Shanghai, Nov 3 (IANS) United States golfer Dustin Johnson fended off the challenges of defending champion Ian Poulter and Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell by staging a late comeback with a final round six-under-par 66 to win the WGC-HSBC Champions here Sunday.
Trailing by one shot with six holes to play, the Ryder Cup star proved his title credentials by firing three birdies and an eagle to seal a three-shot victory with his winning total of 24-under-par 264 at the Sheshan International Golf Club. Poulter had to settle for second place after he closed with a 66 while McDowell also signed for a 66 to finish third.
China’s Liang Wen-chong emerged as the highest-ranked Asian after he also posted a 66 to end shared 15th with Major winner Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa at the year’s final World Golf Championship.
“I stuck to my game plan. I played really well on the last few holes of the front nine and had a great back nine. But the guys, they made it really interesting but I just played really good coming down the stretch. This is probably my biggest win and with the field and tournament, World Golf Championships, hopefully this is a sign of better things to come,” said Johnson.
Having started his final round with a three-shot lead, Johnson saw his advantage wiped out after two holes. A three-putt bogey at the first hole from Johnson, combined with two opening birdies from Poulter, saw the pair tied on 17-under. It became a tight affair as McDowell set off with a scorching pace by firing three birdies in his opening three holes.
Birdies on the eighth and ninth holes got Johnson back into a share of the lead and although Poulter edged in front with a birdie on the 12th, Johnson matched his efforts with birdies on the 13th and 14th.
Johnson’s turning point came at the par-four 16th when he chipped in for eagle before going on to hit a glorious tee-shot at the par three 17th and holed an eight-footer for birdie.
Leaderboard:
264 – Dustin JOHNSON (USA) 69-63-66-66
267 – Ian POULTER (ENG) 71-67-63-66
268 – Graeme MCDOWELL (NIR) 69-69-64-66
270 – Sergio GARCIA (ESP) 70-68-69-63
272 – Justin ROSE (ENG) 68-71-65-68
273 – Rory MCILROY (NIR) 65-72-67-69, Graham DELAET (CAN) 71-68-65-69
274 – Jamie DONALDSON (WAL) 67-74-66-67, Bubba WATSON (USA) 68-69-69-68, Martin KAYMER (GER) 70-74-62-68
275 – Ernie ELS (RSA) 69-69-71-66, Keegan BRADLEY (USA) 71-68-68-68, Boo WEEKLEY (USA) 70-67-69-69
276 – Phil MICKELSON (USA) 71-68-72-65
277 – LIANG Wen-chong (CHN) 72-67-72-66, Louis OOSTHUIZEN (RSA) 70-70-70-67
278 – Jordan SPIETH (USA) 68-71-70-69
279 – Jin JEONG (KOR) 70-69-71-69, Tommy FLEETWOOD (ENG) 68-70-69-72
280 – Paul CASEY (ENG) 69-73-69-69
281 – Scott PIERCY (USA) 72-73-68-68, Jaco VAN ZYL (RSA) 72-73-68-68, Bill HAAS (USA) 72-72-69-68, Mikko ILONEN (FIN) 72-69-72-68, Peter HANSON (SWE) 70-73-70-68, Matteo MANASSERO (ITA) 72-70-70-69, Francesco MOLINARI (ITA) 72-69-70-70, Gregory BOURDY (FRA) 75-68-67-71, Bo VAN PELT (USA) 77-67-66-71, Scott HEND (AUS) 69-74-66-72
282 – Nick WATNEY (USA) 75-74-67-66, Luke DONALD (ENG) 70-71-70-71, Henrik STENSON (SWE) 74-76-67-65
283 – HUANG WenYi (CHN) 70-74-69-70, Billy HORSCHEL (USA) 71-69-72-71, Mark BROWN (NZL) 72-68-72-71, Kevin STREELMAN (USA) 70-73-72-68, Jason DUFNER (USA) 73-67-71-72
284 – Branden GRACE (RSA) 77-71-67-69, David LYNN (ENG) 74-70-69-71, Chris WOOD (ENG) 71-71-73-69, Thomas BJORN (DEN) 74-72-70-68, LI Hao Tong (CHN) 72-71-74-67, Gonzalo FDEZ-CASTANO (ESP) 67-71-70-76, Richard STERNE (RSA) 74-73-74-63
285 – Jimmy WALKER (USA) 73-73-69-70, Thongchai JAIDEE (THA) 76-68-68-73, Ken DUKE (USA) 70-72-73-70, Brian GAY (USA) 71-72-72-70
286 – Hiroyuki FUJITA (JPN) 75-70-68-73, Michael THOMPSON (USA) 74-72-68-72, Ryan MOORE (USA) 70-74-69-73, Masahiro KAWAMURA (JPN) 73-72-70-71, Michael HENDRY (NZL) 72-73-73-68
287 – Rickie FOWLER (USA) 74-70-70-73, Kiradech APHIBARNRAT (THA) 69-78-68-72, Lee WESTWOOD (ENG) 71-73-68-75, John MERRICK (USA) 72-75-69-71, Brandt SNEDEKER (USA) 73-74-70-70, Peter UIHLEIN (USA) 71-73-73-70
288 – Derek ERNST (USA) 71-72-73-72, Darren FICHARDT (RSA) 70-74-75-69
289 – Gaganjeet BHULLAR (IND) 69-71-75-74, Stephen GALLACHER (SCO) 73-73-72-71, Jonas BLIXT (SWE) 70-75-74-70
290 – Daniel POPOVIC (AUS) 77-71-69-73, Ryo ISHIKAWA (JPN) 81-72-68-69
291 – D.A. POINTS (USA) 72-74-70-75, WU Ashun (CHN) 74-75-70-72
292 – David HOWELL (ENG) 72-75-73-72
293 – BAEK Seuk-hyun (KOR) 81-68-69-75
295 – Miguel Angel JIMENEZ (ESP) 75-76-70-74
296 – Raphael JACQUELIN (FRA) 81-70-71-74
297 – George COETZEE (RSA) 75-77-74-71
299 – HU Mu (CHN) 76-75-73-75
303 – Brett RUMFORD (AUS) 75-77-79-72
323 – HUANG Ming-Jie (CHN) 83-77-80-83
