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AMERICAN Nick Watney missed a chance for a 59, but walked away with the Cimb Classic title even though he closed in with a bogey for a course-record 10-under 61 at The Mines Resort and Golf Club yesterday.
He needed a birdie on the par-4 18th for a 59, but drove into the left rough, failed to reach the green with his approach and left his long birdie pitch just short of the putting surface.
But it did not matter a bit, as the third American to win the title, he pocketed US$1.3 million with his 22-under 262.
Defending champion Bo Van Pelt and Robert Garrigus, both from the US, tied for second one stroke behind. Van Pelt needed a birdie on 18 to force a playoff, but saved par for a 66.
Garrigus also finished with a 66.
"I really wanted to finish strong ... but winning the tournament was more important than a 59 for me," Watney said.
He needed his wife, Amber, to carry his bag for the last hole of the first round when his caddie Chad Reynolds needed treatment for heat-stroke in the first round. After that, he used a local caddie for the second round, and Reynolds came back for the weekend.
Watney, 31, started the final round tied for seventh and said he didn't even think about winning until he walked to the 13th tee with a share of the lead.
He started with two birdies, adding at the sixth, eighth and ninth to turn in 30. He birdied three straight from the 11th to take the outright lead at 20-under from Van Pelt.
The American then stretched the margin with another three consecutive birdies from the 15th, including a 25-foot putt from the edge of the green at the 16th.
He settled for a birdie on the par-5 17th after missing an eagle putt, then ran into trouble on 18 when he found the rough off the tee and appeared to mis-hit his second shot.
"So the 59 went out the window right there," he said. "I was more concerned with just winning the tournament. "
Japan's Ryo Ishikawa holds the lowest round on a major Tour, when he shot a 12-under 58 to win the 2010 Crowns on the Japan Tour.
Tiger Woods finished tied-fourth, and will now face-off with top-ranked Rory McIlroy, in the BMW Masters in Shanghai.
"We'll both probably be a little bit tired. But we're going to try and put on a good show, shoot a low round and have a little bit of fun."
Next year, the Cimb Clasic will become a full-fledged PGA Tour event.
TIGER Woods shot his lowest score of the tournament, but his eight-under 63 was only good enough for a tied-fourth spot in his maiden appearance in the Cimb Classic.
Zimbabwe's Brendon de Jonge and Chris Kirk of the United States shared the fourth with Woods, after they returned with five-under 66 and four-under 67 respectively.
His bogey-free final round took his total to 19-under 265, but right after the press conference ended he was whisked to his car and sped out of the Club House even though the leaders were still playing their rounds.
He knew then itself, that his 19-under would not take him to a play-off as Nick Watney of the United States was at 22-under at that stage and still with holes to play.
The 14-time Major winner, trailing by five shots overnight, started with three straight birdies and added two more on six and seven in an astonishing half-round.
He then had birdies on the 10th, 16th and 17th, to earn him a purse of USDxxx...
And the question on everybody's mind was is he going to come back to the Classic?
"I would love to come back as this has been a fantastic event. It certainly has grown over the years, and now it's going to be part of the Tour. That would be a major growth for this event, sort of what HSBC went through in China, and now it's one of the marquee events," said Woods.
It was not the final outing Woods was looking for, as his goal was 20 plus.
"The golf course was really soft today (yesterday) and we played ball in hand again, and I needed to get to 20 plus, and that was the goal starting out. It looks like I didn't quite do it."
He would have been the champion, if not for the bogies in the third round.
"I am, I'm very pleased with the way I came back, as I just had one little bad stretch yesterday (third round). Other than that, I really played well this week."
262 Nick Watney (US) 71-65-65-61.
263 Robert Garrigus (US) 64-64-69-66, Bo van Pelt (US) 70-65-62-66.
265 Tiger Woods (US) 66-67-69-63, Brendon de Jonge (ZIM) 68-65-66-66, Chris Kirk (US) 69-66-63-67.
266 Carl Pettersson (Swe) 69-67-68-62.
267 Jbe' Kruger (SA) 66-64-69-68.
268 Pat Perez (US) 67-68-68-65.
269 Scott Piercy (US) 75-68-64-62, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 65-72-65-67, Kevin Na (US) 67-66-69-67, Brian Harman (US) 64-70-66-69.
270 Noh Seung-Yul (S Kor) 71-66-67-66, Ben Crane (US) 68-66-68-68.
271 Thaworn Wiratchant (Thai) 72-65-68-66, John Sended (Aus) 72-66-66-67, Jason Dufner (US) 68-72-64-67, Bill Haas (US) 70-65-68-68, Jeff OVERTON (US) 64-70-68-69, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 66-66-69-70.
272 JB Holmes (US) 66-70-68-68, Ricky Barnes (US) 66-71-66-69.
273 Charlie Wi (S Kor) 69-66-71-67, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 70-70-65-68.
274 Masanori Kobayashi (Jpn) 69-71-66-68, John Huh (US) 70-68-68-68, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 71-66-68-69, Martin Laird (Scot) 68-67-69-70, Tom Gillis (US) 65-70-66-73.
275 Kevin Stadler (US) 67-68-76-64, Trevor Immelman (SA) 72-63-68-72.
276 Cameron Tringale (US) 71-69-70-66, Bob Estes (US) 69-68-70-69, Johnson Wagner (US) 70-69-67-70, Troy Matteson (US) 63-69-73-71.
277 Prom Meesawat (Thai) 70-69-68-70, Sean O'Hair (US) 69-72-65-71, Ryan Palmer (US) 69-68-70-70.
278 Marc Leishman (Aus) 75-67-66-70.
279 Kyle Stanley (US) 69-70-74-66, Jimmy Walker (US) 69-68-71-71.
281 Danny Chia (Mas) 66-75-73-67.
282 William McGrit (US) 70-70-73-69, David Lipsky (US) 68-73-71-70.
284 Siddikur Rahman (Bang) 73-74-69-68.
285 Shaaban Hussin (Mas) 74-73-70-68.
287 Scott Hend (Aus) 70-77-70-70.
197 Bo van Pelt (US) 70-65-62, Robert Garrigus (US) 64-64-69.
198 Chris Kirk (US) 69-66-63.
199 Brendon de Jonge (Zim) 68-65-66, Jbe' Kruger (SA) 66-64-69.
200 Brian Harman (US) 64-70-66.
201 Tom Gillis (US 65-70-66, Nick Watney (US) 71-65-65, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 66-66-69.
202 Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 65-72-65, Jeff Overton (US) 64-70-68, Tiger Woods (US) 66-67-69, Ben Crane (US) 68-66-68, Kevin Na (US) 67-66-69.
203 Ricky Barnes (US) 66-71-66, Pat Perez (US) 67-68-68, Bill Haas (US) 70-65-68, Trevor Immelman (SA) 72-63-68.
204 Jason Dufner (US) 68-72-64, John Senden (Aus) 72-66-66, Noh Seung-Yul (S Kor) 71-66-67, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 69-67-68, J.B. Holmes (US) 66-70-68, Martin Laird (Scot) 68-67-69.
205 Marcus Fraser (Aus) 70-70-65, Thaworn Wiratchant (Thai) 72-65-68, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 71-66-68, Troy Matterson (US) 63-69-73.
206 Sean O'Hair (US) 69-72-65, Masanori Kobayashi (Jpn) 69-71-66, Johnson Wagner (US) 70-69-67, John Huh (US) 70-68-68, Charlie Wi (S Kor) 69-66-71.
207 Scott Piercy (US) 75-68-64, Prom Meesawat (Thai) 70-69-68, Bob Estes (US) 69-68-70, Ryan Palmer (US) 69-68-70.
208 Marc Leishman (Aus) 75-67-66, Jimmy Walker (US) 69-68-71.
210 Cameron Triangale (US) 71-69-70.
211 Kevin Stadler (US) 67-68-76.
212 David Lipsky (USA) 68-73-71.
213 William McGrit (US) 70-70-73, Kyle Stanley (US) 69-70-74.
214 Danny Chia (Mas) 66-75-73.
216 Siddikur Raahman (Bang) 73-74-69.
217 Shaaban Hussin (Mas) 74-73-70, Scott Hend (Aus) 70-77-70.
CIMB Classic defending champion Bo Van Pelt of the Unites States flirted with a magical 59 before double-bogeying the last hole at the Mines Resort and Golf Country yesterday.
He was 11 under par 71 through 17 and was going for his 12th birdie of the day on the final hole to claim the 59, but landed in the bunker in front of a packed gallery on the 18th.
He then three-putted to finish his round on 62 for a 16-under 197 to be tied with countryman Robert Garrigus who had a 69 yesterday.
Garrigus overcame a sluggish start by finishing with three closing birdies.
South African Jbe Kruger, third on the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit, kept himself in the title hunt with a 69 putting him two strokes back while India’s rising star Gaganjeet Bhullar fired a fine 65 for tied 10th place.
"Obviously, 59 was on the mind for a little bit but probably the biggest shot of the day was the first hole. I hit driver the first two days and played the hole one over so I decided to lay up, and I was still behind the tree. Hit a really good pitching wedge, got it up over the tree, had a 15 footer and made it.
"That just kind of got the day started off on the right foot," said the leader.
He didn't miss a fairway in the front nine yesterday, and only the 18th was troublesome for him.
"I drove the ball in play and I don't think I missed a fairway on the front nine. My irons were pretty sharp, and the putter, I had been close all week, and today (yesterday) they were going in. They weren't burning the edge. I told myself that everybody else was out there making birdies so don't be complacent.
"Obviously, going into 18, I had a chance to shoot 59. I played the 18th hole well yesterday as I made a tap in birdie there.
"I was just trying to really focus on my tee ball. It's a tough tee shot and I was really proud of the tee shot that I hit. It's probably one of the best ones that I hit all day, and unfortunately I just went a little too far."
He seems to really like the Mines course: "A lot of holes just fit my eye. You can hit driver a lot here. I feel like the driver is a strength of my game. I like to be able to hit it a lot. It's obviously hot and the heat gets to everybody, but I've lived in Oklahoma for almost 20 years, and it gets very hot and very humid there. So I'm not immune to the heat, but I think I'm maybe more used to it than where some of the other American golfers live."
