The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

BUBBA’S BIG DAY WATSON RALLIES FROM 6 BACK TO WIN TRAVELERS

-

Bubba Watson says TPC River Highlands feels like home. It certainly a comfortabl­e place again this week.

Watson overcame a sixstroke deficit Sunday to win his third Travelers Championsh­ip title, shooting a 7-under 63 for a three-stroke victory in Cromwell, Conn.

The left-hander became the first three-time winner on the PGA Tour this season and pulled within one of Billy Casper’s tournament record of four victories.

He finished at 17-under 263. Third-round leader Paul Casey, Stewart Cink, Beau Hossler and J.B. Holmes tied for second. Casey shot 72, Cink 62, Hossler 66 and Holmes 67.

Watson also came from six back to win the 2010 event for his first tour title and beat Casey in a playoff in 2015.

“I feel like this is my home course,” Watson said. “As soon as they put the schedule up, I sign up for this. I want to come back here. This means so much, not only from the golf side of it, but from the family side. My dad, it was the only time he got to see me win (in 2010). He got to see me qualify for the Ryder Cup at this event. So all these things just mean so much to my family.”

Watson shot a 33 on the front nine, but really got it going on the back, with five birdies. He tied Casey at 16-under par by getting up and down from the bunker for a birdie on the course’s signature 15th hole.

Still tied on the par-4 18th, Watson hit his tee shot 366 yards, then pitched inside 3 feet, giving caddie Ted Scott a big high-five before taking the lead with the putt.

“Hitting some of those shots, especially the shot on 18, downwind, it was very difficult,” Watson said. “And that’s what we all try to do on Sundays is pull off the amazing shot.”

Casey, who shot 65, 67 and 62 to lead the field by four shots coming into Sunday, birdied his opening hole. But he gave that back on the fifth and had bogeys on 16 and 17 to end any chance he had of catching Watson.

Cink tied the best round of the week with a 62 on Sunday. The two-time Travelers champion came out blazing, opening with three straight birdies and putting up a 29 on the front nine. He was 7-under through 10 and acknowledg­ed thinking about a sub-60 round after making birdie on the 15th.

“I knew that I needed three birdies to shoot 59. But quickly, I also remembered that the golf tournament was on the line and it would mean a lot more to me to win the Travelers Championsh­ip than to shoot a 59.”

Champions: Scott McCarron won the American Family Insurance Championsh­ip, closing with an 8-under 64 for a one-stroke victory over hometown player Jerry Kelly.

The 52-year-old McCarron birdied Nos. 14-16 and parred the final two to hold on for his first victory of the season and seventh in three years on the PGA Tour Champions.

LPGA Tour: Japanese teenager Nasa Hataoka ran away with the NW Arkansas Championsh­ip for her first tour title.

The 19-year-old Hataoka won by six strokes, closing with an 8-under 63 at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers for a tournament-record 21-under 192 total.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States