Biggest Winners and Losers from the WGC-HSBC Champions
Many of the PGA Tour's best headed to Sheshan International in Shanghai for the WGC-HSBC Champions. Bursting out of the pack of the best golfers in the world, Bubba Watson needed to make magic happen on his final hole of the competition.
The ball-demolishing lefty followed his hole-out from a bunker for eagle with more brilliance as he faced down Tim Clark in a playoff.
What did Watson do, and why was Tiger Woods a loser this week?
Click through to see.
Winner: Highlight-Loving Golf Fans
1 of 6If you like dramatic finishes, then you were pleased by the conclusion to the WGC-HSBC Champions. And if you don't like dramatic finishes...well, who doesn't like dramatic finishes? After a series of relatively bland conclusions to recent events, this tournament didn't disappoint in its dying embers.
Bubba Watson holed the ridiculous bunker shot you see pictured above to punch his ticket to a sudden-death playoff with Tim Clark.
And the 2014 Masters champions wasn't done with the highlight-reel stuff, as he rolled in a 20-foot putt for birdie on the first playoff hole.
The drama, however, started well before the 18th hole. As Doug Ferguson of The Associated Press (via ESPN.com) wrote:
"[Watson] stood on the 16th tee with a two-shot lead. He trudged off the 17th green facing a one-shot deficit behind five players suddenly tied for the lead. And right when it looked as though Watson had blown it, he delivered a finish that not even the creator of "Bubba golf" could have imagined.
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And if you didn't see it, watch Watson's winning putt and his exuberant outpouring.
Losers: Tim Clark, Hiroshi Iwata, Graeme McDowell
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Tim Clark and the unheralded Hiroshi Iwata both had their chances Sunday at the WGC-HSBC Champions.
Clark birdied his final hole of the competition and was joined by Bubba Watson in a sudden-death playoff. The South African was vanquished thanks to Watson's 20-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole. While it may be a victory to play well on some level, when you lose in a playoff, you're a loser in this ranking.
Likewise, Hiroshi Iwata ran out of gas Sunday in his pursuit of a breakthrough victory. After birdieing three of the first five holes on his back nine, Iwata bogeyed the 15th hole. The Japanese golfer couldn't get another birdie coming in.
And Graeme McDowell, well, he led the WGC-HSBC Champions at the end of each of the first three rounds. He could only manage a one-over 73 on Sunday to finish tied for third. Very disappointing stuff from the Ulsterman.
As the three golfers with the best chances to win the WGC-HSBC Champions not named Bubba Watson, Iwata and McDowell are losers (but winners in the moral-victory column, for what that's worth).
Winner: Matt Every
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Matt Every tied for 56th at the WGC-HSBC Champions. He's a winner this week—not for his work on the course, but for an awesome decision he made.
Every, who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational last year, has elected to honor the King with the name of his first child, who is due around Thanksgiving. He and his wife will name their daughter Quinn Palmer Every, per Dave Shedloski of Golf Digest.
It's a very cool decision amid a sea of Tour pros' children whose names seemed to be plucked from the list of "Most Popular Baby Names: 2014."
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Loser: Patrick Reed
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Patrick Reed finished two under for the WGC-HSBC Champions and tied for 22nd. The fiery golfer found himself in hot water this week, however, thanks to a homophobic slur he directed at himself amid a torrent of profanity following a missed putt in the second round.
While he did apologize Saturday, saying, "Sorry for definitely the words that I said and everything that went on. Never should have happened," the damage was done. The 24-year-old uttered an unspeakable and unpardonable slur loud enough to be heard on television.
He's a huge, huge loser this week.
Winner: Rickie Fowler
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While the WGC-HSBC Champions may technically be part of the 2014-2015 season, the event was staged in the same calendar year as Rickie Fowler's brilliance in major championships.
In his first PGA Tour event since an eighth-place showing at the Tour Championship, Fowler finished his 2014 calendar year strong with four solid rounds in Shanghai.
With the result, Fowler now has top-10 finishes in eight of his last nine starts, and we ought to expect him to be a winner several times over in 2015. The showing sets the tone and continues an important trend in Fowler's development into a top-tier player.
True, a birdie at his final hole of the competition would have gotten him into a playoff with his buddy Bubba Watson and Tim Clark, but the 10-under tally was still an impressive one.
Loser: Tiger Woods
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While the former world No. 1 didn't tee it up in Shanghai, he's still a loser this week. Why? Because HSBC's global head of sponsorship, Giles Morgan, effectively said the tournament doesn't need Tiger Woods and won't pay him exorbitant appearance fees in the future.
Giles told The Guardian, "We have moved beyond the point where we just need ‘a player’ to turn up to boost PR, gratification and media coverage. We are not interested in that; we are interested in genuine growth of the sport, and I think we are sitting on a fantastic new chapter."
If that weren't bad enough, Dustin Johnson broke Woods' course record at Sherwood Country Club in a recreational round last week, firing a 61, per Fox Sports.
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