GOLF ROUNDUP Watson rallies to win his 3rd Travelers title
CROMWELL, Conn. – Bubba Watson says TPC River Highlands feels like home. It certainly a comfortable place again this week.
Watson overcame a six-stroke 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. Thirdround 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.”
During the victory ceremony, Watson’s children – 6-year-old son Caleb and 3-year-old daughter Dakota – received small trophies of their own.
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.
LPGA Tour
ROGERS, Ark. – Japanese teenager Nasa Hataoka ran away with the NW Arkansas Championship 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 playof loss last month in the Kingsmill Championship.
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. The 52year-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. 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 firstround leader, had a 65 to tie for third with 2017 champion Fred Couples (67) and Colin Montgomerie (64).