Worldwide Golf

HUNTER Mahan shot a pair of 6-under-par 65s over the weekend at the Waste Management Phoenix Open to win his first PGA TOUR title since the 2007 Travelers Championship.

Mahan came from four strokes back to beat 21-year-old Rickie Fowler by one stroke after finishing on 16-under-par with a bogey-free final round.

“It’s just finding a way to win. I just haven’t been able to do it,” he said after firing four birdies and an eagle three on the 13^th hole. “So obviously it feels great to win in just my fifth tournament of the year. It gives me a lot of confidence in myself that I’m doing the right things in my game, and it feels great, it really does.”

Fowler, who is competing in his rookie season on the PGA TOUR, had a lengthy birdie putt on the final hole to take Mahan into a play-off but narrowly missed and had to settle for the second runner-up finish of his young career.

“I played solid,” said Fowler. “I was bogey-free today and ultimately what I wanted was to have a chance coming down the last few holes. That’s what I did but I just missed a couple putts."

Reigning US PGA Champion Y.E. Yang moved 20 places up the leaderboard thanks to a superb 6-under 65. Yang made an eagle two on the par-4 10^th hole before four straight birdies from  hole 12 through to 15 saw him leap into contention. However, a bogey on the 17^th pegged him back and he had to settle for third place.