American Dustin Johnson held his nerve to claim one shot victory at the BMW Championship on Sunday as Briton Paul Casey suffered a back nine meltdown.
After watching major wins at the US Open and PGA Championship slip through his fingers on the final day this year, Johnson did not falter a third time.
PHOTO: AFP
The 26-year-old carded a rock-solid final round two-under-par 69 on a brilliant late summer afternoon at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club for a winning total of nine-under 275.
“It was a great day, to finally get it done, after all the things I’ve been through this summer,” a beaming Johnson told reporters. “To get it done on Sunday, I can’t feel any better. I’ve had a few mishaps, but today, to come back and get it done, I’m really proud of myself.”
Casey had led by three strokes, but watched in horror as his advantage evaporated with three straight bogeys from the 13th and he finished with a 69 and second place.
Americans Ryan Moore (73), who held a one shot lead going into the final round, Matt Kuchar (72), the FedExCup leader heading into the season-ending Tour Championship, Kevin Na (70) and South Korean K.J. Choi (69) all finished two shots further back in a tie for third on 278.
Despite winning his second title, it has been a season a agonizing near misses for Johnson.
“After all the things that have happened, to be back in this situation and finally get it done it’s an unbelievable feeling,” said Johnson, who will also be part of the US Ryder Cup squad that travels to Celtic Manor to take on Europe next month. “Any time you can come out in the last group on Sunday and shoot a good round and win. It doesn’t get any better.”
Johnson was out of the gate quickly with a birdie on the opening hole to join Moore atop the leaderboard, but it was Casey who made the power move by dropping five birdies to get to five-under through 12.
While Johnson held steady with an error free back nine that included just a single birdie at the 17th, Casey’s round unraveled with an ugly stretch of bogeys at 13, 14 and 15.
It was also a disappointing day for Tiger Woods as he saw his PGA Tour season come to an early end after failing to earn spot in the Tour Championship.
For the first time in 15-years, Woods finishes his PGA Tour season without claiming a single title, but the world No. 1 managed to exit on a positive note firing three birdies on a bogey-free back nine for a final round one-under 70.
The back-nine charge, however, was far too little, too late to earn Woods a place in the elite 30-man field for the lucrative season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta.
His one-under 283 total left him in a tie for 15th, well out of the fifth place finish he needed to advance to the final round of the FedExCup.
■DUTCH OPEN
Reuters, HILVERSUM, Netherlands
Germany’s Martin Kaymer followed up on his USPGA Championship success with a four-shot victory in the Dutch Open on Sunday.
Kaymer, in his first tournament since last month’s victory at Whistling Straits, increased his lead on Europe’s money list with a closing four-under-par 66 for a 14-under 266 total, four shots better than Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti and Swede Christian Nilsson.
World No. 6 Kaymer doubled his single-shot overnight advantage with a birdie at the second hole at Hilversum and two strokes was the closest his opponents came all day.
Three shots ahead at the turn, Kaymer made his only mistake of the day with a bogey at the start of his incoming nine.
A birdie at the 12th, though, restored the 25-year-old’s three-shot advantage and when Kaymer picked up another shot on the 16th the destiny of the 300,000 euro winner’s check was in no doubt.
Kaymer, with three European Tour titles under his belt this year, now takes another break before fine-tuning for his Ryder Cup debut against the US at Celtic Manor early next month.
He gave a nudge to his captain Colin Montgomerie over whom he would like to be paired with in Wales.
“If I could choose it would be Rory [fellow debutant Rory McIlroy] in the foursomes. Lee Westwood and Luke Donald would be my other choices as partners,” he said.
With Miguel-Angel Jimenez’s European Masters victory the previous week, Montgomerie’s men have now captured the last four European Tour titles. Including the USPGA, Kaymer has two of those wins.
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