garrigus, who uses a 29½-inch putter, was upset with himself for missing a short putt on No. 3.
He responded by rolling in a 9-footer for his birdie on the par-3 No. 4 and a 4-foot birdie putt on No. 11 and then rolled a 22-footer on No. 12 to take the lead for the first time and a 21-footer for birdie on No. 15. That made him the first golfer to reach double-digits under par at the TPC Southwind course.
"I've been making so many good strokes and I haven't really worried about where it's going," he said. "That's really what you're supposed to do. The top players in the world do it."
I didn't play particularly well, didn't hit the ball very well," Westwood said. "I wasn't in control of my swing that much, and I think it shows you know how good my game has progressed and still shoot 71 under the pressure of the lead."
Garrigus alone in the group just ahead of Westwood. He missed his chance to take a bigger lead to the clubhouse when he hit his drive on No. 18 into the right rough, easily avoiding the lake to the left of the fairway. He finished with a bogey.
"It's kind of nice to have a 2-shot lead. It's not Sunday. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, and it should be fun," Garrigus said.
Courtesy of Associated Press 2010
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