Rose Just Wins Turkey Over Westwood

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Justin Rose captured the inaugural World Golf Final in Turkey with a one-stroke victory over Lee Westwood.

Rose, who beat Tiger Woods in the semi-final, led from the first hole against Westwood after a 25-foot birdie.

The lead was two shots for much of the back nine but Rose missed a short putt at the 16th and the gap was cut to one.

Rose holed again from 25 feet to birdie the 17th, and though fellow Englishman Westwood birdied the last for a 67, Rose parred safely to finish with a 66.

Neither played dropped a shot in a high-quality final and Westwood birdied both of the par fives on the outward nine to match Rose at two under.

But his opponent rolled in a birdie putt from eight feet at the par-three eighth and picked up another shot from a similar distance at the 10th to open a useful advantage.

Having holed a succession of putts during his magnificent course record of 61 in Thursday's semi-final victory over Charl Schwartzel, Westwood was unable to find the same inspiration on the greens.

Opting for crisp white shorts in the Antalya autumn sunshine, Westwood played a sublime approach from the light rough to three-and-a-half feet at the 13th but his downhill birdie putt missed the hole completely on the left and the gap remained at two.

After Rose, 32, missed the fairway at the next, Westwood sent another fine approach into the heart of the green but saw another birdie opportunity, this time from around seven feet, stay above ground, as his opponent calmly salvaged par.

The devilish par-five 16th saw Westwood narrowly evade the water with both his tee shot and five-wood second but the 39-year-old made his birdie and surprisingly gained ground when Rose missed from inside three feet.

Sensing his opportunity, Westwood sent a majestic tee shot pin high at the 190-yard par-three 17th.

Rose was twice as far away on a similar line but he sank his putt first and in classic match play fashion Westwood could not do the same.

He kept the pressure on until the very end, however, after another delightful approach to five feet created another birdie.

To win the title and a cheque for $1.5m, Rose was left with a putt of similar length to the one he missed on the 16th but there was to be no repeat of that mistake.

"To not get beaten at all through the group stages, it's a great feeling," he said.

"I don't have a loose shot that's plaguing me all the time, I feel like my game is well rounded at the moment, all aspects can pull through for me at different times. Driving was a little bit off today but I made a few putts today so I feel like I've got something every day to lean on."

Westwood, who at 22-under was a shot better than Rose in aggregate terms over the week at Antalya, said: "We both played really well, the slight difference was on the greens, Justin holing a couple of 20-footers and the longest putt I made was about eight or nine feet on 16 so I left a lot of chances out there, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

"It's been a great week. Other than the financial rewards, it's been good to get back out on the golf course after the Ryder Cup and edge your way back to scoring. I know it's medal match play and you're focusing on what the other guy's doing but you've still got a card in your hand and you're trying to put together a score.

"I've only won twice this year so I'd like to win more before the year's out but I'm pleased with the way my game's going. I'm rolling the ball well, I hit a lot of good putts that didn't go in.

"The flags were cut more like on the first day where they were on slopes and were quite difficult to read, I found myself allowing too much for the grain so I think that's why I didn't hole so many putts today."

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Cadillac Looks Rosey to Justin

Justin Rose expected a moment like this, posing on the 18th green of the famed TPC Blue Monster at Doral with a World Golf Championship trophy in his hands. It's the rest of the script that made Sunday so surprising.

The biggest charge came from Rory McIlroy, eight shots behind until he crept within one of the lead late in the round.

The early departure came from Tiger Woods, who muddied his Masters future by limping off the course after 11 holes with soreness in the left Achilles tendon, the one that caused him to miss two majors last year.

Bubba Watson went from a collapse on the front nine, when he lost his three-shot lead in four holes, to a clutch shot on the final hole when he hit a bullet of a 4-iron out of the palm trees to 9 feet from the cup that put one last scare into Rose.

All that drama, and Rose didn't realize he had won until he was on the practice range and heard nothing.

Watson missed the birdie putt.

Rose closed with a 2-under 70, a score he didn't think would be nearly good enough to win. Ultimately, all he knew about -- or cared about -- was winning the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship.

"I've been very focused on seeing this whole Florida Swing as like a body of work, and not really trying to put too much focus on any individual tournament," he said. "I kind of knew I was playing well, and if I just kept out of my own way for the most part and kept thinking well and doing the right things, I had a feeling something good might happen.

"For this little beauty to show up on my mantle place so early in the season," he said, pointing to the blue trophy beside him, "definitely a fantastic feeling. It sets up a very exciting year."

It was a day of endless drama at Doral.

Sergio Garcia hit four balls into the water at the par-4 third hole and made a 12. Paul Casey made a hole-in-one on the 13th hole. Rose had to make up a three-shot deficit on Watson at the start of the round, and when he made the turn, he found himself two shots behind PGA champion Keegan Bradley, who then shot 41 on the back nine.

Through so much commotion, Rose never felt steadier.

He seized control with a 52-degree wedge that settled 5 feet away from the hole for a birdie on the 14th that gave him a two-shot lead. He closed with a bogey from the back bunker on the 18th, but not before watching his sand shot roll off the green and trickle toward the water, though never in serious danger of going in.

"It was all about controlling what I could control," said Rose, who finished on 16-under 272 and earned 550 FedExCup points and $1.4 million. "I kind of knew I got into the lead -- it's hard to ignore it out there. And from there, I knew it was just a matter of closing it out."

Watson didn't hit a fairway on the front nine and did well to shoot 39. He bounced back with birdies, and gave himself an unlikely chance at a playoff with a remarkable shot, one of many he hit at Doral this week.

"That's the kind of thing Bubba does," Rose said. "He can look out of position on a hole and just hit sort of a miraculous shot."

For Woods, his future is a mystery.

"I felt tightness in my left Achilles warming up this morning, and it continued to get progressively worse," Woods said in a statement. "After hitting my tee shot at 12, I decided it was necessary to withdraw. In the past, I may have tried to continue to play, but this time, I decided to do what I thought was necessary."

This is the same Achilles tendon he injured a year ago at the Masters while hitting a shot from under Eisenhower's tree on the 17th hole of the third round. It wound up forcing Woods to miss three months and two majors.

This time, he was lifting his left leg and flexing his angle, even after changing his shoes at the turn. The limp became more pronounced until he blasted his tee shot on the 12th, shook hands with Webb Simpson and rode off in a cart.

Woods said he would have it evaluated to determine the scope of the injury.

McIlroy holed a bunker shot for eagle on the 12th hole and pulled within one shot of the lead with a birdie on the 16th hole, but he closed with a bogey and a 67 to finish alone in third.

It was a day that left little doubt about McIlroy's spot atop the world ranking. Just like Woods in previous years, McIlroy showed he could never be counted out with an array of splendid shots -- most of them from precarious spots in the bunker -- and threatened to win.

Rose was oblivious to all this.

He opened with two birdies through four holes, which was enough to catch Watson, who looked out of sorts all day.

Watson didn't hit a fairway on the front nine, and only one tee shot managed to stay inside the bunkers that frame the fairways. He was in the water twice, once in a canal on the fifth hole that not many knew were there. He shot a 39 on the front nine, which included three putts outside 8 feet to limit the damage.

It was like watching NASCAR. Watson would have looked more comfortable in his General Lee stock car he recently bought.

What was he thinking?

"I'm thinking I'm not playing very good," Watson said.

Still, he showed remarkable resiliency to give himself a chance at the end.

Watson wasn't the only player who faltered. Bradley opened with an eagle, tied for the lead with a wedge into 3 feet for birdie on the fifth, then rolled in a 12-foot birdie at No. 7 that gave him a two-shot lead.

Bradley came undone with bogeys on the par 5s, even though he was around the green with his second shot on both of them. On No. 8, his ball buried so deep in the grass behind the green -- he called for a ruling to see if it had plugged -- that he purposely played 20 feet away from the flag, knowing it would roll off the green. He failed to get up-and-down.

Then, he three-putted from about 6 feet on the par-5 10th, turning a birdie chance into bogey.

"I didn't play that bad," Bradley said. "Just some really strange putts, and then I just kind of limped in."

Final leaderboard

Bubba Just-in Lead by One

Bubba Watson and Justin Rose put on an amazing show of birdies in blustery conditions at TPC Blue Monster, making 17 between them while playing in the same group Friday at the World Golf Championships - Cadillac Championship.

Their playful feud was decided by Watson's eagle, giving him a 10-under 62 and a one-shot lead.

Watson belted a 3-iron that barely got over a palm tree, carried over the water into the wind and settled 6 feet away on the par-5 eighth for an eagle putt that gave him a one-shot lead over Rose.

Mark Wilson, the third in that group, shot a respectable 70 and was just along for the ride.

"They did everything right," Wilson said. "It was some of the best golf I've seen collectively between them."

Watson was at 12-under 132 and will get to play in the final group Saturday with Rose, who had to settle for a 64.

"Maybe they've been cutting the hole a little bigger," Rose said.

Despite the steady wind, there were plenty of low scores on the Blue Monster. The average score was 69.9, close to three strokes easier than the opening round. There were 12 scores in the 60s on Thursday, and 31 of them Friday.

Tiger Woods played bogey-free for a 67 and actually lost ground. He moved up the leaderboard, but is seven shots behind going into the weekend, with 14 players ahead of him.

"This is the highest score I could have shot today, for sure," Woods said.

Rory McIlroy, in his first tournament as the new world No. 1, managed a 69 and fell 10 shots off the lead.

Perhaps most peculiar about Watson being atop the leaderboard at Doral is that he really doesn't like the course. Without many trees except for the waving palms, he can't figure out where he's supposed to be hitting the ball. But he kept hitting it long, had short irons into the greens and made his share of putts. That works just about anywhere.

As always, there were a few shots that only Watson can see.

He was so far left of the sixth fairway, that a tree was blocking his path to the green. Watson had only 135 yards to the hole, but instead of playing a sand wedge, he hit 9-iron and aimed it some 20 yards right of the green, slicing it back into the left-to-right wind beyond the hole until the wind pushed it back on the descent. It landed 6 feet from the cup.

His caddie, Ted Scott, keeps notes in the yardage book of how Watson plays each hole in every round. Next to the 9-iron from 135 yards, he put in parentheses, "Wow."

There was another "wow" inscription two holes later.

Watson was in the fairway on the par-5 eighth, but the best path to the green was around a palm tree near the ropes where the photographers were camped out.

"I took it right up the edge of that tree. There's a little tree there and it actually nicked that limb a little bit," Watson said. "I hit it as hard as I could, just a low, what everybody calls a stinger. Hit as hard as I could low and knew it wasn't going to slice. So all I was protecting was the draw and it went dead straight and came off perfect. And the rest is history."

He went from one shot behind to one shot ahead of Rose, who had nothing to apologise about after his 64. Rose, who contended last week in the wind at The Honda Classic, ran off four birdies in a five-hole stretch around the turn, the exception coming on the 18th.

Rose was among those caught up in the Bubba show.

"I don't let it influence my game plan, the way I play the golf course, but definitely you keep one eye on him just out of interest," Rose said. "He's a fun guy to watch play golf. When he hits tee shots, there's a bit of disbelief and stuff like that, or he curves one, starts one in the trees and there's `Ooohing' and `Aahhhing' when it goes back into the fairways.

"No one knows what to expect and I think it's fascinating to watch."

Even with the tees moved slightly forward and slightly less wind, the par-4 18th still played difficult. There were five birdies, compared with only two birdies in the opening round.

Adam Scott had one of them, holing a 20-foot putt for a birdie-birdie finish that allowed him to recover from a double bogey on the eighth hole. He shot a 68 and was at 10-under 134, two shots out of the lead.

"Right where I want to be," Scott said. "The guys shot some unbelievably good scores out there today, so I knew on that back nine as I was kind of falling a long way behind, I needed to step it up, and I was happy the putter really came through for me. Tomorrow, I'm just going to have to be really sharp, because there's no doubt again there are going to be low scores out there."

Peter Hanson, who reached the quarterfinals of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, took another step toward trying to secure a PGA TOUR card. He had a 65 and was alone in fourth in this World Golf Championship.

Thomas Bjorn has yet to make a bogey in 36 holes and had another 68. He was four shots behind, tied with PGA champion Keegan Bradley, who had a 67. The group at 7-under 137 included Masters champion Charl Schwartzel and former PGA champion Martin Kaymer.

"You'll take that any week," Bjorn said. "I'm not making a big number of birdies, obviously, but when you can keep big mistakes off your scorecard, that's the key to this golf course. It's very easy to make some big mistakes and it's difficult to get it back."

Phil Mickelson was 1 under after a 71.

Rose and Gillis in Honda Drive

Justin Rose hit a four-under-par 66 to steal the limelight from Rory McIlroy in the Honda Classic in Florida.

The 31-year-old Rose shared the lead with American Tom Gillis at eight-under-par after day two on Friday.

But US Open champion McIlroy, who will become world number one if he wins on Sunday, fired in three birdies in the last five holes to finish one behind.

"I've not made that many mistakes," said Rose. "It's a course that rewards limiting the mistakes."

“I had a couple of chances on the front nine and didn't take them, but I was just trying to stay as patient as possible”Rory McIlroy

Rose was 10 under at one point by turning in 31 and adding birdies on the third and fifth, but he bogeyed the next two and failed to get up and down from sand on the seventh.

McIlroy will become world number one if he wins the title on Sunday and stayed in contention thanks to birdies on the 14th, 15th and 18th.

American Dickie Pride shot a 67 to join McIlroy on seven under.

"I felt like I played another really solid round," said the Northern Irishman.

"I had a couple of chances on the front nine and didn't take them, but I was just trying to stay as patient as possible.

"The bogey on the 13th when I had only a wedge in my hand [he hit it into a plugged lie in a bunker] was frustrating, but the finish was nice."

Graeme McDowell hit 64 to go three-under while Lee Westwood and playing partner Tiger Woods were both one under.

Woods was in danger of missing the cut but birdied the last two holes.

He said: "I got it going, lost it, got it going, lost it and then got it going. It was a little bit of a fight - probably the worst I've hit the ball in months.

"I figured something out with the swing the last four holes. Unfortunately it took me that long."

The round of the day came from American left-hander Brian Harman who shattered the course record by three with a dazzling 61 to reach six under.