Keegan Bradley of the USA fired a superb final round of 64 to win the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Ohio by a single shot from his countrymen Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker.
Bradley stood on the final tee a shot behind Furyk who had led the tournament all week following a first round of 63. It looked as though Furyk would do enough to close out the event after Bradley found a plugged lie in the greenside bunker on the 72nd hole. But Furyk also failed to get onto the 18th green in regulation and was left with a difficult pitch from the rough to the right side of the putting surface.
Furyk didn’t reach the green with his pitch before Bradley blasted out, leaving himself a 20-foot putt for par. Furyk then pitched on with his fourth shot, ending some five feet from the cup.
Bradley steadied himself and holed his putt. That meant Furyk had to hole his bogey effort to force a playoff. He stood over the ball, backed off then re-made his stance before pushing the putt past the right edge. The title was Bradley’s and Furyk did well to hole the return putt and secure a tie for second with Steve Stricker.
It was Bradley’s third PGA Tour victory and his first since claiming the 2011 USPGA Championship 51 weeks ago.
Louis Oosthuizen had a good week to finish alone in fourth, two behind Bradley. British stars Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose shared a tie for fifth.
WGC – Bridgestone Invitational
Firestone Country Club, Akron, Ohio
Aug 2-5, purse $8,500,000, par 70
1 Keegan Bradley (USA) 67 69 67 64 267
T2 Steve Stricker (USA) 68 68 68 64 268
T2 Jim Furyk (USA) 63 66 70 69 268
4 Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 67 65 68 69 269
T5 Justin Rose (Eng) 70 69 66 67 272
T5 Rory McIlroy (NIR) 70 67 67 68 272
7 Jason Dufner (USA) 67 66 73 68 274
T8 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 73 66 71 66 276
T8 Tiger Woods (USA) 70 72 68 66 276
T8 Matt Kuchar (USA) 70 70 70 66 276
T8 K.J. Choi (Kor) 71 72 67 66 276
T8 David Toms (USA) 68 67 73 68 276
T8 Lee Slattery (Eng) 65 71 72 68 276
T8 Luke Donald (Eng) 66 69 71 70 276
T8 Bo Van Pelt (USA) 70 70 69 66 71 276
Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage