Nick Watney nabs third title; Tiger Woods shows some signs of life

Nick Watney wins World Golf Championship

Nick Watney birdied the final hole of the World Golf Championship at Doral Resort and Spa on Sunday to win his third PGA tour title, while Tiger Woods showed some improvement.

He scored a 67 for the final round and 16-under for the tournament and won by two strokes over Dustin Johnson who carded a 71 for the day.

"I know how good Dustin is," Nick Watney said about the way he held off Johnson. "It wouldn't have surprised me at all, if I made a par there, that he would have made a birdie to force a playoff."

Johnson was steady for the most part throughout the round, at one point scoring 12 straight pars, but had to hole in a 9-iron shot from the fairway to force a tie. But his shot was 9 feet short and Nick Watney, 29, clinched the World Golf Championship.

"Nick is a good friend of mine," Johnson said. "I told him walking off that if I was going to lose to somebody, I was glad it was him."

Tiger Woods continued his comeback with a final round score of 66, good enough to finish among the top ten in a tournament since he came back from a self-imposed hiatus last year.

"It's definitely getting better, there's no doubt," Tiger Woods said. "I'm putting the pieces together. Everything is kind of shaping up and heading the right direction, which is good, and peaking right at the right time -- right for Tavistock Cup."

While Tiger Woods is having some modest progress on his comeback, the day belonged to World Golf Championship winner Nick Watney.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Monday March 14 2011, 7:43 AM EST. Ref: NY Times. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0