Leishman ends wait for first PGA title

Australian Marc Leishman faced a long and nervous wait on Sunday but ultimately his sizzling final round eight-under-par 62 proved enough to give him his maiden PGA Tour title at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut.

Leishman finished the tournament at 14-under 266, a stroke in front of 2010 Travelers winner Bubba Watson and Charley Hoffman, who was left ruing a double-bogey, bogey finish that dropped him from 16-under.

"It's an incredible feeling, I didn't think I would be in this position when I started this morning," Leishman said.

"This isn't the way I thought I would pick up my first win, but I'm not complaining. I'll take a win any way I can get it."

Roland Thatcher also had a disappointing finish when, needing a birdie at the last to force a playoff, he hit his approach from the fairway into a greenside bunker and finished with a bogey.

Thatcher finished at 12-under in a tie for fourth with Briton Brian Davis, South African Tim Clark and fellow American John Rollins.

Sweden's defending champion Fredrik Jacobson finished with a 68 to tie for eighth at 11-under.

Starting a good two hours before the final group, the 28-year-old Victorian wasted no time getting to work and carded five birdies on the front nine.

Leishman credited a bad finish to his third round 70 for providing him with motivation for Sunday's blistering round.

"Yesterday I doubled 17 and bogeyed 18 and it fired me up to really go out and do some damage today," he said.

Fire him up it did as he went out in 30 and then added three more birdies coming in to cap off a flawless round.

Leishman then faced a long wait as his various pursuers found a number of different ways to throw their chances of winning away on the closing holes.

"The wait was the hardest part, you don't really get too nervous out on the course," Leishman said. "I got something to eat, watched some soccer and then put the golf on. Then I hit some balls and putted.

"I'm glad that turned out to be a practice session and not a warm up session."

There was no playoff required, though, because Hoffman was the only player to match or pass Leishman's 14-under.

Hoffman got to 16-under after a birdie at the 13th hole but a pushed tee shot into the water at the penultimate hole led to a double-bogey and he closed with a bogey after failing to get up-and-down from a greenside bunker.

"Just got a little quick on 17, it's a tough tee shot for me," Hoffman said. "What I did on 18 was pretty pathetic. Fanned the drive out to the right, pretty poor second shot, pretty poor bunker shot and even worse finish.

"All said and done, a bad finish and a bad taste in my mouth, but you learn from it."

Leishman was still not out of the woods as Thatcher, who entered the day tied for the lead with Davis, came to the 18th needing to birdie to get to 14-under.

To the Australian's delight, Thatcher's approach shot landed in a bunker and Leishman was finally able to celebrate his first tour title.

FINAL-ROUND SCORES

266 Marc Leishman (Australia) 68 66 70 62

267 Bubba Watson (US) 66 71 65 65, Charley Hoffman (US) 67 67 67 66

268 Tim Clark (South Africa) 66 69 66 67, John Rollins (US) 68 67 65 68, Brian Davis (Britain) 67 67 64 70, Roland Thatcher (US) 66 67 65 70

269 Brendon De Jonge (Zimbabwe) 72 65 66 66, Fredrik Jacobson (Sweden) 65 66 70 68, Matt Kuchar (US) 67 68 66 68

270 Hunter Mahan (US) 70 69 70 61, Vaughn Taylor (US) 70 70 65 65, Chez Reavie (US) 66 71 65 68, Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 69 67 65 69

271 Cameron Tringale (US) 69 70 68 64, Heath Slocum (US) 70 66 69 66, Will Claxton (US) 65 67 69 70

272 Gary Christian (Britain) 66 68 72 66, Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 71 66 68 67, Tommy Gainey (US) 66 68 70 68, Noh Seung-Yul (South Korea) 68 68 68 68, Stuart Appleby (Australia) 68 65 67 72, James Driscoll (US) 68 66 66 72

273 Charlie Wi (South Korea) 70 65 70 68, Billy Horschel (US) 71 67 67 68, Nathan Green (Australia) 65 69 70 69, Brian Harman (US) 70 65 69 69, Bo Van Pelt (US) 70 67 67 69

274 Charlie Beljan (US) 73 67 68 66, Keegan Bradley (US) 68 68 70 68, Garth Mulroy (South Africa) 68 69 69 68, Billy Mayfair (US) 68 66 71 69, Blake Adams (US) 69 64 70 71, Webb Simpson (US) 66 69 68 71, Camilo Villegas (Colombia) 68 64 70 72, Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 68 68 66 72

275 Chris Stroud (US) 71 68 69 67, J.B. Holmes (US) 70 62 75 68, Tim Herron (U.S.) 72 68 67 68, Vijay Singh (Fiji) 71 69 67 68, Derek Lamely (US) 68 71 68 68, Jerry Kelly (U.S.) 66 72 68 69, Chris Couch (US) 72 67 66 70, Greg Chalmers (Australia) 67 69 69 70, Aaron Baddeley (Australia) 67 68 69 71, Brandt Jobe (US) 67 72 64 72

276 Ken Duke (US) 67 69 73 67,Johnson Wagner (US) 69 70 69 68, Billy Hurley III (US) 69 67 72 68, Ryan Moore (US) 72 67 69 68, Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa) 69 69 70 68, Roberto Castro (US) 67 70 71 68, Chris DiMarco (US) 67 70 71 68, Patrick Reed (US) 73 66 68 69, Jeff Maggert (US) 69 66 72 69, Lucas Glover (US) 70 66 71 69, J.J. Henry (US) 73 67 65 71, Rocco Mediate (US) 66 70 69 71, Kevin Streelman (US) 68 69 67 72

277 Gavin Coles (Australia) 73 65 70 69, Kyle Stanley (US) 70 67 70 70

278 Richard Lee (US) 72 67 69 70, Ian Poulter (Britain) 68 71 68 71

279 Harris English (US) 69 71 67 72, Zach Johnson (US) 72 65 70 72, Bryce Molder (US) 71 67 67 74

280 Sean O'Hair (US) 70 68 69 73

281 Graham DeLaet (Canada) 68 68 70 75

283 Arjun Atwal (India) 71 68 70 74, Jamie Lovemark (US) 70 70 68 75

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