Barclays winner Mahan gives the US something to cheer about

Sport360 staff 07:40 25/08/2014
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  • Great timing: Hunter Mahan. McIlroy after his round.

    Hunter Mahan turned around his season in style as he won The Bar­clays, the first event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs – his first triumph on the PGA Tour since April 2012.

    At Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey yesterday, the Ameri­can shot a final-round six-under par 65 to finish on 14-under par 269, two shots better than joint over­night leader Jason Day, Australian Stuart Appleby and Cameron Trin­gale of the US.

    Appleby closed with a 65, Trin­gale shot 66, while Day had a 68.

    Mahan’s last win was at the Shell Houston Open in 2012, and last year, while leading the Canadian Open after 36 holes, he withdrew when his wife Kandi went into labour with their first child, daugh­ter Zoe. Both were on the 18th to greet Mahan as he finished his round.

    The current season has not been kind to Mahan, who went 13 events without a top-20 finish, before a tied-seventh place at the PGA Championship at Valhalla.

    And the win would also be great news for a US Ryder Cup team struggling with injury issues to several of its stars. Mahan – part of the 2008 and 2010 teams – did not make the automatic spots, but his recent run of form will please cap­tain Tom Watson, who selects his three picks next week on Tuesday.

    After making a 21-feet birdie putt on the 17th hole which increased his lead to three shots, Mahan made his biggest mistake of the day when he pushed his tee shot into the trees and had to chip out sideways. He then hit his third into greenside bunker, before splashing out and holing a nine-footer for his only bogey of the day.

    Rory McIlroy could not make it four wins in a row as closed with a one-under par 70 and that was good only for a tied 23rd place. The world No1 but accepted the fact that the run was going to end one day.

    “It was going to come to an end sooner or later, but at the end of the day, the great thing about golf is there’s always a next week,” said McIlroy after his round. 

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