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SPORTS Monday 26 March 2018

Bubba Watson wins Match Play for 2nd World Golf Championship

By DOUG FERGUSON onship match to replace honest. And I think you're al. cense" score in match play.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Bub- Dustin Johnson at No. 1 in constantly getting ques- "I'm looking forward to it, A dog license in Britain
ba Watson made the final the world. Watson went out tions about it with the me- and hopefully I can get this used to cost seven shillings,
of the Dell Technologies six pence (referred to as 7
Match Play look as though and 6).
he were on vacation all Watson holed a 10-foot
along. birdie on the opening hole,
Watson won his second and then Kisner took care of
World Golf Championships the rest. His drive was short
title Sunday with the biggest and to the right on the hill
blowout since the champi- at No. 2, and he did well to
onship matched switched get it just short of the green,
to 18 holes in 2011, a 7-and- failing to get up-and-down.
6 victory over Kevin Kisner. Kisner then hit just inside the
Watson wasn't as sharp hazard and had to play up
as he was in the semifi- short of another hazard.
nals against Justin Thomas, Then, he found a bunker
whom he beat in 16 holes on the par-3 fourth hole. His
to deny Thomas going to next drive went right into
No. 1 in the world ranking. the trees on the reachable
He didn't have to be in par-4 fifth.
the final. If not for missing Watson missed his short
a 4-foot birdie putt on the birdie putt to win the sixth
par-5 sixth, Watson would hole, but not to worry. Kis-
have won the first seven ner's next shot bounced
holes. off a spectator's head and
Kisner had a lot to do with next to a fence, and he
that. After escaping in 19 Bubba Watson watches his drive on the sixth hole during round six at the Dell Technologies Match had to chip off loose soil
holes against Alex Noren Play golf tournament Sunday, March 25, 2018, in Austin, Texas. Watson made the final of the Dell across the green for anoth-
in his semifinal match, Kis- Technologies Match Play look as though he were on vacation all along. er bogey.
ner didn't put up much of a (AP Photo/Eric Gay) This can happen in match
fight. He made four straight play, and Kisner saw it Sat-
bogeys and only twice on urday in his 8-and-6 victory
the front nine was putting to a 3-up lead on the front dia. But I need to be men- focus and my putter rolling over Ian Poulter.
for birdie. nine, and when Thomas tally stronger than that, like it is," Watson said. "I don't know what was go-
Watson had scheduled a closed to 1 down at the and understand that it's just Watson played 109 holes ing on. It was just pitiful,"
family vacation out of the turn with his first birdie putt, a match." over seven matches, going Kisner said. "I've just got
country on Sunday, which Watson won two of the next Noren beat Thomas in the to the 18th hole just once to forget this 12 holes and
he had to postpone. Wat- three holes to regain con- consolation match, 5 and when he halved his match get back to working on the
son figured he hardly ever trol. Thomas didn't make 3. with Julian Suri on Friday. things that got me here."
makes it this far in golf's another birdie until the par- One year after Watson dis- Through it all, he said he Even in a final match that
most fickle format, so it was 5 16th, and by then it was appeared from among the wasn't committed to only lacked any drama, Watson
a good problem to have. too late. Watson made elite in golf, he has won his four or five shots. He was still managed to shed a few
There was nothing fickle his birdie from 3 feet for a last two starts. He was No. hitting high draws, low cuts, tears. His mother was with
about his game, especially 3-and-2 victory. 117 in the world when he all the shots he created him in the gallery on the
on the final day. Thomas said he was too arrived at Riviera, where he as a kid in the Florida Pan- weekend, and they shared
Watson never trailed in the consumed with what was won for the third time in his handle when he was just a a warm embrace after he
28 holes he played Sunday, at stake in the semifinals. career. With his 11th victory boy with a club and a wild made a 7-foot birdie putt
and he was never seriously "I haven't had such a hard on the PGA Tour, he now is imagination. on the 12th hole to win the
threatened. time not thinking about back up to No. 21. He wouldn't have imagined match. “It’s crazy to think
The tougher match was something so much. And And the two-time Masters such an easy time against about it,” Watson said.
against Thomas, the PGA that really sucked," Thomas champion added his name Kisner in the all-Georgia “I’ve got two World Golf
champion who needed said. "I couldn't stop think- to the growing list of con- Bulldogs final that ended Championships, and two
only to reach the champi- ing about it, to be perfectly tenders at Augusta Nation- with the fabled "dog li- majors.q