The list of new winners on the PGA Tour keeps on growing. Hunter Mahan is the latest to join the maiden victory club with his triumph at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut.
In his fourth year on the tour, Mahan sunk a seven-foot birdie putt on the first play-off hole to outlast Jay Williamson.
Ted Exley, a regular contributor to the comments section on this blog, asked back in April if the number of new winners on tour was because the big names were too busy chasing Tiger Woods.
Vijay Singh was the only one of the big-name players to compete in the event and the Fijian finished a decent fourth, five shots behind the leading pair. Another star player active that weekend, South African Ernie Els, was playing in Europe.
The 25-year-old Mahan’s previous best this season was tied for fifth at the Shell Houston Open and he was determined to break his duck at this tournament, shooting five-under 65 in the final round to join Williamson (66) on 265.
He had made his intentions clear on the opening day with a sizzling 62, which was just one stroke short of the course record.
During the play-off, he hit a 114-yard approach to within seven feet and calmly stroked home the winner after Williamson missed a 12-foot birdie attempt.
Mahan said on the PGA Tour website:
“After that 62, I felt it almost came out of nowhere. I felt like I could play good here, I know I can win.â€
Nick O’Hern finish in third place on 269 after a final round of 66. Fred Funk was fifth on 271 while Tom Lehman, David Toms and Bo Van Pelt tied for sixth on 272.
Across the water, Sweden’s Niclas Fasth turned back a challenge from veteran German Bernhard Langer to win the BMW International Open in Munich by two strokes.
Fasth closed with a two-under-par 70 for a total of 13-under 275. The 49-year-old Langer was eager to win his home tournament for the first time but his 67 was only good enough for a share of second place with Jose-Filipe Lima, of Portugal, who shot 72.
It was Fasth’s sixth title on the European Tour and followed up a good performance the previous week at the US Open in Oakmont, where he finished fourth.
The Swede was only one in front of Langer until the 17th, when he hit a birdie. He said in a Reuters story:
“All in all I played some amazing golf. I’ve improved some things for this year and the biggest difference is that I now have huge confidence in my driver where before I didn’t hit enough fairways.â€
Langer struggled on the first day of the tournament with a neck injury but recovered sufficiently to battle for honours on the final day. The German said:
“It was a great shame I had my injury on the first day or who knows what might have happened.â€
Three golfers were tied for fourth on 278 – Argentina’s Ricardo Gonzalez, Denmark’s Anders Hansen and Maarten Lafeber, of the Netherlands. Els closed with a 67 for 279 and a share of seventh place with England’s Simon Khan.
