BUICK INVITATIONAL: Watney rallies to steal Buick title
Torrey Pines Golf Course has seen its share of legendary winners over the years, but Sunday the Buick Invitational trophy went to a guy named Nick Watney, who didn't start playing golf until he was 13 and was only good enough to attend Fresno State on a partial scholarship.
Starting Sunday's final round five shots back from leader John Rollins, the 27-year-old Sacramento native was seemingly the odd man out in two-man race featuring Rollins and Camilo Villegas. After all, he didn't take the lead until he actually won the tournament with a 3-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole.
"If you're going to lead for one hole, that's the time to do it," Watney said.
Thanks to a 4-under-par 68 on the South Course, Watney finished at 11-under 277, good enough for a one-shot victory and a $954,000 first-place prize.
He's the first non-major championship winner at the Buick Invitational since Peter Jacobsen in 1995.
Rollins shot 74 and added his sixth runner-up finish to his resume, while Villegas (72) and Lucas Glover (68) tied for third at 9-under.
"It was tough out there today," Rollins said. "I just seemed to struggle to get anything going and got off to bad start bogeying (holes) 1 and 2. That gave the guys a little bit of life."
Although Watney is not a household name, he's no stranger to victory. He won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in 2007 and was victorious in the Nationwide Tour Championship in 2004.
But he was only a blip on the radar screen at Torrey Pines this week until he rolled in a 38-footer for birdie from the fringe at the par-3 16th, which tied him with Rollins at 10-under.
Rollins hit his tee shot in the left bunker and couldn't get up and down for par.
Watney had three-putted the 16th green on Sunday in last year's U.S. Open, and called on that memory to help him read the slope.
"It was definitely a big swing," said Watney, who didn't record one three-putt the last four days. "All of a sudden to be tied for the lead was kind of a jolt."
Said Rollins: "(The putt) looked like it was going to run out of steam, but it sort of wiggled back to the right as it lost speed and fell in the back door. It's just inches from a miss, and who knows what that could have changed. But that was a great putt."
After he and Rollins two-putted for par at 17, the two arrived at 18 tied for the lead. After they both reached the fairway, Watney was the first to hit. Looking at 235 yards over water to a front-left pin, he pulled his hybrid club and sailed his shot to the back edge of the green, 63 feet away.
Rollins, meanwhile, pulled his 231-yard shot into a greenside bunker.
Rollins, without much green to work with, blasted out his third shot to 12 feet, while Watney gently snuggled his downhill putt to 3 feet.
Rollins missed his birdie putt to the left, setting up Watney for the tournament clincher.
Watney was later asked that with so much on the line if he ever considered laying up with a wedge. He said he never did.
"I think in a tournament like this, when it's really tight down the stretch, you've got to take it," Watney said. "You've got to grab it. John is such a great player, very seasoned, and he wasn't going to give me anything. There was really no choice."
Rollins appeared to put the tournament out of reach when he curled in a 21-footer for eagle at the par-5 13th, a clutch putt that gave him a three-shot cushion with five to play.
But a bogey at the 14th took away any momentum.
"You know, I played well," Rollins said. "I gave myself a chance and that's all you can ask."
Villegas, the 36-hole leader, was only one back heading into 17. But when he hacked out of heavy rough and missed the green right, his fate was sealed.
He had an eagle try at 18 to get to 10-under, but his 42-footer just missed.
"A little bogey on 17 kind of made it a little tough on me," Villegas said.
"I knew I had to make the putt on 18 and I gave it a great roll."
In the end though, Watney's run ---- that's Nick Watney ---- was better.
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