Monday, February 20, 2012

Bill Haas beats Mickelson and Bradley in Riviera play-off


Bill Haas beat Keegan Bradley and Phil Mickelson in a dramatic play-off at Riviera to win the Northern Trust Open.

Haas, 29, looked like winning the tournament in regulation when he shot a final round 69 to finish seven under.
But Mickelson and Bradley birdied the last to force a sudden-death play-off.
All three US players parred the first play-off hole, but Haas kept his cool at the second extra hole, the par-four 10th, splashing out of grass before canning the winning putt from 40 feet.

"That's a hard putt," said Haas, who won last year's FedEx Cup. "In my opinion I hit a really good chip just to get it to 40 feet, so I was happy about that.
"I thought I put myself in the best position to give myself the best case to continue the play-off. It just happened that I won right there.
"That was a little bit of luck involved, but felt like I put a good roll on it, and it was meant to be."
Mickelson, 41, and Bradley, 25, were tied on seven under going into the final day in California, but they could only shoot level par.
Having triumphed at Pebble Beach last weekend, Mickelson's putter let him down for once as he bogeyed three times on the back nine - at 11, 14 and 15.
And, with US PGA champion Bradley's challenge fading too, Haas looked set to triumph.
Just when the final pair seemed out of it, Mickelson produced the putt of the day on home soil in California from the back of the green on 18, curling one in from 30 feet.

And Bradley kept his nerve from 20 feet on one of the hardest holes on the course to follow him in and set up the three-man play-off.
But Haas was the one who kept his nerve the best in the battle of the three Americans to earn his fourth US PGA tour title.
Mickelson was coming off the back of a win at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am the previous week.
But the left-hander conceded Haas gave neither him nor Bradley any chance on the second play-off hole.
He said: "I kept fighting, and I was giving away shots and was trying to let it go and move on and see if I could capture one, and I finally got one to go on 18. It felt great.
"Bill hit a tremendous putt. It's only 290 yards, 280 yards, but you're trying to make par. He ended up making a 50, 60‑footer and that's going to do it.
"These last two weeks have been good."
Dustin Johnson's short game cost him down the stretch as he fell away with a final hole double bogey to finish on five under in a group that included fellow American Jimmy Walker, Australian Jarrod Lyle and Spain's Sergio Garcia, who shot a final round 64.

Garcia gave himself a timely boost for next week's WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona, rocketing up the leaderboard with a best-of-the-week round that included two eagles as he came from a distant nine strokes off the pace going into the last day.







20 February 2012
Last updated at 09:28
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/golf/17092682
Share on :

No comments:

Post a Comment

 
© Copyright UK Sport News 2013 - Some rights reserved.