TW World Challenge, Magnificent G-Mac Wins

Graeme McDowell, G-Mac/Dunn/ Getty Images

Graeme McDowell, G-Mac,  finished  with a 4-under par round of 68, and a tournament total of  -17 under par, to win the Tiger Woods World Challenge presented by Northwestern Mutual by three shots on Sunday. It was Graeme’s  first title in two years, he was determined to win as he held off the challenge of  Keegan Bradley. G-Mac was really happy with this result;

“This really caps off my season, we try not to put winning on a pedestal, but this one feels very sweet because it’s been a grind all year. Certainly I will draw some confidence from this one, the game hasn’t given me a huge amount this year. My dollar average around this country club is fairly high, I’m probably right up there in the top-five in the world in California, no doubt about it. We’ll have to look at playing a little bit more here on the West Coast. I’m over the moon to get the job done, for two years I’ve been saying things like processes and trying to get better and be patient and hopefully the wins will come. So I guess I got fed up with telling everybody that I’m playing well. I guess I’m relieved to get across the line and take some nice confidence into this little off period I’ve got coming up.”

Graeme won for the first time since he beat Tiger Woods in a playoff at Sherwood Country Club to close out a dream season in 2010, that included his first major at the U.S. Open and the winning point for Europe at the Ryder Cup.

Second placed Keegan Bradley was at -14 under par for the tournament after his final round of -3 under par 69. Bo Van Pelt finished alone in third spot at -10 under par, with a last round of -2 under par 70.

Tournament host Tiger Woods finished tied in fourth place at -9 under par, with Jim Furyk and Rickie Fowler, Tiger admitted he had struggled a bit this week;

“I struggled with my game a little bit this week, I just managed myself well to get around in these conditions. It’s been a long year, and I’ve played a lot, and just really looking forward to a break. Just having nothing to do with golf for a few weeks, just put the clubs away, enjoy the holidays, be with my kids and just really enjoy that. Then after that I’ll start cranking back up again and start focusing on my shots.”

US PGA Tiger Woods World Challenge, Nick Watney Leads

Nick Watney leads the US PGA Tiger Woods World Challenge, presented by Northwestern Mutual at the Sherwood Country Club, Thousand Oaks  in California. Nick leads the event by two shots, after his opening round of -5 under par, 67.

Nick Watney / Dunn / Getty Images

Nick is ahead of Keegan Bradley, Graeme McDowell and Jim Furyk, who are all at -3 under par, after their rounds of 69.  Graeme McDowell is just one of thirteen Ryder Cup Players who are contesting in this event, making a very strong field indeed. Tiger Woods is in the group at -2 under par 70, he is in good company with Bo Van Pelt and Webb Simpson both on the same score. There are three players at -1 under par, they are Bubba Watson, Hunter Mahan and Aussie Jason Day. Everybody else is over par, the last player on the board is Brandt Snedeker at +3 over par.

Nick shot a round of  80 in the final round in 2010 and then finished last in the 18-player field last year at Tiger Woods’ World Challenge, he said about today;

“I figured since Tiger is nice enough to invite me, I might as well prepare and try to play well. I’m a little better prepared than I have been coming in here. I’ve come in the past two years pretty rusty, hadn’t been doing much work. This tournament’s definitely not as serious or as cut-throat, maybe, but I think when Sunday comes, we’re all very competitive people. If we’re tied going to the last hole, we definitely want to beat the other guy. Winning this event would be an honor. The list of champions is pretty strong. I think everybody comes here wanting to win even though it’s during the holiday season and all that stuff. I’m trying to use it to prepare for next season, and winning never gets old, so that’s the goal.”

Keegan Bradley said he had played solidly all day,

“I did have a bad break on the last hole, but I played so solidly all day.  The drive on No. 18 was literally resting up against a root, and then just to the right of it was a rock. You know, it was a bad break, but also if it didn’t hit that root it probably would have rolled all the way back down that hill toward the ninth fairway.”

Tiger admitted he did not play to the best of his abilities;

“”I didn’t hit it very good, it was nice to scrape out a good score. I could have easily shot myself out of the tournament, but I kept myself in it.”

Tomorrow is another day, and tournament host Tiger Woods will be keen to assert his authority.