Gary Woodland made only one par on the back nine Sunday at the Transitions Championship, and it gave him his first PGA Tour victory and a trip to the Masters.
Woodland surged into the lead with three straight birdies, and fell out of it with back-to-back bogeys. Tied for the lead on the final hole at Innisbrook, the big-hitter from Kansas holed a 10-foot par putt to finish off a 4-under 67.
That proved to be the difference moments later when Webb Simpson also went long on the 18th and his chip down the slope went 20 feet by the hole. Simpson missed the putt to shoot 69 and finished one shot behind.
Woodland, who played college basketball at Washburn until decided to transfer to Kansas to play golf, became the first player to earn his inaugural PGA Tour title at Innisbrook.
It couldn't have come at a better time.
The win gives Woodland an invitation to Augusta National, where his awesome power and soft putting touch could make for an interesting marriage at the Masters. A late-bloomer, Woodland missed the second half of his rookie season two years ago with shoulder surgery, but began to show his potential when he lost in a playoff at the Bob Hope Classic.
Woodland finished at 15-under 269 and earned $990,000, moving up to No. 3 in the FedEx Cup standings.
''One thing that helped me was putting, and today it saved me,'' said Woodland, who took only 10 putts on the back nine and 23 for the final round. ''Luckily, it won me a golf tournament.''
Scott Stallings, a PGA Tour rookie who missed every cut on the West Coast Swing to fall to the bottom of the status ladder, kept his poise and stayed in the game until the 16th, the toughest driving hole on the Copperhead course with trees to the left and water to the right. Stallings went right into the lake and made double bogey.
Even so, he shot a 70 and finished alone in third, which gets him in the Houston Open in two weeks.
Brandt Snedeker finished alone in fourth.
Justin Rose, a two-time winner last year who started the final round with a one-shot lead, was tied for the lead until making four straight bogeys through the 10th hole to fall out of contention. He wound up five shots behind.
Nick Watney, coming off a World Golf Championship title at Doral last week, played with Woodland and fell out of the mix quickly by failing to make putts. Watney didn't make a birdie and closed with a 72 and tied for 13th, the first time Watney has been out of the top 10 all year. That means his two-month bet with caddie Chad Reynolds is over, and both can now get a hair cut.
Martin Kaymer, the world No. 1, closed with a 69 to tie for 20th.
Simpson, who recently became a father for the first time, took the lead with three birdies on the front nine and saved himself with some key putts. He missed his last four greens in regulation, but saved par from with a series of good chips and bunker shots.
But on the 18th, he left himself far above the hole, and the only way to stop it was to hit the flag. It almost did, but then continued to roll so far by that nearly was off the green.
Woodland played conservatively around the Copperhead course, usually hitting 2-iron off the tee. He hit one shot 337 yards uphill on one of the few holes he used driver, leading to a birdie.
Another driver didn't work out so well. He came out of his swing on the par-5 11th, and the ball went over and through the trees before settling in light rough between the tee and green on the 17th. He could only pitch a wedge to the 17th tee, and he had to scramble for bogey. Woodland followed with three straight birdies, the last one a 12-footer from the fringe on the 14th to take the lead.
Then came a flubbed chip on the 15th, and a bad bunker shot on the 16th, two bogeys to fall one shot behind. Woodland came up with another clutch putt on the 17th for birdie from 15 feet, setting up the biggest putt of them all.
Woodland was No. 153 in the world ranking, making him the ninth PGA Tour winner to be ranked 100th or lower. The victory should move him just outside the top 50, but it gets him into the Masters.
He becomes the latest pure athlete to make an impression on the PGA Tour, cut out of the mold of Dustin Johnson. The difference is that Woodland still lacks polish. He played golf through his teenage years, but his dream was to play basketball, so he turned down a golf offer from the Jayhawks and went to Washburn.
After one year, Woodland figured his future was not going to be in basketball, so he switched back to golf. He said Kansas the first time he started serious competition, and he has shown to be a quick study.
The win came in his 34th PGA Tour start.
DIVOTS: Bubba Watson shot a 68 in the final round, then gave the PGA Tour a check for $50,000 for the Red Cross to help with the relief efforts in Japan. ... Sergio Garcia shot 71 and tied for 15th in this first PGA Tour event since the PGA Championship last August.
