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Watson pulls off stunning victory

Bubba Watson is jubilant after making an eagle from a bunker on the 18th hole. (Associated Press)
Associated Press
Bubba Watson is jubilant after making an eagle from a bunker on the 18th hole. (Associated Press)

Bubba Watson won his first World Golf Championship with a stunning turnaround Sunday when he holed a bunker shot for eagle on the 18th hole to get into a playoff, and made a 20-foot birdie putt to beat Tim Clark in the HSBC Champions in Shanghai.

Watson had a two-shot lead with three holes to play until he appeared to throw it all away. He missed the 16th green with a lob wedge and made bogey, and then took two shots to get out of a bunker on the par-3 17th and made double bogey to fall one shot behind a five-way tie for the lead.

The two-time Masters champion was fidgety and irritated at any movement around him, even stopping at the top of his swing from the bunker left of the green on the par-5 18th hole because of a camera click from the hospitality suite. But angst turned to joy when he blasted onto the green and watched the ball roll some 25 feet into the cup for eagle. He closed with a 2-under 70.

Clark was the only player from the five-way tie to join Watson at 11-under 277. He laid up on the 18th and hit wedge to 5 feet for birdie and a 69. In the playoff, his wedge was to the right edge of the green about 25 feet away. The putt was on line, but short.

Rickie Fowler, in the group with Watson and Clark, was tied for the lead when he tried to reach the 18th green with a 5-wood from 228 yards, but it rolled back into the water. He scrambled for par and a 70 to tie for third with Graeme McDowell (73) and Hiroshi Iwata (72).

PGA Tour

Former University of Washington golfer Nick Taylor overcame a four-shot deficit to win the Sanderson Farms Championship, shooting a 6-under 66 for a two-stroke victory over Boo Weekley and Jason Bohn in Jackson, Mississippi.

The 26-year-old Taylor is the first Canadian-born winner on the PGA Tour since Mike Weir in 2007.

Spokane’s Alex Prugh tied for 35th after a final-round 71 to finish at 4-under 284.

LPGA

South Korea’s Mi Hyang Lee won the Mizuno Classic for her first LPGA Tour title, birdieing the fifth hole of a playoff with compatriot Ilhee Lee and Japan’s Kotono Kozuma in Shima, Japan.

The 21-year-old Mi Hyang Lee closed with a 3-under 69 to match Ilhee Lee (70) and Kozuma (69) at 11-under 205 at Kintetsu Kashikojima.