He’s feeling no pain
Denis Watson heard too often that he’d never play golf again. It took 23 years to prove everyone wrong.
Watson took advantage of Eduardo Romero’s late mistakes to take the Senior PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, S.C., his first U.S. victory since winning three times on the PGA Tour in 1984.
“This validates my golfing career,” Watson said. “It’s gratifying to know that I’ve still got it after all these years.”
Watson, from Zimbabwe, edged Romero by two strokes to become the first international Senior PGA winner since Gary Player in 1990.
The 51-year-old Watson was a rising star in the 1980s when he won the Buick Open, World Series of Golf and the Las Vegas Invitational. The next year, he tied for second at the U.S. Open. Later in 1985, though, Watson’s rise ended when he suffered neck, wrist, back and nerve damage after hitting into a hidden stump during a tournament in South Africa.
PGA Tour
Rory Sabbatini won the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas, beating Jim Furyk and Bernhard Langer with a 15-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a playoff.
After beginning the final round tied at 11 under, Sabbatini, Furyk and the 49-year-old Langer closed with matching 3-under 67s to finish at 14 under.
Pat Perez (66) finished fourth at 12-under 268, and Nathan Green (66) and Tom Lehman (68) were another stroke back.
LPGA Tour
At Corning, N.Y., South Korea’s Young Kim won the Corning Classic for her first LPGA Tour title, birdieing two of the final five holes for a three-stroke victory over Paula Creamer and Mi Hyun Kim.
Young Kim shot a 4-under 68 to finish at 20-under 268, four shots off the tournament record set four years ago by Juli Inkster.
Creamer, whose driver deserted her – she hit only six of 14 fairways – finished with a bogey for a 71 to fall into a tie with Mi Hyun Kim (70).
European PGA Tour
Denmark’s Anders Hansen holed a 25-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a playoff with Justin Rose to win the BMW PGA Championship at Virginia Water, England.
Hansen, also the 2002 winner, closed with a 3-under 69 in persistent rain to match Rose (71) at 8-under 280 on Wentworth’s historic West Course. Vijay Singh (66) and Richard Sterne (74) tied for third at 7 under.