Miami, FL —
This time, Nick Watney looked the TPC Blue Monster in the eye and stared it down.
Watney, the 29-year-old from Davis and Fresno State, put his previous misfortunes on the 18th hole at Doral Resort out of his mind and hit three perfect shots, including a 12-foot birdie putt that gave him a two-stroke victory over Dustin Johnson in the WGC-Cadillac Championship in Doral, Fla.
“I wasn’t nervous,” said Watney, who claimed the third victory of his PGA Tour career. “I really wanted to take care of business and to grasp this opportunity. I actually love that feeling. You don’t get it too often.
“But I really love to be … yeah, I guess I was a little nervous. But it’s fun. That’s why you play. I’m thinking, ‘I have to be in this moment, right now, because this is all that counts.'”
The 29-year-old Watney, whose other PGA Tour victories came in the 2007Â Zurich Classic of New Orleans and the 2009Â Buick Invitational, carded a score of 67-70-68-67–272, 16-under-par, and collected $1,400,000.
Johnson was second at 69-69-65-71–274 and Anders Hansen of Sweden shot 71-69-68- 67–275 to tie for third with Francesco Molinari of Italy, who wound up at 68-68-70-69– 275.
“Nick is a good friend of mine,” said Johnson, who missed birdie putts of 18 feet on the 17th hole and nine feet on the 18th. “I told him walking off that if I was going to lose to somebody, I was glad it was him. And he played really well. I didn’t give him the tournament. He earned it. He played well.
” … I did everything I wanted to do, and just couldn’t get it in the hole. Nothing went in the hole all day. The 18th hole kind of sums it up.”
Rickie Fowler of Murrieta and Oklahoma State finished eighth at 71-73-68-66–278,
Hunter Mahan of Orange and Oklahoma State was ninth at 64-71-71-73–279, and Tiger Woods of Cypress and Stanford tied for 10th at 70-74-70-66–280, keeping alive his streaks of finishing in the top 10 in all seven of his outings at Doral and all 10 of his appearances in this tournament.
Paul Casey of England and the University of Arizona tied for 18th at 70-71-69-72–282,
Ryan Moore of Puyallup, Wash., and UNLV tied for 22nd at 70-74-70-69–283, Charley Hoffman of Poway and UNLV tied for 24th at 67-75-73-69–284, and Rory Sabbatini of South Africa and the University of Arizona tied for 28th at 74-74-67-70–285.
Kevin Na of Rancho Cucamonga tied for 35th at 74-75-69-69–287, Geoff Ogilvy, the Aussie who lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., tied for 49th at 76-73-72-70–291, Phil Mickelson of Rancho Santa Fe and Arizona State tied for 55th at 73-71-72-76–292, and Anthony Kim of La Quinta and the University of Oklahoma finished 60th at 80-74-68-72–294.
Watney was tied for the lead with Johnson when he stood on the 18th tee the previous day, but he yanked his drive into the water en route to a double-bogey 6, putting him in the second-to-last group in the final round.
Two years ago in the same tournament, he engaged Phil Mickelson in a memorable duel in the final round, only to have his birdie putt on the final hole hang on the lip to give Lefty a one-stroke victory.
“This means so much,” said Watney, who won for the sixth time in his pro career. “It’s the biggest day of my golfing career. You know, with the way yesterday ended and two years ago, it means a whole lot, and I’m very, very excited.
” … It’s nice to finish second in a World Golf event, but at the same time, it’s the worst place to finish when it’s a close tournament like that. So two years ago came into my head, and also Whistling Straits (where he held the 54-hole lead in the PGA Championship last August, but closed with an 81), just the letdown and disappointment of the way that I performed that day.
“So I just wanted to, you know, give myself, or allow myself to play well and to execute, and I was able to do that.”
Watney and Johnson were tied for the lead when DJ made a mess of the 16th hole, hitting his first two shots into bunkers on his way to a bogey-5.
That’s the way they stood when Johnson, playing one group behind, was waiting in the 18th fairway after a huge drive, hoping for a chance to make a birdie and force a playoff when Watney closed the door.
DJ wasn’t his opponent, it was the monster, and Watney didn’t blink.
— Tom LaMarre
Complete Results
1. Nick Watney…………………………………………………………. 67–70–68–67—272
2. Dustin Johnson……………………………………………………… 69–69–65–71—274
3. Anders Hansen……………………………………………………… 71–69–68–67—275
3. Francesco Molinari…………………………………………………. 68–68–70–69—275
5. Matt Kuchar………………………………………………………….. 68–69–68–71—276
6. Adam Scott…………………………………………………………… 68–70–68–71—277
6. Luke Donald………………………………………………………….. 67–72–66–72—277
8. Rickie Fowler………………………………………………………… 71–73–68–66—278
9. Hunter Mahan………………………………………………………. 64–71–71–73—279
10. Tiger Woods………………………………………………………… 70–74–70–66—280
10. Jonathan Byrd……………………………………………………… 70–74–68–68—280
10. Padraig Harrington……………………………………………….. 68–71–68–73—280
10. Martin Laird………………………………………………………… 67–70–70–73—280
10. Rory McIlroy……………………………………………………….. 68–69–69–74—280
15. Robert Allenby…………………………………………………….. 72–72–69–68—281
15. Ernie Els……………………………………………………………… 69–70–73–69—281
15. Kevin Streelman…………………………………………………… 68–72–72–69—281
18. Lee Westwood…………………………………………………….. 70–74–70–68—282
18. Louis Oosthuizen………………………………………………….. 71–73–67–71—282
18. Steve Stricker………………………………………………………. 68–71–69–74—282
18. Paul Casey………………………………………………………….. 70–71–69–72—282
22. Ryan Moore………………………………………………………… 70–74–70–69—283
22. Vijay Singh………………………………………………………….. 68–72–68–75—283
24. Charl Schwartzel…………………………………………………… 71–71–75–67—284
24. Charley Hoffman………………………………………………….. 67–75–73–69—284
24. Zach Johnson………………………………………………………. 72–75–68–69—284
24. Martin Kaymer…………………………………………………….. 66–70–74–74—284
28. Rory Sabbatini……………………………………………………… 74–74–67–70—285
28. Thomas Bjorn………………………………………………………. 71–73–70–71—285
28. Aaron Baddeley…………………………………………………… 72–66–73–74—285
31. Bill Haas……………………………………………………………… 74–68–71–73—286
31. Robert Karlsson……………………………………………………. 69–73–71–73—286
31. Retief Goosen……………………………………………………… 69–76–68–73—286
31. Jhonattan Vegas………………………………………………….. 69–74–69–74—286
35. Kevin Na…………………………………………………………….. 74–75–69–69—287
35. Thomas Aiken……………………………………………………… 68–75–74–70—287
35. Camilo Villegas…………………………………………………….. 71–71–73–72—287
35. Bo Van Pelt…………………………………………………………. 71–74–66–76—287
39. Y.E. Yang…………………………………………………………….. 73–72–72–71—288
39. K.J. Choi……………………………………………………………… 73–69–72–74—288
39. Edoardo Molinari………………………………………………….. 71–73–70–74—288
42. Justin Rose………………………………………………………….. 77–71–70–71—289
42. Graeme McDowell……………………………………………….. 70–73–71–75—289
42. Ryo Ishikawa……………………………………………………….. 65–76–70–78—289
45. Marcus Fraser……………………………………………………… 69–78–71–72—290
45. Jason Day……………………………………………………………. 71–76–71–72—290
45. Ian Poulter………………………………………………………….. 73–70–74–73—290
45. D.A. Points………………………………………………………….. 68–72–71–79—290
49. Geoff Ogilvy………………………………………………………… 76–73–72–70—291
49. S.S.P. Chowrasia…………………………………………………… 74–72–72–73—291
49. Mark Wilson………………………………………………………… 72–75–71–73—291
49. Kyung-tae Kim…………………………………………………….. 73–70–73–75—291
49. Jim Furyk……………………………………………………………. 74–71–71–75—291
49. Ryan Palmer………………………………………………………… 73–73–68–77—291
55. Yuta Ikeda…………………………………………………………… 74–73–74–71—292
55. Peter Hanson………………………………………………………. 73–73–73–73—292
55. Miguel A. Jimenez………………………………………………… 71–72–73–76—292
55. Phil Mickelson……………………………………………………… 73–71–72–76—292
59. Seung-yul Noh…………………………………………………….. 72–70–79–72—293
60. Anthony Kim……………………………………………………….. 80–74–68–72—294
61. Ross Fisher………………………………………………………….. 69–76–76–74—295
61. Rhys Davies…………………………………………………………. 73–76–72–74—295
61. Hiroyuki Fujita……………………………………………………… 71–73–74–77—295
64. Alvaro Quiros………………………………………………………. 70–77–74–75—296
64. Peter Senior………………………………………………………… 75–73–73–75—296
66. Jeff Overton……………………………………………………….. 75–77–73–73—298
Watney Wins WGC Cadillac Championship
