The US’ Bubba Watson secured a three-shot victory at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas on Sunday and wasted little time paying tribute to tournament host Tiger Woods.
Dual Masters champion Watson was in control throughout the final round, shooting 66 to finish at 25-under-par 263, three clear of fellow American Patrick Reed.
Starting with a two-shot buffer, Watson claimed control with four birdies in his opening seven holes at the Albany Golf Club in New Providence before adding three more early on the back nine.
Photo: AFP
A final hole bogey was his only blemish as he claimed the US$3.5 million event, which comprised an exclusive 18-man field, and offered world ranking points, though it is not an official PGA Tour event.
Rickie Fowler (64) finished third at 21-under-par, with world No. 1 and defending champion Jordan Spieth (67) left to settle for fourth place, five shots back.
Woods was unable to play due to recent back surgery, but he was on site to watch the action.
“It means a lot,” Watson told reporters as he spoke glowingly of Woods. “He’s the guy I looked up to, he’s the guy I wanted to be like. How do you not want to be a champion like him when it comes to golf?”
In the field as a late addition after Australian Jason Day withdrew, Watson made the most of relatively benign conditions throughout the tournament, overpowering a course usually protected by brisk winds.
While his length was an obvious boon, the 37-year-old claimed it was his work on the greens he had to thank.
“I just think it’s putting,” the world No. 4 said.
Meanwhile, Spieth could not successfully defend his title, and was left to settle for fourth place, five shots back, ending his stellar calendar year during which he claimed five wins including the Masters, US Open, Tour Championship and the season-long FedEx Cup.
“There is no disappointment. For a guy like Bubba, if he’s driving the ball well it is a pitch and putt,” Spieth told reporters.” I obviously had to shoot more than nine-under on the weekend and hats off to a great champion in Bubba, but I am certainly pleased with how we finished off the year. It’s a season that, for me, I now put those kind of expectations on myself each season and whether that’s fair or not it doesn’t matter to me, I’m still going to work as hard as I can to try to achieve the same kind of year we had this year, because it certainly was fun.”
A course record 10-under-par 62 by England’s Justin Rose was only good enough to lift the former US Open champion to 13th.
American rugby sevens star Ilona Maher is to join 15-a-side club Bristol next month in a bid to play in next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, the English club announced on Monday. Maher, 28, helped the US to a bronze medal at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris and is the seven-a-side sport’s most popular player on social media. “This is a huge coup to be able to bring Ilona Maher to Bristol Bears on a short-term deal,” Bristol head coach Dave Ward said. “She is one of the biggest names in women’s sport, let alone rugby, and we believe she will
New Taipei Kings guard Jeremy Lin on Friday was named the Taiwan Professional Basketball League’s (TPBL) Player of the Month, the first domestic player to win the award, while the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers are to welcome their third head coach in less than a year. Lin averaged 22 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists over five games in October and last month, helping the Kings to second in the standings with a 4-2 record as of Friday. The Kings last night defeated the Lioneers 96-78 to move level with the top-of-the-table Formosa Dreamers (5-2), while in the night game, the New Taipei
LeBron James is in quite the shooting slump — especially from long distance, highlighted by his zero-for-four effort from three-point range for the Los Angeles Lakers in their 109-80 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday. That return stretched the nearly-40-year-old’s skid to zero-for-19 from deep over his past four games. James’ birthday is on Dec. 30. After going four-for-16 from the floor overall with six of his team’s 20 turnovers for a season-low 10 points against the Timberwolves, James was asked to reflect on the Lakers reaching the quarter mark of their 2024-2025 schedule under rookie coach J.J. Redick at 12-9. “I
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
RSS