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ORLANDO, Fla. — All that stood between Martin Laird and victory at Bay Hill were two putts from just inside 90 feet on the 18th hole, which didn’t seem all that long considering what he already had been through Sunday.

First came a stunning collapse that took him from a three-shot lead to a three-shot deficit in a span of seven holes. He was three shots behind when he walked off the 14th green, two shots ahead as he headed to the 17th tee.

Martin Laird, of Scotland, is the first European to win at Bay Hill in the event’s 33-year history.
Laird knocked the first putt up to 3½ feet, then jabbed his fist when he rolled in the par putt to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

“That was a hell of a day,” Laird said. “That was a tough fight out there. It was a battle out there, but you know, it makes it even sweeter at the end when I got this trophy.”

In the toughest final round on the PGA Tour this year, Laird was strong at the end with two birdies and two clutch pars to close with a 3-over 75, the highest final round by a winner in the 33-year history at Bay Hill.

That two-putt par on the 18th was just enough for a one-shot victory over hard-luck Steve Marino, who lost three shots on two plugged lies in bunkers over the last four holes. Marino followed a double bogey on the par-3 17th with an all-or-nothing shot over the water at the flag to 8 feet on the last hole for birdie and a 72.

“You just cannot afford to (waste) shots in the final round — really, at any point in the tournament — if you want to win,” Marino said after his third close call this year. “Unfortunately on 17, that’s exactly what I did. It came back to bite me.”

Laird, a 28-year-old from Scotland who came to America to play college golf and never left, became the first European to win at Bay Hill. He now heads off to the Masters for the first major of the year, having felt like he just won one.

Considering all the calamity, it felt as though the U.S. Open have moved from June to March. No one in the last three groups broke par, and those six players were a combined 19-over par.

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=6264418

IncaGolf Photo By Pat Eastman

Transitions Championship
(The 13th of 37 events in the PGA TOUR Regular Season)

Palm Harbor, FL March 14-20, 2011 FedEx Cup Points: 500/1st Purse: $5,500,000/$990,000-1st
Innisbrook Resort & Golf Club (Copperhead) Par/Yards: 36-35—71/7,332

Final-Round Notes – Sunday, March 20, 2011

Weather
Mostly sunny with highs in the low-80s and winds from the ENE at 10-15 mph.

Final Leaderboard
Gary Woodland 67-68-67-67—269 (-15)
Webb Simpson 67-67-67-69—270 (-14)
Scott Stallings 66-70-66-70—272 (-12)
Brandt Snedeker 72-64-67-70—273 (-11)
Chris Couch 69-64-70-71—274 (-10)
Brendon de Jonge 69-66-66-73—274 (-10)
Martin Laird 66-70-68-70—274 (-10)
Justin Rose 70-65-65-74—274 (-10)
Roland Thatcher 68-67-69-70—274 (-10)
Marc Turnesa 68-67-73-66—274 (-10)

Recap
Gary Woodland made a clutch 11-foot par save on the 72nd hole to post 15-under-par 202 and then watched Webb Simpson make bogey at No. 18 after a poor chip from the back fringe to win his first PGA TOUR event. Woodland’s par at the 18th on Sunday was his only par on the back nine in the final round. After falling one stroke behind Simpson when he failed to get up and down from the greenside bunker at the par-4 16th, Woodland rifled a 5-iron shot to within 16 feet at the 215-yard, par-3 17th and converted the putt to move back into a temporary tie with Simpson who was in the group behind him.

Gary Woodland
He wins his first PGA TOUR event in his 33rd career start and joins Carl Pettersson (2005) as just the second player to make the Transitions Championship his initial victory on the circuit. It’s also victory No. 299 for an alumnus of the Nationwide Tour.

He becomes the third player to win the Transitions Championship in his first appearance in the event, joining John Huston (2000) and Retief Goosen (2003).

He becomes the second-youngest winner of the Transitions Championship (26 years, 9 months, 27 days) and becomes the fourth player in his 20s to win on the PGA TOUR this year (Jhonattan Vegas, Aaron Baddeley, Nick Watney).

He earns 500 FedEx Cup points and vaults jumps up 15 places into third place in the season-long race with 945 total points. Mark Wilson still leads this year’s FedEx Cup with 1,086 points and Nick Watney remains in second place with 960 points.

After losing in a playoff to Jhonatthan Vegas (Bob Hope Classic) earlier this year, Woodland now joins Vegas and D.A. Points (AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am) as the third first-time winner on the PGA TOUR this year.

After a run of five consecutive international winners from 2002-2006, he becomes the fourth American player in the last five years to win the Transitions Championship (Mark Calcavecchia/2007, Sean O’Hair/2008, Jim Furyk/2010). The only non-American during this recent run at Innisbrook was South African Retief Goosen’s second victory on the Copperhead Course in 2009

Gary Woodland ranked seventh in Driving Distance this week and hit just six of 13 fairways in the final round. However, the key to his victory was that he only had 23 total putts in the final round, including just 10 putts on the back nine on Sunday. Woodland was 17 for 17 on putts of 20 feet or less in the final round.

Keri Verschure
The Afternoon Vision
Saturday afternoon, March 19, 2011

The leaders in the third round are making the turn on a gorgeous Saturday at the Transitions Championship. Justin Rose carded a front nine 31 to move to 12-under and take a one shot lead over Webb Simpson, Brendon de Jonge and Scott Stallings. Rose has a two shot margin over Martin Laird and Nick Watney. Watney was 3-under on the five difficult par threes and shot a 6-under 65. He made seven birdies and one bogey to match his career low at on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook, set in last year’s third round when he also made seven birdies and one bogey.

Scores are low again today with perfect golf conditions the entire week. The lowest score at the end of three rounds, since the tournament moved to a spring date, was set last year when 2010 Champion Jim Furyk was 11-under after 54 holes. The low 54-hole score in the history of this event is 199 held by two time champion, K.J. Choi who was 14-under after three rounds in 2002.

Scott Stallings recorded the 7th hole-in-one in the history of the Transitions Championship when he holed out a 6-iron from 214 yards on the 8th hole. It was the second hole-in-one this week on that hole. Cameron Tringale aced the 8th with a 4-iron from 203 yards in Thursday’s first round.

Nick Watney, who’s played in this event the last six years, on the bigger crowds he’s seeing at the Transitions: “It seems like the tournament is kind of gaining its footing here in Tampa, and more and more people are coming out…and 17 is pretty lively, as it always seems to be.” Seventeen is the home of the [Hooters] Owl’s Nest.

There have been three rounds of 65 posted thus far. In addition to Watney, Chez Reavie and Jason Day posted 6-under 65s. Day made the cut on the number Friday by making an up and down par putt from seven feet on his final hole. As of now, he’s moved into the top 20 of this event.

Biggest galleries in the morning were following Rory Sabbatini and Bubba Watson. Sabbatini shot a 4-under 67, but Bubba carded a 1-over 71 and had this to tweet on @bubbawatson “What a bad day of golf, putting was the worst! Heading to the gym. #hi5 ”

Afternoon rounds continue with big crowds following the final groups.

Mar. 14, 2011
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
DORAL, Fla. — So what if he had made a water-logged double bogey at the 18th hole in the third round? When Nick Watney returned to the tee at TPC Blue Monster at Doral’s signature hole with it all on the line Sunday as the shadows began to encroach on this sun-kissed afternoon, he wasn’t nervous.

Well, maybe just a little bit. But the chance to win a golf tournament, particularly one as prestigious as the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship, is why Watney plays the game.

“I really wanted to take care of business and to grasp this opportunity,” he would later say, the most earnest of expressions on his All-American face. “I actually love that feeling (and) you don’t get it too often.”

The feeling that came after he sank that 13-foot birdie putt — one of just three surrendered by the treacherous par 4 in the final round — was even better, though. The two-stroke victory over Dustin Johnson was the third of Watney’s career and propelled him to second in the FedExCup standings and on the PGA TOUR money list.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Walking off the second tee Sunday, Rory Sabbatini veered left and stopped, peering toward a patch of 3-foot grass and the lake behind it.

Trouble for the Honda Classic leader? Maybe. Something was rustling in the rough.

“Is that a gator?” Sabbatini said.

The Honda Classic Scoreboard

1. Sabbatini (-9)
2. Yang (-8)
4. Kelly(-7)
4. Barnes (-4)
5. Gainey (-3)
• Complete scores

The South African was wise to brace himself for any menace on the PGA National course. While no reptile sightings were confirmed, Sabbatini’s five-stroke lead shrank to one in the space of seven holes, and a halt in play because of lightning delayed his march toward victory.

He weathered the weather, turned back a late challenge from Y.E. Yang and shot an even-par 70 for a one-stroke win.

“Luckily I had enough of a cushion that I didn’t get too concerned,” Sabbatini said. “I knew going into today that if I shot even par, it was going to be tough to catch.”

He sealed the title with a 2-foot par putt on No. 18 for a 72-hole total of 9-under 271. The resident of Fort Worth, Texas, earned his sixth PGA Tour victory and his first since the 2009 Byron Nelson Championship.