Bubba Watson
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Bubba Watson Wins Travelers Championship
CROMWELL, Conn. — Bubba Watson really wanted to play well at the Travelers Championship to impress U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin.He did.Watson overcame a six-stroke deficit Sunday to force a playoff with Pavin and Scott Verplank, then beat Verplank with a par on the second playoff hole.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.
Travelers Championship Leaderboard
1. Watson-x (-14)
T-2. Verplank (-14)
T-2. Pavin (-14)
4. Riley (-13)
T-5. Four tied at -12
x — won in playoff
• Scores
But he didn’t quit. He hit his tee shot 396 yards off the cart path, and made a 6-foot birdie putt to get into the playoff.”I guess you can’t say I choked, because I came back and birdied the next hole and now I’m the champion,” he said.No player in the first three groups made it into the playoff.Rose held the lead until he missed a 10-foot par putt on 10 and moved into a three-way tie with playing partner Ben Curtis and Verplank.Rose lost the lead after a bogey on the 12th hole, then hit his tee shot on 15 into the water on his way to a double bogey.Curtis, who bogeyed just two holes in the tournament coming into Sunday, hit his tee shot on 12 out of bounds to the left, and made a double bogey. Both he and Rose bogeyed 16. Curtis finished with a 73 to tie for 13th at 10 under.Chris Riley began the day at 8 under, but eagled the par-4 14th from 155 yards and was 5 under on the back nine. He finished a stroke out of the playoff at 13 under.”I bogeyed my first two holes and, I was like, ‘Ho, hum. Here we go,’” he said. “I was in something like 45th place. What makes this course so great is you can make up ground.”Watson ended Europe’s tour winning streak at three. Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell won the big prize last week at the U.S. Open. The Memorial was Rose’s first tour win, and fellow Englishman Lee Westwood won the St. Jude Classic.Watson earned .08 million and moved into eighth place in the FedEx Cup rankings.
Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press
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