Watney wins AT&T National for second 2011 Tour success

Nick Watney claimed his second PGA Tour title of the season with a gritty win at the AT&T National, Aronimik Golf Club, Philadelphia. After starting the day as joint-leader with Rickie Fowler, Watney was forced to fight all the way for his success and it was a red-hot putter that ultimately made the difference.

Time and again Watney holed out for par after some lacklustre approaches left him struggling, but the flat-stick baled him out. Still, he had to keep watching over his shoulder as Players Championship winner K.J Choi and Jeff Overton fought to close the gap.

On more than one occasion, Overton got to within one shot of Watney, only to see the latter pull ahead again and it was on the 14th hole where Overton’s resistance was broken when he bogeyed the hole. That was followed by another at the next hole to drop him back to 9-under par and 3 off Watney.

Overton fought on and birdied the 16th to cut the gap to two but after a par on the 17th he dropped another stroke on the last to drop into a tie for third with Adam Scott and Charles Howell III.

That left Watney to slug it out with Choi, and after the Korean tied Watney at the 14th hole – Choi had been four back at one point – the stage was set was a real battle. It turned out not to be, however, as Choi handed the initiative back to Watney on the next hole with a double-bogey.

With both players birdying the 16th, Choi needed to gain a stroke on each of the closing two holes, but both he and Watney parred in and it was Watney’s win in the end.

Watney earned $1.116 million and became the first player this year to top $4 million on the PGA Tour. He also overtook Luke Donald at the top of the FedEx Cup standings.

Australian Robert Allenby carded a final round 65 to take a share of 6th place alongside Chris Stroud, while American duo Bryce Molder, Chris Kirk and Webb Simpson shared eighth.

Joint-overnight leader Rickie Fowler never got going in his final round, limping to a closing 74 to drop into a share of 13th, while defending champion Justin Rose shot a closing 69 to tie for 15th spot.

Wilson beats Dufner in Phoenix Open Playoff

Just a few short weeks ago, many people would have struggled to pick out Mark Wilson from a crowd. But that was before he won the Sony Open in Hawaii, and in doing so brought a two year hiatus from the winners’ enclosure to an end.

But not content with that Hawaii win, Wilson has gone on to capture the weather-hit Waste Management Phoenix Open after a closing 67 saw him in a playoff with fellow American Jason Dufner.

Dufner had trailed Wilson by three shots overnight but clawed them back thanks to a closing 66 to close on 18-under par; carding five birdies without a dropped shot, including two in his last three holes. Wilson, meanwhile did drop a shot at the 11th hole, but added three birdies to his score to also close on the 18-under par mark, 266.

And so it was off to a sudden-death playoff down the 18th hole. Both players shared the honours on the first extra hole with a pair of pars, before Wilson birdied the second extra hole – the 10th – to take the win, with Dufner not able to do better than par.

After play resumed on Monday, Wilson – starting out by completing the 13th hole he had started the previous day – made seven straight pars before holing the winning birdie putt.

Wilson’s win earned him $1,098,000 and catapulted him to the top of the FedEx Cup standings. The win also doubled his pre-2011 career haul of PGA Tour victories, bring the total to four. Wilson had won the Honda Classic in 2007, before capturing the Mayakoba Golf Classic in 2009 and then winning again in Hawaii earlier in the year.

Dufner, meanwhile, remains winless on the PGA Tour since turning professional, although he has won twice on the lesser Nationwide Tour.

Scotland’s Martin Laird shot a closing round of 65 to take a share of third place with veteran Fijian, Vijay Singh, who shot a round of 66.

Meanwhile Nick Watney, JB Holmes and Gary Woodland shared fifth place on 15-under par.

Phil Mickelson, the sole representative left in the tournament for the YGT tipster was in contention at half-way but couldn’t find an extra gear to challenge over the home stretch and played the final 36 holes in level-par to drop into a share of 29th place.

Jim Furky named 2010 PGA Tour Player of the Year

Fedex Cup winner Jim Furyk has been named PGA Tour Player of the Year for the 2010 season by his fellow players. PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem made the announcement on Saturday, and it is the first time the 40-year old Furyk has lifted the honour.

In addition to winning the FedEx Cup, Furyk also won three times on Tour in 2010 – the Transitions Championship, the Verizon-Heritage Classic and the season-ending Tour Championship, which sealed the win on the FedEx Cup series.

Furyk also finished second on the money list behind Matt Kuchar, with a seasonal haul of $4.8million and represented the United States in the Ryder Cup match against the Europeans at The Celtic Manor Resort, Wales.

“The year just keeps getting better is all I can say,” Furyk said. “I’m not sure I want 2010 to end at this point.”

Furyk, who will receive the Jack Nicklaus Trophy as Player of the Year, was nominated for the award ahead of Ernie Els, Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar and Phil Mickelson.
“Jim is a tremendous player, a consummate professional and with three wins and the FedExCup title, his season was certainly worthy of the award,” Finchem said.

2010 was a halcyon season for Furyk after ending a two-year tournament drought with a win in the Transitions Championship back in March, but went on to win again at Hilton Head in the Verizon-Heritage Classic before sealing the FedEx Cup with victory in the Tour Championship presented by Coca-Cola.

Furyk had previously won player of the year from the PGA of America, an award based on points; but this award came after a vote of Furyk’s fellow PGA TOUR peers.

“This one is very meaningful … having all my peers and colleagues – basically the guys I play against week in and week out – and to have them vote for me as player of the year is what’s special,” Furyk said.

Woods takes Chevron World Challenge lead

Tiger Woods shot an opening round of 65 to match his best round of the 2010 season so far, in the Chevron World Challenge at Thousand Oaks, California to take a one shot lead over European Ryder Cup pair, Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell.

The event, which is hosted by Woods, features an invited field of just eighteen players but does not include current world number one, Lee Westwood, who is competing in the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa. Nevertheless, Woods could return to the top of the world rankings with a win here and could also snap a losing streak that dates back to November 2009.

Woods missed only two greens and putted for eagle four times during his round, but dropped a shot at the last after his drive landed behind a tree. However, he still managed to top the leaderboard for only the second time this season.

“It’s not too often you can say I shot 65 and only made one putt, but that’s kind of what I did today,” Woods said. “I only made one putt and it was on 9. The rest were either two-putts or kick-ins. It was a good ball-striking day.”

McDowell and McIlroy both shot rounds of 66, but the pair – who enjoyed a fruitful partnership at The Celtic Manor in October as Europe regained the Ryder Cup, would have combined to shoot a best ball round of 61.

2010 major tournament nearly-man Dustin Johnson and 2009 Open champion Stewart Cink share a tie for fourth place, a further three shots behind the Northern Irish duo, after carding rounds of 69 while Luke Donald joined Camilo Vilegas on 2-under par after rounds of 70.

A six-way tie for eighth sees Dubai World Championship runner-up Ian Poulter alongside Hunter Mahan, Sean O’Hair, Steve Stricker, Nick Watney and FedEx Cup series winner Jim Furyk after the sextet shot level-par rounds of 72.

Five lay claim to PGA Tour Player of the Year Award

American players Jim Furyk, Matt Kuchar, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and South African Ernie Els are in the running to receive the 2010 PGA Tour Player of the Year award.

All five players have a strong claim to the accolade.

Furyk – already named the PGA of America’s Player of the Year – won three times on the PGA Tour in 2010, culminating in his winning the FedEx Cup playoff series.

Matt Kuchar topped the PGA Tour money list with earnings falling just short of $5 million to win the Arnold Palmer Award. And his consistency was rewarded with the Byron Nelson award, which he won thanks to leading the Tour’s scoring average rankings with an 18-hole average of 69.91.

Phil Mickelson won his fourth major title in the US Masters at Augusta, while Dustin Johnson won twice on Tour and also ran close to winning two majors in the US Open and US PGA.

Ernie Els also won twice on the PGA Tour to emerge from a spell in the doldrums.

The quintet was selected by the Tour’s player advisory council and player directors, and the winner will be announced on December 4th.

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