Hats off to Bubba
Watson overcomes six-stroke deficit to win third Travelers Championship, third title of year
CROMWELL, Conn. —
Bubba Watson says TPC River Highlands feels like home. It certainly was 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.
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, but somehow pulling it off ” 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 back-to-back bogeys on 16 and 17 to end any chance he had of catching Watson.
The Englishman has finished in the top 20 in eight of his last nine tournaments. He was second here during his first visit in 2015, came in 17th a year later and had a fifth-place finish in Cromwell a year ago.
“There was a lot of fight in there,” Casey said. “But, I fought my golf swing all day as you can see coming down the last couple of holes.”
Watson also won at Rivera in Los Angeles in February and the World Golf Championships-Match Play in Austin, Texas, in March. He earned $1.26 million for his 12th career victory.
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.
EUROPEAN TOUR
PULHEIM, Germany — England’s Matt Wallace shot a 7-under 65 to hold off Thorbjorn Olesen’s record-breaking charge in the BMW International Open. Wallace won his third European Tour title. He finished at 10-under 278 — a stroke ahead of Olesen, Mikko Korhonen and 2008 winner Martin Kaymer.
Olesen played himself into contention with a 61, the lowest round in tournament history. The Danish star had an eagle and nine birdies. Korhonen shot 67, and Kaymer 68.
WEB.COM TOUR
WICHITA, Kan. — Brady
Schnell birdied the second hole of a playoff to win the Wichita Open for his first Web.com Tour title.
The 33-year-old former Nebraska player made a 12-footer to beat Brandon Hagy.
Schnell won his 100th tour start, closing with a 4-under 66 to match Hagy and Scott Pinckney at 14-under 266 at Crestview. Hagy finished with a 63, and Pinckney shot 68.
Pinckney was eliminated on the first extra hole.
LPGA TOUR
ROGERS, Ark. — Japanese teenager Nasa Hataoka ran away with the NW Arkansas Championship on for her first LPGA Tour title
The 19-year-old Hataoka won by six strokes, closing with an 8-under 63 at Pinnacle Country Club for a tournament-record 21-under 192 total. She broke the mark of 18 under set last year by So Yeon Ryu.
Hataoka won twice late last year on the Japan LPGA and has finished in the top 10 in five of her last six LPGA Tour stars, including a playoff loss last month in the Kingsmill Championship.
Hataoka began the round tied with Minjee Lee for the lead. Austin Ernst shot a 65 to finish second. Lee and Lexi Thompson topped the group at 13 under.
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS
MADISON, Wis. — Scott
McCarron won the American Family Insurance Championship, closing with an 8-under 64 for a one-stroke victory over hometown player Jerry Kelly.
McCarron birdied Nos. 14-16 and parred the final two for his first victory of the season and seventh in three years on the PGA Tour Champions. He finished at 15-under 201 at University Ridge.
Kelly shot 65, also parring the final two holes. Fellow Madison player
Steve Stricker, the tournament host and first-round leader, had a 65 to tie for third with 2017 champion Fred
Couples and Colin Montgomerie.