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| Travelers Championship winner Bubba Watson (right) with Brian Harman. |
CROMWELL, Conn. (AP) — Bubba Watson made an
8-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole Sunday to outlast Paul Casey and
win the Travelers Championship for the second time.
Casey had overcome a 3-stroke deficit with five to play,
tying Watson at 16-under 264.
But Casey lost his chance at the title while playing the
par-4 18th for the third time, when his third shot from a greenside bunker flew
over the green and landed on the cart path.
Watson, meanwhile, hit his 160-yard approach just to the
right of the hole.
Watson had a chance to win in regulation, but bogeyed
the 17th, while Casey closed with three birdies on the final five holes,
sandwiched around a bogey on 15.
Watson finished with a 67 at TPC River Highlands and
Casey shot 65.
Watson also won a playoff in the WGC-HSBC Champions in
China in November at the start of the season. He won the Travelers in 2010 for
his first of eight PGA Tour titles.
"I hung on, and that's what you have to do sometimes to
win," Watson said. "It's just about staying calm. That's what you
have to do, you just breathe and walk slower, take some deep breaths and focus
on the fact that no matter what you still come in second place. … I wish it was
a lot easier, but a victory is a victory. My whole goal in my career was to get
10 wins. I need two more."
This was the sixth time since 2004 the tournament has been
decided in a playoff.
Brian Harman was third at 15-under, while Brendon
Todd was 15th at 9-under and Harris English was 25th at 7-under. Lee McCoy,
Hudson Swafford and Erik Compton missed the cut.
The finish assured Harman of a spot in the British Open.
"I've been thinking about that tournament for a long
time and really trying to look at a way to get in there," Harman said.
"This one burns a little bit, but that definitely helps the sting."
That means Harman, Russell Henley, Chris Kirk, Kisner, Todd and Watson will be representing UGA in The Open.
• Michael Cromie came in second in the eGolf Gateway Tour's Mimosa Hills Open in North Carolina at 18-under. Cromie missed the cut four times to open the year but has since made four of five cuts. Mookie DeMoss missed the cut in his first eGolf Gateway Tour event.
• Compton, Henley, Kisner, Swafford, Todd and Watson will be in action this week in The Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia.
• Jack Larkin, who played for the Bulldogs from 1980-83 and is the father of current Bulldog Jack Larkin Jr., missed the cut in the U.S. Senior Open in California. Another familiar name in the field (who also missed the cut) was former Georgia women's golf coach Todd McCorkle.
• Bryden Macpherson is slated to play in this week's Nova Scotia Open on the Web.com Tour.
• Scott Parel came in 48th at 2-under and Bryden Macpherson missed the cut in last week's Air Capital Classic.
• Signee David Mackey has earned a spot in the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, which will be held at Colleton River Plantation Club in Bluffton, S.C., July 20-25.
