LOS ANGELES (AP)—The 18th hole at Riviera had given up only six birdies to
73 players in the final round of the Northern Trust Open. Bill Haas convinced
himself there would be at least one more to force a playoff.

The surprise was how it ended.

Two holes after Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley poured in birdie putts to
set up a three-man playoff, Haas won with a birdie on the 10th hole when all he
was trying to do was make par.

It was just under 45 feet, all the way across the shallow putting surface,
and it provided a stunning conclusion right when thousands of delirious fans—
including Jerry West, the tournament’s executive director—thought it couldn’t
get any better.

“If I hit 30 putts, I maybe make five of them,” Haas said. “But it just
so happens it did right there. I hit it just like I wanted. I hit the line.
There was a ball mark about 10 feet in front of me. I was trying to go just
around that, and I did that.

“I’m not giving it all to luck,” he said. “I felt like I hit a nice putt.
But from that length, anything can happen.”

On this day, just about everything did.

Haas started the final round two shots behind, making him the fourth
consecutive PGA Tour winner rally on Sunday. He holed a 5-foot par putt for a
2-under 69 that looked like a winner when neither Mickelson nor Bradley, who
shared the 54-hole lead, birdied the par-5 17th and came to the last hole
needing a birdie to keep playing.

Haas was on the practice range at 7-under 277 and a one-shot lead, preparing
for a playoff that seemed unlikely. What followed were two putts that even
impressed West, the Los Angeles Lakers great known as “Mr. Clutch,” who was
standing with thousands of fans on the hill below the fabled clubhouse at
Riviera.

Mickelson had missed three straight putts inside 10 feet on the back nine—
two for par, one for birdie—and just when it looked as though he had lost all
hope, he rammed in a birdie putt just outside 25 feet from off the green,
pointed his putter toward the cup and slamming down his fist when it fell for an
even-par 71.

“I kept fighting, and I was giving away shots and was trying to let it go
and move on and see if I could capture one, and I finally got one to go on 18,”
Mickelson said. “It felt great.”

He bumped fists with Bradley and told him, “Join me.”

Bradley, the PGA champion, did just that. His putt from about 12 feet took
one last, slow turn and disappeared for a 71.

“Even though I didn’t win the tournament, to make that putt on the last
hole, one of the toughest holes on the PGA Tour, is really awesome,” Bradley
said.

They started the playoff at the 18th. Haas was short of the green, 80 feet
away, and hit a chip-and-run to 3 feet for par. Mickelson two-putted from 35
feet and Bradley’s 15-footer from just off the back touched the right side of
the cup.

That took them to the 312-yard 10th hole, considered the best short par 4 in
America, a hole that can make an argument as the most interesting hole in all of
golf. Yes, it can be reached with a tee shot, but this hole is all about
position no matter what club is in the hand.

And no one was in good position.

Mickelson came up just short of the bunker, leaving him no angle at the
green. As great as he is with the flop shot, a ball that landed near the flag
rolled through the green and into the back bunker. Bradley was in the front
bunker, and he hit a remarkable shot past the hole that stopped on the fringe
about 15 feet away.

Haas went over the green, and the angle was just enough that the back bunker
was in his way. To try to chip close could have put him in another bunker, so he
chose to play away from the flag to make sure he at least could two-putt for
par.

“I was thinking 4 could continue,” Haas said. “If Phil holes out of the
bunker, or Keegan makes it from off the green, they earned it. They deserve it.
Four for me was the goal in the sense that I didn’t want to make 5.

“Honestly, that was not as an easy a shot as you might think.”

Haas won for the fourth time in his career, and it was his second straight
win in a playoff. And while he was in a tough spot behind the 10th green, it’s
not like he hasn’t been there before.

Only five months ago, Haas was in a playoff at the Tour Championship with
Hunter Mahan with the FedEx Cup and its $10 million prize riding on the outcome.
On the second extra hole, his ball was partially submerged in the lake to the
left of the 17th green at East Lake, and he splashed out to 3 feet to save par.
He won on the next playoff hole.

His paycheck Sunday was $1.188 million, yet it felt just as sweet.

Riviera is a special place, so meaningful to Haas that he skipped the
wedding of a college friend to play.

“To beat a guy like Keegan and also Phil—guys of their caliber—in a
playoff, is amazing, something I’ll never forget,” he said.

Haas moved to No. 12 in the world, and at age 29, should now be looked upon
as one of the top young Americans.

Mickelson was trying to become a three-time winner at Riviera, and the first
player since Tiger Woods in August 2009 to win PGA Tour events in back-to-back
weeks. It was a battle on the back nine for Mickelson, as it was for so many
other players on firm, crisp greens that made it difficult to make putts.

“It was very defensive because the greens were so firm, the pins were
tough, and although there was no rough, it had kind of a U.S. Open feel,”
Mickelson said.

Mickelson had control of the tournament twice until he made back-to-back
bogeys at the turn, then again with consecutive three-putt bogeys from 50 feet
on No. 14 and 70 feet on No. 15.

Sergio Garcia closed with a tournament-best 64, holing out on the 15th with
a 4-iron from 207 yards. Luke Donald, the No. 1 player in the world, struggled
after the opening round and closed with a 78.

CHONBURI, Thailand (AP)—Top-ranked Yani Tseng successfully defended her LPGA
Thailand title for her 13th LPGA Tour victory, with birdies on the final two
holes Sunday to hold off playing partner Ai Miyazato by a stroke.

The 23-year-old Taiwanese star shot a 6-under 66 to finish at 19-under 269
on Siam Country Club’s Pattaya Old Course. She opened with a 73, then shot
consecutive 65s to enter the final round a shot behind Miyazato.

Last year, Tseng won the tournament for the first of her seven 2011 LPGA
Tour victories, including major victories in the LPGA Championship and Women’s
British Open. The five-time major champion finished the year with 12 worldwide
victories. She has 33 career worldwide professional victories.

Miyazato, the Japanese player who won the 2010 tournament, closed with a 68.
She also birdied the par-4 17th and par-5 18th.

South Korea’s Jiyai Shin, tied for the lead with Tseng after a birdie of her
own on 17, had a 67 to finish third at 17 under.

Tseng eagled the par-5 opening hole and Miyazato had a birdie, leaving them
tied at 15 under. Tseng took the lead with a birdie on the par-4 third, and
added birdies on the par-4 sixth and par-5 seventh. At the turn, she had a
three-stroke lead over Shin and four-shot advantage over Miyazato.

Shin, playing in a group ahead of Tseng and Miyazato, birdied the par-4 10th
to pull within two and gained another stroke when Tseng bogeyed the hole. Tseng
pushed her lead to two with a birdie on the par-3 12th, but bogeyed the par-4
13th.

Miyazato birdied the 10th and pulled within one of Tseng with a birdie on
the par-4 15th, then matched Tseng with a par on 16 and the birdies on 17 and
18.

South Korea’s Amy Yang shot a 69 to finish fourth at 14 under.

Sixteen-year-old Thai amateur Ariya Jutanugarn followed her third-round 65
with a 74 to tie for 12th at 7 under. She played the final five holes in 4 over,
making a double-bogey 7 on No. 18. Last year, Jutanugarn won the U.S. Junior
Girls’ Championship and was the Rolex Junior Player of the Year.

Second-ranked Suzann Pettersen had a 78 to drop into a tie for 21st at 4
under. She began the round four strokes out of the lead.

Michelle Wie closed with a 73 to tie for 38th at 1 over.

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP)—Australia’s Lindsey Wright birdied the par-5
18th for a 4-under 68 and a one-stroke victory Sunday in the New Zealand Women’s
Open.

Wright finished at 10-under 206 at Pegasus Golf Club in the event sanctioned
by the Ladies European Tour and Australian Ladies Professional Golf.

Wright clinched her first win on either tour with seven birdies, including
three in a row on holes No. 7, 8 and 9. She also had one double bogey on the
par-4 13th.

“It’s unbelievable. It’s still sinking in,” Wright said. “I putted really
well all day and the last six holes I was really nervous.

American Alison Walshe and Australia’s Jessica Speechley finished in a share
of second place. Walshe closed with a 69, and Speechley had a 65, the lowest
round of the tournament.

Canada’s Lorie Kane and Australia’s Stephanie Na shot 69 to finish equal
fourth at 8 under.

Fourteen-year-old Lydia Ko, who had a share of the second-round lead with
five other golfers, fell to 17th place after shooting a 74.

The South Korean-born New Zealander, the world’s top-ranked amateur, became
the youngest winner of a professional tour event last month in the Women’s New
South Wales Open.

The 32-year-old Wright was formerly the world No. 12, but took time away
from golf after a loss of form. She sank a 4-meter (13-foot) putt for birdie on
the final hole to seal the win and avoid a three-way playoff with Walshe and
Speechley.

“I looked at the leaderboard and saw Alison Walshe up there and Speechley
at 9 under and thought, ‘No I can make this putt. Just keep your head down, just
hit a great putt,”’ she said.

“My caddy was more shocked that I was I think.”

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)—Lee Westwood came into this year saying
his improved putting could help him get his first major victory. However, if his
performance at the Dubai Desert Classic was any indication, the greens still
provide plenty of challenges for the third-ranked Englishman.

Westwood came into the final round with a one-shot lead. But after sinking a
long eagle putt on the second hole, he missed several birdie chances that opened
the door for eventual winner Rafael Cabrera-Bello. And when the 119th-ranked
Spaniard seized the lead on 17 with a birdie, Westwood couldn’t keep up. He
missed a seven-footer on 17 that could have tied and then another one on 18 to
force a playoff.

He left the course without speaking to reporters, leaving the stage to
Cabrera-Bello who earlier sank a short par putt for a 4-under 68 to secure only
his second European Tour victory. After Westwood and Stephen Gallacher missed
their birdie putts to hand the title to Cabrera-Bello, the Spaniard broke into a
wide smile and promptly rang his parents and girlfriend back home in the Canary
Islands.

The win moves Cabrera-Bello—whose only other victory came at the Austrian
Open in 2009—into the top 60 and onto the elite list of golfers who will play
in the Match Play Championship in Arizona that begins Feb. 23.

“It’s been a really, really special week for me,” Cabrera-Bello said as he
accepted the trophy. “I played great the entire week. With so many big names up
there, I really felt proud of myself. I wanted to fight. I stayed calm and I did
everything I read you should do in these situation. It was really amazing.”

Marcel Siem, who also started the final round one shot back, finished three
behind in fourth with a 15-under total of 273. George Coetzee (70) of South
Africa, Scott Jamieson (71) of Scotland, Soren Kjeldsen of Denmark and U.S. Open
Champion Rory McIlroy (71) of Northern Ireland were tied for fifth another shot
back.

Fourth-ranked Martin Kaymer of Germany, two shots off the lead after the
third round, struggled to a 1-over 74 and finished in a tie for 13th. Thomas
Bjorn of Denmark, also in contention Saturday, finished with a 1-under 71 and a
tie for 9th.

Cabrera-Bello is the latest low-profile player to win a European Tour event
this year, following the lead of England’s Robert Rock who beat Tiger Woods to
win the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship last month. The Spaniard said beating such a
talented field only confirmed that he can play with anyone.

“Just the fact I was able to be successful today proves to me that I’m
working on the right line,” Cabrera-Bello said. “It gives me a lot of
confidence that I have proven to myself that I can perform at least one week as
good as them. It’s a huge morale booster.”

When the round started, it seemed everything was set up for a Westwood win.

He started with a one-shot lead over Cabrera-Bello and had 21 European Tour
victories under his belt compared to three for the three players in second. He
spoke of “knowing how to play with a lead” and felt his putting had steadily
improved—noting that he needed only 27 putts on Saturday.

Westwood has credited his putting for a strong finish to the 2011 season—
winning the Thailand Golf Championship in December and the Nedbank Challenge a
few weeks earlier. He had a third-round score of 62 at Nedbank, and opened
Thailand with a 60—the lowest round of his career—and then a 64 to beat
Charl Schwartzel by seven strokes.

Thanks to a new putting prowess, Westwood hinted he might have the
additional weapon to win an elusive first major in 2012.

“I think it’s very difficult to win a major without making a few (putts)
that are surprising, or bonuses which I haven’t holed over the last few years,”
he said last month in Abu Dhabi. “So if I can start rolling in a few 25- to
30-footers that I have not been making, that’s obviously going to make a massive
difference.”

But after making a 35-foot eagle putt from just off the green on the 2nd to
go up by two, Westwood’s putting woes returned. He bogeyed the 5th to fall into
a tie with Cabrera-Bello and then missed birdie chances on the 9th and 10th
holes.

Instead, it was the Spaniard who showed just the right touch down the
stretch. He made a birdie on 11 for a share of the lead and followed that with a
birdie on 12th for the outright lead.

He then made his best shot of the day on 16, after his drive landed on a
sandy hillside behind a grove of palm trees. His caddy advised him to play it
safe and avoid the trees but he went for the green—clearing the trees and
landing his 150-yard shot just left of the green.

“I just didn’t go for it to see what happened,” said Cabrera-Bello, who
ran up the hill to follow the shot. “I really believed I could do it. And then
when I hit the ball, I said please don’t hit anything else. I don’t want to hear
any other noise.”

The Spaniard then chipped to within a few feet and saved par, and Westwood
birdied his 16th to draw even. But rather than let the pressure get to him,
Cabrera-Bello birdied the 17th. On 18, he took a conservative approach to the
final par 5, just missing a long birdie putt but sinking a two-footer for par
for the clubhouse lead.

Then he sat back and waited.

Westwood, who just missed an eagle putt on 16, found the greenside rough on
the 18th in two shots. But his 120-foot chip ran well past the hole. He had a
25-foot birdie putt to force the playoff but it came up just short, ending his
chances of winning his first tournament of the season.

But Cabrera-Bello’s wait was not yet over. Gallacher (69), who was a shot
back after sinking a 40-foot eagle putt on 13, also had a chance to force a
playoff. He needed to sink a 15-footer for birdie but his attempt rolled past.

Westwood didn’t talk to reporters after his round but Gallacher admitted he
was “disappointed” not to have forced a playoff.

“Well, struggled a bit off the tee today but I hit a lot of good iron shots
and made a few putts at the right time,” Gallacher said. “But I had a chance
to sort of get into the playoff on the last so just a wee bit disappointed.”

Still, the 148th-ranked Scotsman was “happy overall” to be playing well,
considering he was sidelined for much of 2009 with a debilitating viral
infection that he had picked up in Dubai.

McIlroy, who led at the halfway point, also said he could have done better.
He three-putted to open with a bogey and then went in the water on the ninth for
a double bogey to take himself out of contention. He recovered for four birdies
on the back nine including ending with one on the 17th and 18th for a
respectable finish.

“It was obviously playing a little tougher out there today with the wind,”
McIlroy said of gusts that were forecast to reach 25 miles per hour. “It’s the
strongest breeze we’ve had all week and it was tough. The greens were a little
firmer. It was close to get the ball close to the hole.”

———

Follow Michael Casey on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mcasey1

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)—American teenager Jessica Korda won the Women’s
Australian Open on Sunday for her first LPGA Tour title, holing a 25-foot birdie
putt on the second hole of a six-player playoff.

The 18-year-old Korda completed a two-sport, father-daughter Australian
double with the breakthrough victory. Petr Korda won the 1998 Australian Open
tennis tournament, also in Melbourne.

Korda closed with a 1-over 74 to finish at 3-under 289 in the first women’s
professional event at Royal Melbourne, the historic sand-belt layout that was
the site of the 2011 Presidents Cup.

Stacy Lewis, Brittany Lincicome, Julieta Granada, So Yeon Ryu and Hee Kyung
Seo also were in the playoff, playing in threesomes on the par-4 18th. All six
players made par on the first extra hole. On the second playoff hole, Lewis,
Lincicome, Granada and Seo made par and Ryu had a bogey.

Ryu and Seo, playing ahead of Korda and Nikki Campbell in the second-to-last
group, topped the leaderboard at 4 under on their final hole, but both closed
with bogeys to shoot 73.

Korda, who began the round with a one-stroke lead and was two ahead at 7
under after birdieing three of the first holes, dropped all the way to 2 under
before birdieing the par-5 17th and parring the 18th in regulation to get the
final spot in the playoff.

She had a double bogey on No. 9, bogeyed 10, birdied 11, then bogeyed Nos.
14-16 to seemingly fall out of contention.

Lewis finished with a 70, and Lincicome and Granada shot 71.

Playing in the first playoff threesome, Lincicome had a good chance to win
on the first extra hole, but her 6-foot birdie try circled the cup and stayed
out. She missed a 15-foot birdie try on the second extra hole.

After Korda made her birdie putt in the second group on the second playoff
hole, Granada missed a 12-footer that would have sent the two back to the 18th
tee.

DOHA, Qatar (AP)—Former British Open champion Paul Lawrie chipped in for an
eagle and a birdie on his way to winning the wind-shortened Qatar Open on
Sunday, shooting a 7-under 65 to hold off the challenge of Jason Day and Peter
Hanson who finished four shots back.

Lawrie finished with a 15-under total of 201 to win his seventh European
Tour event and his second in Qatar.

The victory is Lawrie’s second in a year—he also won the Andalucian Open—
after a nine-year drought. Now in the top 45, he could contend for a spot at the
2012 Ryder Cup.

“I played lovely all week. But today I think tee to green, apart from my
tee shot on 10th, I can’t play much better than that,” said Lawrie, who also
won the tournament in 1999. “I actually felt I left three or four putts out
there and got it around to 7 under on a golf course where the greens were pretty
firm.”

The 1999 British Open champion came into the final round with a one-shot
lead over Nicolas Colsaerts. Lawrie started slowly with only a birdie on his
first eight holes but, just as several players including Sergia Garcia (68),
were challenging for the lead, Lawrie sank a 20-yard chip for eagle on the 9th
hole to go up by two.

He never looked back, even as Day (65) and Garcia continued sinking birdies.
He ran off four birdies himself on a flawless back nine that included clutch
birdie putts on 11 and 14. And when Hanson chipped in for eagle on 16 to draw
within three, Lawrie responded with chip in for birdie on 17 go to up by four.
He played it safe on No. 18 and closed out with a short par putt for the win.

Early on, it looked like Garcia might overtake Lawrie for the win. The
Spaniard opened with six birdies on his first 11 holes, including one on 10 that
tied him for the lead with Lawrie. But then Garcia’s putter went cold on the
back nine, starting when he missed a two-footer for par on 13.

Clearly flustered, Garcia then missed a 10-footer for birdie at the next
hole. He took himself out of contention when he bogeyed the next hole and
finished tied for fifth.

Day also started strong, with four birdies on his first four holes to move
up the leaderboard. The 23-year-old Australian bogeyed 9 but bounced back with
four straight birdies to close within two shots of the lead. But then he missed
birdie putts on 15 and 17 to fall out of contention.

Hanson, who came into the final round two shots back, quietly made a move
when he ran off two birdies to finish the front nine. He stumbled with a bogey
on 13 only to recover with a birdie on 14 and then a chip in for eagle on 16.

First round leader John Daly (67) also remained in the hunt all day, sinking
a 12-foot birdie to go 8 under and then sank a 25-footer from the fringe on 17
for another of his four birdies on the back nine. But his great putting was
undone by two bogeys on the front nine.

Daly ended fourth at 9-under 207, with Garcia, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (65),
Ricardo Gonzalez (70) and Soren Hansen (66) a further shot back in a tie for
fifth. Fourth-ranked Martin Kaymer (69), Colsaerts (72) and Victor Dubuisson
(69) were a shot behind in a tie for ninth.

The tournament was disrupted by wind all week, and organizers called off
Friday’s play and shortened the event to three rounds. Conditions improved
Saturday and were calm Sunday.

———

Follow Michael Casey on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mcasey1

GOLD COAST, Australia (AP)—Christel Boeljon birdied the last hole to win the
Australian Ladies Masters by one stroke on Sunday.

The 24-year-old Dutch golfer closed with a 4-under 68 in the final round to
finish with a 21-under total 267 at the 5,954-meter (6,647-yard) Royal Pines
course, one shot clear of overnight leader So Yeon Ryu and Kim Ha-neul of South
Korea and Italy’s Diana Luna.

“It’s never over until it’s over,” Boeljon said after overcoming a
three-shot deficit to clinch the Gold Coast event, which was jointly sanctioned
by the Ladies European Tour.

It was a second LET victory for Boeljon, a European Solheim Cup player.

U.S. Open champion Ryu started the final round with a three-stroke lead, due
mainly to her 11-under 61 on Friday, but was overtaken as she closed with an
even-par round of 72.

Luna and Kim each finished with rounds of 67 to move into a share of second
place.

Veteran Laura Davies of England shot a 71 and finished well off the pace at
4 under. Seven-time champion Karrie Webb did not play and will start her 2012
season next week at the Australian Open, which is co-sanctioned by the LPGA
Tour.

SAN DIEGO (AP)—Kyle Stanley was so good for 71 holes at Torrey Pines that
his performance drew comparisons with Tiger Woods.

When it was over, he was mentioned in the same breath as Jean Van de Velde.

Brandt Snedeker won the Farmers Insurance Open in a playoff that never
seemed possible when Stanley, who led by seven shots early in the final round,
hit a sand wedge into the water and three-putted for triple bogey on the 18th
hole.

“It’s not a hard golf hole,” Stanley said, his eyes glassy from tears. “I
could probably play it a thousand times and never make an 8.”

The playoff ended on the second extra hole when Snedeker, after his 5-iron
bounced off a TV tower behind the par-3 16th green that kept it from going into
the canyon, chipped to 5 feet and saved par.

Stanley three-putted from 45 feet, missing a 5-footer for par.

“It’s just crazy,” Snedeker said. “To get my mind around what happened
the last 30 minutes is pretty hard to do right now. My heart is out to Kyle. I
feel bad for him to have to go through this.”

Crazy doesn’t begin to describe it.

Stanley was so dominant at Torrey Pines that he had a six-shot lead when he
made the turn at 21-under par, just one shot from the tournament record last set
by Woods in 1999 before the South Course was beefed up for the 2008 U.S. Open.

Snedeker was so certain of being the runner-up that after a tap-in birdie on
the par-5 18th for a 5-under 67, he got in a cart and drove up the hill to the
media center for an interview. He settled into his chair and looked over at the
television, where Stanley was in the 18th fairway, 77 yards from the hole.

Stanley could have taken five shots from there and still captured his first
PGA Tour event.

“I knew I needed to shoot something low,” Snedeker said, one eye on the
TV. “But I just was too far back. Kyle had too big a lead.”

Just then, Stanley’s wedge landed behind the hole and zipped off the green,
tumbling slowly down the bank and into the water.

“Uh-oh,” Snedeker said, before he started doing some math.

“That’s three and four,” he said referring to the wedge and the penalty
shot. “He’s hitting five. How many shot-lead does he have?”

None by the time Snedeker got down to the putting green to warm up for a
most unlikely playoff.

When it ended, Snedeker removed his visor and hugged his caddie, Scott Vail,
who walked toward Stanley and said, “I’m sorry.”

There was not much else to say.

“He’s going to have a tough night,” Snedeker said. “There’s no way around
it. But he can be better from it. The thing I hope he doesn’t do is dwell on it.
I hope he moves past it pretty quick.”

Stanley is no stranger to heartache. Last summer, he was two shots ahead at
the John Deere Classic until he bogeyed the final hole from a bunker, and Steve
Stricker closed with two straight birdies to win.

This loss, however, put him in the wrong kind of company.

It was reminiscent of Van de Velde at Carnoustie, who made triple bogey on
the last hole of the 1999 British Open and lost in a playoff; of Robert
Garrigus, who made triple bogey on the last hole of the St. Jude Classic in 2010
and lost in a playoff; and even of Frank Lickliter at Torrey Pines, who
three-putted from 12 feet on the 17th hole in 2001 to make triple bogey in the
third playoff hole in losing to Phil Mickelson.

“I know I’ll be back,” Stanley said, pausing to allow the words to come
out of his mouth. “It’s tough to swallow right now.”

For 71 holes, Stanley had shown the power, poise and polish of a rising
star. He was like a machine, really, his emotions hidden behind sunglasses as he
crushed one 300-yard drive after another, and then calmly rolled in par putts of
12 feet, 5 feet and 8 feet late in his round to keep his cushion.

Snedeker was in the group ahead of him and took his lone bogey of the final
round on the 17th hole. That put Stanley up by four shots as he walked over to
the 18th tee to play the easiest hole at Torrey Pines.

A perfect drive. A short iron to a good distance to hit the green with his
wedge.

“We tried to lay it up close enough so that we wouldn’t put that much spin
on it,” Stanley said. “Thought I had a pretty good shot, but just had too much
spin.”

He took his drop, hit wedge that landed on the top shelf, and his 45-foot
putt down into the bowl of the green stayed 3 1/2 feet above the hole. He missed
the putt to the left and had to sign for a 74.

Both players made birdie on the 18th in the playoff—Stanley went just over
the back of the green with his second shot—and Snedeker closed him out on the
second extra hole.

“This one I kind of backed into,” Snedeker said. “You never like winning
a tournament that way. But you do like winning.”

He offered condolences, but no apologies.

“If anybody wants to see the trophy, it will be at my house the rest of my
life,” Snedeker said. “It’s not a tainted win. Winning out here is hard to do.
There have been a lot of guys that have had trouble closing out. And I’m sure
Kyle will end up winning plenty of golf tournaments in his career. He’s got that
kind of talent.”

Snedeker now has three PGA Tour victories, coming from at least five shots
behind in all of them.

He also knows emotion, having first gained national attention after the 2008
Masters, where he had a roller coaster round and wound up with a 77. Speaking to
the media, he buried his face in a towel and wept openly.

So to hear that Stanley’s eyes were wet, that his lip was quivering and that
he could barely get out a sentence without choking on emotion, was not a
surprise to Snedeker.

“I don’t think anybody should feel embarrassed about showing their
emotions,” Snedeker said. “I think that’s part of who you are. That’s how much
we care about it.”

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP)—Robert Rock held his nerve Sunday to beat
U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods at the Abu Dhabi Golf
Championship for the biggest win of the Englishman’s career.

The 117th-ranked Rock shot a 2-under 70 for an overall 13-under 275 to beat
the 22-year Northern Irishman by a shot and the 14-major winner by two. Woods
finished in a tie for third with Thomas Bjorn (68) and Graeme McDowell (68).
Matteo Manassero (69), the 18-year-old Italian, and George Coetzee (70) of South
Africa were a further shot back.

Woods started the final round tied for the lead with the unheralded Rock. He
appeared poised to win his second tournament in a row after ending a two-year
winless drought with victory last month at the Chevron World Challenge.

But the control Woods displayed for much the weekend abandoned him Sunday
and it was Rock who held it together down the stretch.

“I didn’t hit the ball as well as I would like to,” Woods said. “Today I
was just a touch off. I was righting the ball through the fairways. I was
hitting the ball a little bit further than I thought I would … So something to
look at, and something to try and figure out.”

Woods started strong and it looked like he might pull away from Rock,
sinking a 40-footer on No. 2 for a birdie and then chipping to within a foot of
the cup for a second birdie on the 3rd. But Rock—who said Saturday he was a
bit overwhelmed to face his idol—didn’t blink. He also birdied the first two
of three holes to keep pace.

Then Woods began to unravel.

He started spraying his drives into the thick rough and fairway bunkers,
resulting in the first of three bogeys. When Woods wasn’t missing the fairways,
he was scrambling to save par as he did on the 11th when overshooting the green.
As he approached his shot in deep rough just off the 11th green, he sighed
heavily and let out a stream of obscenities under his breath.

Woods managed to save par on 11 by sinking a 12-footer and Rock just missed
a birdie putt. Woods pumped his fist and appeared to be regaining the momentum
when he pulled within one shot of Rock on No. 13 when the Englishman had one of
his three bogeys. But the 34-year-old Rock birdied two of the next three holes
to seize control.

Rock wobbled on the 18th when his drive landed in a pile of rocks near the
water—forcing him to take a drop. But he recovered beautifully, reaching the
green in four and then two-putting for the win.

“It’s pretty hard to believe that I managed to win today. Very surprised,”
said Rock. “I played good. So I guess I had a chance from early on, a couple of
birdies made the day feel a little bit easier.”

“But it’s difficult playing with Tiger. You expect almost every shot to
threaten to go in. I felt a lot of pressure and couldn’t afford any lapses in
concentration at all.”

Rock said that he drew strength from the struggles of Woods and his other
playing partner Peter Hanson (78) and used that to bounce back from several
bogeys.

“I was just focusing on trying to hit fairways and then hit my iron shots
as good as I have been and give myself chances at birdies,” Rock said. “Both
Tiger and Peter struggled on occasions on a few holes and I managed to keep my
ball in the right position and didn’t put myself under too much stress until the
last, which was a relief.”

It was a storybook ending for Rock, who rose from a club pro to join the
tour in 2003 and only got his first tour win last year at the Italian Open. The
victory will elevate him into the top 60.

“It doesn’t get an awful lot harder than playing with Tiger Woods,” Rock
said. “So I guess barring a major championship, I know I can handle that again.
So that’s pretty nice to know.”

The loss is the second straight time Woods has failed to win with at least a
share of the lead after 54 holes. He lost the Chevron World Challenge in 2010
after going into the final round with a four-shot lead over McDowell.

Woods acknowledged it wasn’t the way he wanted to start the 2012 season but
said he took solace from the control he showed the first three days and the
putts he made over the final three days. He missed out on his 84th win and the
fifth time in nine years to open the season with a victory.

“Obviously the ultimate goal is to win and I didn’t win,” Woods said.

“I hit the ball good enough to win the golf tournament this week,” he
said. “Today I just didn’t give myself enough looks at it. Most of my putts
were lag putts. I didn’t drive the ball in as many fairways as I should have.
Some of the balls were running through. Other balls, I was just missing. It was
a day I was just a touch off off the tee and consequently I couldn’t get the
ball close enough to give myself looks.”

While most of attention was on Rock and Woods, several players surged into
contention down the stretch.

McIlroy, playing ahead of Rock and Woods, birdied 18 to move to 12 under and
give himself a chance at a win. But he came up short and was left ruing a
tournament in which four rounds of par or better golf was undone by several
costly mistakes—the worst coming on Friday when the third-ranked McIlroy was
penalized two shots for brushing away sand in front of his ball in the rough of
the 9th.

“You know, you’ve got to take the positives,” McIlroy said. “It’s the
first week of the year, and you know, it looks like it’s going to be the second
year in a row here that I’ll finish second. But still a very good start to the
season and something I’ll build on.”

McDowell played the most exciting round of the tournament on Sunday, with a
hole-in-one on No. 12, a chip-in on 13 and then a shot off the grandstand on the
last that led to a birdie and a tie for third. For the 2010 U.S. Open champion,
it was a good way to start the year after failing to win in 2011.

“Any time you come back in 31 shots on a Sunday, semi in the mix is always
a good day’s work,” said McDowell. “It was certainly an eventful last seven
holes with a hole in one and a nice ricochet off the grandstand at the last.”

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Follow Michael Casey on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mcasey1