Bubba Watson Wins the 2015 Travelers Championship

72 holes of golf just wasn't enough to decide the winner of this year's edition of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands. 2010 Champion (and one of our picks this week) Bubba Watson and Englishman Paul Casey both finished the tournament tied for the lead at 16-under and battled it out over two extra holes. Eventually, Bubba Watson emerged as the winner. This is his 8th PGA Tour win and first since November 2014 (HSBC Champions). With this win, he extends his PGA Tour playoff record to 5-1. He's also the four player this season to have multiple wins.

Bubba was up and around the top of the leaderboard all week. Today, his round was relatively quiet until an unlikely eagle on the 13th hole, where he hit his second shot from a fairway bunker onto the green, then holed the eagle putt. He was leading by three shots at one point but a bogey on his part and a few birdies on Casey's part leveled them out. Paul Casey went for a more direct route to the playoff, shooting rounds of 64 and 65 on the weekend. His round today consisted of four birdies and a hole-out for eagle on the 3rd hole.

The playoff started on the 18th hole, where Casey hit a good drive but Bubba hit his tee shot way right into deep grass and on a hill. Oddly enough, Casey hit his 2nd shot into a greenside bunker and Bubba hit his on the green to about 20 feet from the hole. However, Casey got up and down and Bubba two-putted, so back to the 18th tee box to replay the hole they went. This time around, Casey hit his tee shot into a fairway bunker (near the lip of the bunker) and Bubba found the fairway. Casey went from a fairway to the same greenside bunker via his second shot and again Bubba found the green, landing his shot about 8 feet from the hole. Shockingly, Casey mis-hit his greenside bunker shot over the green (double his intended distance) onto the nearby cart path, giving Bubba a golden opportunity to finish. And he took advantage of it, holing his birdie putt for another playoff win.

The weekend saw it's fair share of rain, which fell right up until the last playoff hole. The course still saw low scores all around though, with the lowest today being Paul Casey's 65. Canadian Graham DeLaet also made his name known on the leaderboard, finishing solo 4th at 14-under, aided by a 64 on Saturday. Interestingly, the cooler temps and light drizzle that were present during the final round were reminiscent of the weather you'd expect on a links course. And as commentator Sir Nick Faldo said, the atmosphere during the playoff was a little Ryder Cup-like, given the nationalities of Bubba and Casey and the weather; and you did get that feeling a bit.

Finally, here's how our picks finished:

1) Louis Oosthuizen: CUT
2) Bubba Watson: 1st at 11-under
3) Francesco Molinari: T25 at 7-under

A top notch finish from Bubba and a good one from Molinari. Molinari didn't have the best weekend at even par through his last two rounds, but it's still a good finish.

That's it for our coverage this week. Join us next week at The Old White TPC in West Virginia for the Greenbrier Classic.


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews