Bubba Watson cruises to three-shot win in Bahamas at Hero World Challenge

FROM THE GOLF CHANNEL.COM
By DOUG FERGUSON

NASSAU, Bahamas – A few years after Bubba Watson made it onto the US PGA Tour, he started waking up early to play practice rounds with Tiger Woods. He didn't ask a lot of questions of the world's No. 1 player who already had 14 majors when he was 32.
''I learn by watching and listening,'' Watson said. ''So I just watched. How would you not want to learn from the best player of our generation?''
Woods, the tournament host, was watching Sunday as Watson delivered a performance that looked familiar in its efficiency.
Staked to a two-shot lead going into the final round, Watson made four birdies in seven holes and was never seriously challenged.
 He sailed home to a 6-under 66 and a three-shot victory over Patrick Reed at Albany Golf Club in the Hero World Challenge.
Watson wasn't even planning to play this week. He turned down his invitation a few months ago because he didn't have a passport for his newly adopted daughter, Dakota. 
But when US PGA champion Jason Day backed out to stay home with his new-born daughter, Watson's wife was able to expedite all the right documents for the family to come over to the Bahamas.
He left with a $1 million pay-off and a firm grasp on the No. 4 spot in the world the rest of the year.
''I guess I've got to thank Jason Day for backing out. I have to thank the U.S. government and passport office for getting Dakota a passport so we could be here,'' Watson said. ''For us, it's a good ride, a fun ride.''

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Even if it didn't feel easy to him, it sure looked that way.
Watson didn't make a bogey all weekend until the final hole, when he jokingly asked NBC field reporter Notah Begay how many shots he needed to win. He played it safe and made bogey, and all that cost him was the tournament record. 
Watson finished at 25-under 263, one shot from Jordan Spieth's record last year at Isleworth.
Reed also had a 66 to finish alone in second, moving him to No. 10 in the world for the first time. Rickie Fowler had a 64 to finish third.
Spieth tried to stay in range and was three shots behind until he missed a 4-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole and never converted many chances after that. He ended his year with a 67, and walking up the 18th, he and caddie Michael Greller allowed for a quick reflection.
''Michael said, 'Hey, man, it's been an honour to be in the passenger seat, sitting shotgun for this ride. Thanks for everything,''' Spieth said. 
'I obviously thanked him. It's been a team effort this year, just as we always stress. But yeah, there was certainly a sigh of relief.''
The Masters and U.S. Open champion strengthened his grip on No. 1 in the world, and headed off to a three-week vacation before going out to Maui for the first tournament of what figures to be a tough encore. 
First up: A trip to Augusta National this weekend to play with his father.
Watson's year is not finished. He was headed to New York on Sunday night to catch a flight to Asia for the Thailand Open.
The two-time Masters champion already had a two-week trip away from his family, and he didn't want to do that again. So when there was uncertainty about getting his daughter a passport for the Bahamas, he decided he would stay home this week and asked the tournament to let him know if anyone pulled out.
Day withdrew, Watson's wife spent eight hours in an Arizona office trying to get all the paperwork and they were on their way.
Watson seized control with seven birdies and an eagle on Saturday in ideal weather for a two-shot lead over Paul Casey, and he started fast with birdies on the second and third holes to keep his distance. No one got closer than two shots all day, and as Fowler made a move with a 30 on the front nine, Watson answered with two straight birdies to start the back nine, and then it was a matter of finishing.
Justin Rose, who lives at Albany and has lingered at the bottom of the leaderboard all week, set the course record with a 62 in the final round.
For Watson, the next step is to be a more consistent winner. This was the ninth victory worldwide in his career, and the second straight year he has won multiple times.
''I want my name to be close to that leaderboard every tournament, every year, so people are always talking about Bubba Watson, about how consistent he is and good he is,'' Watson said. ''That's my whole focus right now, every year getting better and better.''

ALL THE FINAL TOTALS

PAR 288 (4x72)

1 Bubba Watson

67

67

63

66

263

2

Patrick Reed

69

65

66

66

266

3

Rickie Fowler

70

68

65

64

267

4

Jordan Spieth

67

66

68

67

268

T5

Bill Haas

67

66

68

68

269

T5

Paul Casey

66

70

63

70

269

7

Brooks Koepka

67

70

65

68

270

T8

J.B. Holmes

68

68

64

271

T8

Jimmy Walker

66

67

71

67

271

T10

Adam Scott

67

70

66

69

272

T10

Chris Kirk

69

65

66

72

272

12

Zach Johnson

66

70

67

70

273

13

Justin Rose

71

72

70

62

275

14

Matt Kuchar

70

66

69

71

276

15

1

Dustin Johnson

-8

18

-1

68

69

72

71

280

66

66

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16

1

Billy Horschel

-7

18

-5

71

70

73

67

281

T210

T210

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T17

1

Hideki Matsuyama

-4

18

-6

75

73

70

66

284

35

35

--

T17

2

Anirban Lahiri

-4

18

E

69

70

73

72

284

95

95

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New European Spring Junior Tournament:
 
Open to all Junior Players aged 12 - 18 years    

La Serena Golf Resort, Murcia, Spain, March 30-April 1

 NEWS RELEASE FROM EVOLVE TOUR
We are very excited to announce the European Spring Junior - a prestigious Global Junior Golf Tour Event. We have secured an excellent venue, located right next to the beautiful Mar Menor. La Serena Golf Resort, close to the city of Murcia, which provides not only a superb golf course, but also offers excellent apartment accommodation located just a short walk to all facilities. 
With a stunning beach side location and an easy airport transfer from either Alicante or San Javier (Murcia) this event is sure to be well subscribed. We look forward to greeting you soon at La Serena Golf Resort.

 Below: La Serena (next to the Mar Menor coastline)
  A GLOBAL JUNIOR GOLF TOUR EVENT
First 5 Registrations Receive Immediate Entry

      Become a member of Global Junior Golf or Sign up for the event 

Click here

    Player Package - 28 March to 02 April - 525 euro (5 Nights)
    Accommodation and Event at La Serena Golf Resort, Murcia, Spain
    Special rates for parents/coaches - see tournament website  
    Price includes breakfasts/official tournament dinner
    Lunch supplement available
    Transfers FREE from San Javier, small charge from Alicante
    Fully equipped apartments, easy walking to all facilities
    Includes practice round 29 March, tournament 30, 31, 01 April
    FREE Wi-Fi - just arrive and move in
    FlightScope day on practice day
Tournament website 
Click here

Aussie Marc Leishman cruises to six-stroke

win in South Africa's Nedbank Challenge

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

Australian Marc Leishman cruised to a brilliant victory in the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa with an impressive five under par 67 in the final round to finish a turbulent year on a high.
Marc is pictured right with trophy, courtesy of Getty Images(c).
The 32-year-old’s wife was seriously ill in April – he had to leave the Masters to be by her side – and he lost an uncle, while on the course he was beaten in a play-off for The Open Championship in July.
But, having taken a one-shot lead into the last round at Gary Player Country Club in Sun City, South Africa he produced a wonderful back nine to hold off World Number 7 Henrik Stenson and win by six strokes with a 19 under par total of 269, afterwards saying the US$1.25million first prize will help pay for his new house in Australia.
Stenson, who was bed-bound with a virus in the build-up to the event, closed with a level par 72, while Englishman Chris Wood rose into third place with a 68.
Quotes
Marc Leishman
“Golf’s a lot easier when you don't have to make up lost ground, especially on this golf course where there's trouble everywhere. I was really happy to not have too many bogeys. I definitely found out where the trouble was in the practice round.
“I knew it was going to be a really tough day, I knew I had to play well. Henrik is an awesome player and I knew he’d make me earn it, which he did. I'm really pleased that I could play as well as I did and have a little bit of a buffer there at the end.
“I’m pretty happy to have this year over, to be honest. Audrey got very sick and I lost an uncle who I was very close to. This tops off what was otherwise not a great year. Three weeks ago we moved into a new house, so this will help pay for that.”
Henrik Stenson
“I’ll take it, looking at the bigger picture. With the chances I’ve had this year, to be winless is a little disappointing but all in all it’s been a solid year and I’ve got to look at the good results I made and the amount of world ranking points and all the rest of it. Of course I’d like to be holding the trophy, and I had a nice chance here. "Obviously dropping a few coming in yesterday made it harder. It’s always harder to make those up on a Sunday – I would rather have been one ahead than one behind going into the last round.
“Marc played really solidly and shot five under on a tricky day. I didn’t start off that great, came back a little in the middle of the round and needed something spectacular towards the end, and I couldn’t do that. All credit to him for the win – he’s a deserving champion."
Chris Wood
“It’s hard to believe at the moment. On Tuesday night I was on a drip for 13 hours and there was no chance of me playing, given the way I felt. I was wheeled through the hotel in a wheelchair and tucked into bed by three men – two doctors and a guy from the hotel. I was in a bad way. So whatever the result was I was just glad to be playing, so to finish third is amazing.
“The heat just got me on Sunday on Monday and I had to pull out of the pro-am on Tuesday and then didn’t hit a shot until Thursday. I was pretty weak but the doctors have been monitoring me each day and I managed to complete four rounds which I never thought I would.
“I’ve enjoyed the whole week. It’s an incentive to start our year here and gives you a good step forward going into 2016, and especially with it being a Ryder Cup year. Probably for the last ten years Danny (Willett) and I have followed similar paths and we always push each other on. 
"Seeing him win last year when I had a cast on my broken wrist was a massive incentive to work hard and get back stronger.”
Russell Knox, making his debut as a European Tour member, had an up-and-down tournament - two good rounds in the 60s, two poor rounds in the high 70s for a one-over-par total of 289, 20 behind winner Leishman

FINAL TOTALS
par 288 (4x72)
269 M Leishman (Aus) 68 68 66 67
275 H Stenson (Swe) 66 67 70 72
279 C Wood  (Eng) 70 71 70 68
280 R Streb (USA) 69 66 72 73, D Willett  (Eng) 67 75 70 68, B Grace  (RSA) 68 74 67 71, V Dubuisson  (Fra) 71 73 68 68
281 B An (SKor) 72 70 71 68
282 C Schwartzel  (RSA) 71 74 67 70, T Jaidee (Tha) 70 72 69 71,
283 E Grillo (Arg) 72 69 73 69, L Oosthuizen  (RSA) 70 72 68 73,
284 J Van Zyl (RSA) 66 68 72 78, T Aiken (RSA) 73 69 72 70,
285 R Fisher (Eng) 69 71 73 72
286 A Sullivan (Eng) 71 71 70 74, M Fitzpatrick  (Eng) 69 77 68 72, K Bradley (USA) 72 69 73 72, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 70 68 73 75,
287 S Piercy (USA) 73 68 72 74
288 T Fleetwood  (Eng) 71 72 73 72, M Jimenez (Esp) 70 72 75 71,W Simpson (USA) 75 72 72 69
289 R Knox (Sco) 69 76 68 76
290 M Kaymer (Ger) 75 71 72 72, B Wiesberger  (Aut) 70 71 68 81, S Lowry  (Irl) 74 71 70 75,
300 L Westwood (Eng) 72 81 72 75,
305 S Kjeldsen (Den) 74 81 77 73,
307 S Bowditch (Aus) 77 78 77 75,


EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

  ASIAN TOUR NEWS RELEASE

Ho Tram, Vietnam: World number 12 Sergio Garcia prevailed in a four-way play-off to win the inaugural US$1.5 million Ho Tram Open after an enthralling final round today in Vietnam. 

The 35-year-old Spaniard parred the second extra hole at The Bluffs Ho Tram Strip to pip a courageous Himmat Rai of India to the title after Chinese Taipei’s Lin Wen-tang and Thai veteran Thaworn Wiratchant had bowed out earlier in the play-off climax to  the richest full-field Asian Tour tournament this season.

Garcia’s 23^rd career Tour victory and his first since January, 2014 came with a cheque of US$270,000.

“Winning is never easy. I was fortunate and you have to be lucky to win. I was fortunate to get a second chance after I pretty much gave it away. I’m very happy as I haven’t won in a while," said Sergio.

"After you’ve been up there and you don’t win, a lot of things go through your mind and this win will give me a little bit more confidence,” said Garcia, who signed off with a three-under-par 68 for a 14-under-par 270 aggregate.

Starting the day two back of overnight leader Lin, Garcia stormed out with a stunning outward 29 to open up a three-shot lead before his game surprisingly unravelled with a bogey on 10 and a double bogey on 17.

Thaworn and Rai came home in 67s while Lin scrambled to a 70 to force extra-time which left spectators at the edge of their seats as they awaited to hail the Ho Tram Open’s first ever champion.

In the first extra hole on 18, Garcia, who has now won five Asian Tour titles, drained a massive 35-foot birdie putt which was matched by Rai, who coolly converted from five feet after Lin and Thaworn missed their birdie attempts. 

The Spaniard then claimed a popular victory with a par after Rai bogeyed the second play-off hole after finding the bushes with an errant drive.

“It was a strange day. It felt like I was so much under control, the way I played the front nine. Then I hit a bad tee shot on 10 but I still managed to get it back together and had some chances which I didn’t make. Then I hit a poor shot on 17,” said Garcia.

“I guess they gave me a hat in my hand, I gave it away and they gave me another chance. It was just luck for me. I had 30 to 35 feet (in the first play-off hole), and even if you hit a great putt, you need to get lucky. Then I managed to get to the next hole and unfortunately Rai pulled it a bit left into the bushes and I managed to make four and that was it.”

Rai, whose lone Asian Tour victory came in 2011, charged into contention with a birdie, birdie, eagle run from the 14^th hole but rued a three-putt bogey on 18 in regulation play which proved costly.

However, the 28-year-old Indian took comfort that his joint runner-up cheque of US$111,500 was more than enough to safely secure his Tour card for next season after starting the week in 116^th place on the Order of Merit.

 

LEADING FINAL TOTALS

par 284 (4x71) Yardage 6,797

270 Sergio GARCIA (ESP) 66-68-68-68, Himmat RAI (IND) 66-69-68-67, Thaworn WIRATCHANT (THA) 64-71-68-67, LIN Wen-tang (TPE) 65-67-68-70   (Garcia won with a par on the second play-off hole)

271 Thomas BJORN (DEN) 69-70-68-64.

273 Sam CYR (USA) 69-69-70-65, Shaun NORRIS (RSA) 66-71-65-71.

274 Sunghoon KANG (KOR) 72-68-67-67.

275 Chawalit PLAPHOL (THA) 68-67-72-68, Terry PILKADARIS (AUS) 71-67-69-68, Paul PETERSON (USA) 66-70-68-71.

276  Nicholas FUNG (MAS) 65-70-72-69, Charlie WI (SKOR) 62-72-72-70.S

277 - Jeunghun WANG (SKOR) 75-67-70-65, Prom MEESAWAT (THA) 69-71-68-69, Geoff OGILVY (AUS) 69-70-67-71.

Howell wins Beko Classic by 5 shots in Turkey

PGAs OF EUROPEAN NEWS RELEASE

The 2015 Beko Classic was wrapped up in stunning style by European Tour star, David Howell, as his final round five-under 67 at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal at Antalya in southern Turkey was enough for a winning five-shot margin

“It feels great to win – I was a late entry to the tournament really but obviously I know the venue,” explained Howell.  “It was lovely to see a lot of friendly faces as soon as I got here with some of the other professionals I’ve known for many a year, and it’s been a great week.”

Competing in his first Beko Classic pro-am, Howell began the day as he meant to go on with a birdie on his first hole, the par-four tenth, and followed it up with another two birdies before the turn to get to nine-under for the tournament.

A further two birdies on his 13th and 16th holes enabled him to close at 11-under-par 205 for the week; a whole five shots clear of second place.

“It was mistake-free really; no bogeys today and perfect weather conditions…this time of year there’s not too much rough on the course so if you do the right things you feel like you can knock it round without making any bogeys and I did that – and a couple of birdies dropped as well so it was very pleasing.

“This was my 31st tournament of the year…so to come and get the victory has been absolutely fantastic but now I will pretty much hang the boots up for two or three weeks…and build up into next year.  I start the season just about inside the top-100 in the world and my goal will be to try and finish just inside the top-50 in the world.”

Tied for second place were overnight leader, Pontus Widegren (Sweden), and England’s Jamie Elson, each finishing six-under par (210) for the tournament.

Widegren’s front nine was sadly not in keeping with the rest of his tournament’s quality and a smattering of bogeys and birdies moved him away from the top through nine holes.  A more stable back nine from the Swede followed with a solitary birdie to bring him back to level par (72) for the day.

Meanwhile Elson has begun his week with two solid 71s, so needed to go low in Round 03 to make a substantial move.  Two birdies and a bogey on the front nine, followed up by three birdies coming in teed up a four-under 68, earning a share of second along the way.

The Team Pro-Am competition saw teams of three amateur players rotate with different Professionals for each round.  It was team ‘Beko South Africa’ – Robert Hissom, Ahmed Tayeb, and Ian Todd – that managed to make the most of their pairings taking the 2015 team title with 254 points (-38).

In second place was Beko UK – Nuri Conker, Johnathan Copp, and Richard Moore – with 248 points (-32), followed closely by Team Opet – Hasan Ceylan, Sabri Yigit, and Fikret Unlu – with 243 points (-27) in third place.

Beko Classic 2015 Final Totals

  Montgomerie Maxx Royal Golf Club, Antalya, Turkey

par 216 (3x72)
1	David Howell (p)	-5	F	-11	70	68	67	205
T2	Pontus Widegren (p)	E	F	-6	69	69	72	210
T2	Jamie Elson (p)	-4	F	-6	71	71	68	210
4	Robert Coles (p)	E	F	-4	71	69	72	212
5	James Heath (p)	+3	F	-2	70	69	75	214
6	Garrick Porteous (p)	-3	F	-1	72	74	69	215
7	Andrew Marshall (p)	-3	F	E	73	74	69	216
8	Chris Gane (p)	+3	F	+2	71	72	75	218
T9	Steven Tiley (p)	-1	F	+3	74	74	71	219
T9	Marco Ruiz (p)	+2	F	+3	74	71	74	219
T9	Carlos Rodiles (p)	+1	F	+3	71	75	73	219
T12	Peter Gustafsson (p)	+3	F	+4	72	73	75	220
T12	Christopher Mivis (p)	-1	F	+4	76	73	71	220
T12	Raymond Russell (p)	+1	F	+4	71	76	73	220
T15	Klas Eriksson (p)	+2	F	+5	72	75	74	221
T15	Gareth Wright (p)	E	F	+5	73	76	72	221
T17	Joakim Rask (p)	-1	F	+6	76	75	71	222
T17	Graham Fox (p)	+2	F	+6	80	68	74	222
T17	David Griffiths (p)	+1	F	+6	78	71	73	222
T17	Sion Bebb (p)	E	F	+6	71	79	72	222
T17	Jamie Little (p)	E	F	+6	76	74	72	222
T22	Simon Edwards (p)	+3	F	+8	75	74	75	224
T22	Steven Jeppssen (p)	+3	F	+8	77	72	75	224
T22	Garry Houston (p)	+2	F	+8	74	76	74	224
25	Adam Gee (p)	+4	F	+9	77	72	76	225
26	John Daly (p)	+5	F	+15	74	80	77	231
27	Bjorn Pettersson (p)	+10	F	+17	78	73	82	233
28	Benn Barham (p)	+9	F	+20	79	76	81	236
29	Simon Wakefield (p)	+13	F	+23	80	74	85	239
30	Otto Bonning (p)	+11	F	+33	81	85	83	249