Bubba Watson rallied from six strokes behind to beat Scott Verplank on the second playoff hole with a par putt to earn his first PGA Tour victory Sunday at the Travelers Championship.
Watson, Verplank and U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin needed extra holes after they all finished at 14 under par.
After sinking a 3-footer for par on the par-3 16th to win it, Watson hugged his wife, Angie, and began crying. He said he was so nervous, he could not feel his arms on the final putt.
``For me to get into a playoff after shooting 4 under was unreal, and to somehow make that par putt to win was unreal,'' said Watson, who had the largest comeback on the tour since Padraig Harrington also came from six back to win the 2007 British Open.
Verplank left his tee shot short of the green on the second playoff hole and missed an 8-foot par putt. Watson, who had a 48-footer for birdie, was able to steady his nerves enough to get it close.
Pavin was eliminated on the first playoff hole after hitting his tee shot just 219 yards and putting his approach into a bunker short of the 18th green. He blasted to within 3 feet, earning a standing ovation.
``The playoff was a little disappointing to me,'' he said. ``I kind of popped up a 3-wood there and left myself in a pretty precarious spot.''
Justin Rose, who was coming off his first PGA Tour win earlier this month at the Memorial, had a three-stroke lead coming into Sunday.
But the 29-year-old Englishman was 1 over par on the front nine, and collapsed on the back, shooting a 5-over 75.
``It was obviously my tournament to lose,'' Rose said. ``I could have shot 1 over par today and won the golf tournament. It's disappointing. It wasn't overly difficult today.''
Watson almost won on the first playoff hole, hitting a sand wedge on his approach within an inch of the cup from 128 yards out.
But Verplank sank an 8-foot birdie putt to extend the playoff.
Verplank started the day in 13th place, eight strokes behind third-round leader Rose, while Pavin and Watson were both six back.
He made eagles on the 13th and 15th holes to move into contention. But a birdie putt on 17 lipped the cup.
``When I holed it on 15, I looked at the leaderboard, and I wasn't that far back. I needed to birdie one of the last couple holes,'' Verplank said.
The crowd began chanting ``USA'' after Pavin sank a 32-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole that broke sharply from left to right and put him into contention.
The 50-year-old said he wouldn't have put himself on the Ryder Cup team, even if he had won.
``Being captain is pretty tough, just to do that,'' he said. ``Arnold Palmer was the last one to do that, and that was a different era, a different time. I wouldn't have played.''
No player in the first three groups made it into the playoff.
Rose held the lead until he missed a 10-foot par putt on the 10th hole and moved into a three-way tie with playing partner Ben Curtis and Verplank.
He lost the lead after a bogey on the 12th hole, then hit his tee shot on 15 into the water on his way to a double bogey.
Curtis, who bogeyed just two holes in the tournament coming into Sunday, hit his tee shot on 12 out of bounds to the left, and made double bogey from there. Both he and Rose bogeyed 16 to drop out of contention. Curtis finished with a 73.
Chris Riley began the day at 8 under par, but eagled the par-4 14th hole from 155-yards, and was 5 under on the back nine. He finished a stroke behind the leaders at 13 under par.
``I bogeyed my first two holes and, I was like, 'Ho, hum. Here we go,''' he said. ``I was in something like 45th place. What makes this course so great is you can make up ground.''
Watson was the first U.S. player to win on the Tour in four weeks.
The last three were all Europeans. Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell won the big prize last week at the U.S. Open. The Memorial was Rose's first tour win, and fellow Englishman Lee Westwood won before that at the St. Jude Classic.
