WGC BRIDGESTONE:KEEGAN BRADLEY performed the perfect dress rehearsal for his defence of the US PGA title when he shot a final round 64 – making a superb up-and-down from a plugged lie in a greenside bunker on the 18th hole – for a total of 267, 13-under-par, that gave him a one stroke victory over long-time leader Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Akron.
Having failed to close out the US Open at the Olympic Club in June, where he led into the final round, Furyk again could not close the deal as he was overtaken at the death by Bradley.
Furyk missed the green on the 18th and then duffed his attempted recovery to finish with a double-bogey six.
Furyk started with three straight birdies and seemed to have an iron grip on the title until Bradley’s fireworks on the back nine – where he claimed four birdies – got him into the thick of the hunt and culminated in a par save on the finishing hole that gave him his first WGC title.
“I have no one to blame but myself. I’m disappointed...there’s no way I should have made any worse than five on the last hole, and then hit my worse putt of the week. I’m going to go to work tomorrow and get ready for the PGA,” said Furyk, who came up just short in his bid to become a wire-to-wire winner.
If there was any consolation he at least nailed down his place on the US Ryder Cup team.
Bradley – who was in contention at Firestone a year ago until closing with a back nine of 41 – had to make a 16-footer to save par on the 72nd hole.
He closed with a bogey-free 64 and picked up his first victory since winning the PGA Championship in Atlanta last year as a rookie, a title he will defend at Kiawah Island this week, and moved inside the top-10 in the latest FedExCup standings on the US Tour.
Bradley must have thought his chance had probably gone when he bunkered his approach to the 18th.
He even arrived to find the ball in a plugged ball, but splashed out to 15 feet and made the putt for par and a brilliant 64.
Rory McIlroy, who had started out in the first round with three bogeys in his opening four holes, improved as the tournament went on and closed with a 68 for 272 which left him in tied fifth, while Graeme McDowell finished with a 72 for 279.
Michael Hoey – who has received an invite into this week’s major at Kiawah Island – improved over the weekend with rounds of 70 and 72 to finish in tied-71st on 295.
Woods finished with a 66 for 276 that lifted him to tied eighth. Woods, who ranks second in the world, went out in 31 yesterday, then finished with nine straight pars.
He had his best day tee-to-green of the week, hitting 10 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens in regulation, the latter for the second straight day.
The putter was still an issue for the seven-time Bridgestone Invitational champ as he took 29, which tied for his low in a week that saw him use the putter 122 times.
Woods, though, was encouraged overall by the bogey-free final round, his first of the tournament.
“I putted well the last two days, which was good,” he said.
“And, more importantly, I hit the ball on my start lines, and that’s something I did not do the first couple days.
“I misread a couple, but that’s just the way it goes.
“But at least every putt was starting on the right line, and that’s something that I’m very excited about going into next week.”
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)