Bubba Watson Captures Travelers Title in Playoff

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Bubba Watson made an 8-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole Sunday to outlast Paul Casey and win the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Conn., for the second time.

Casey had overcome a three-stroke deficit with five to play, tying Watson at 16-under 264.

But Casey lost his chance at the title while playing the par-4 18th for the third time. His third shot, from a greenside bunker, flew over the green and landed on the cart path.

Watson hit his 160-yard approach just to the right of the hole.

Watson had a chance to win in regulation but bogeyed the 17th, while Casey closed with three birdies on the final five holes, sandwiched around a bogey on 15.

Watson finished with a 67 at T.P.C. River Highlands; Casey shot a 65.

Watson also won a playoff in the W.G.C.-HSBC Champions in China in November at the start of the season. He won the Travelers in 2010 for his first PGA Tour title.

This was the sixth time since 2004 that the tournament was decided in a playoff.

MAGGERT PREVAILS AGAIN Jeff Maggert won the United States Senior Open in Sacramento for his second major victory on the Champions Tour this year.

Maggert shot a five-under 65 at the sun-drenched Del Paso Country Club, edging the defending champion, Colin Montgomerie, by two strokes. Maggert made six birdies and one bogey to finish at 10-under 270.

Maggert, 51, won his first senior major last month in Alabama in the Regions Tradition. His only other Champions Tour victory came in Mississippi last year in his first start on the 50-and-over circuit.

Montgomerie closed with a 66. Grant Waite and Bernhard Langer tied for third at seven under. Waite had a 67, and Langer, who shared the lead with Maggert after three rounds, shot a 68.

Maggert provided a little bit of drama to a final round that lacked it when his approach on the 18th landed in the upslope of the greenside bunker. He wedged out and made the 4-foot par putt, raising his arms and embracing family members who ran onto the green.

The victory moved Maggert into an elite class on the Champions Tour. Maggert (two), Montgomerie (three) and Langer (three) have combined to win the last eight majors.

Maggert had just three wins in more than 20 years on the PGA Tour, the last in the 2006 St. Jude Classic.

Now he has matched that total in a little more than a year on the Champions Tour, including two of this season’s five majors.

CHOI EARNS NINTH L.P.G.A. TITLE Na Yeon Choi eagled the par-4 16th hole from the fairway to take the lead and won the NW Arkansas Championship in Rogers, Ark., by two strokes for her ninth L.P.G.A. Tour title.

Choi closed with a two-under 69 to finish at 15-under 198.

Choi’s 8-iron from 142 yards on the 16th one-hopped into the hole to give her a one-shot lead over Stacy Lewis, the defending champion and a local favorite. Choi followed with another 8-iron to a foot on the par-3 17th, and she closed with a par.

Mika Miyazato finished second at 13 under after a 67. Lewis bogeyed the par-5 18th for a 68 that left her tied for third with Anna Nordqvist and Azahara Munoz at 12 under.