With Ian Poulter’s win at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions
After entering the day four shots behind 54-hole leaders Lee Westwood and Louis Oosthuizen, Ian Poulter carded a final-round 65 to defeat Jason Dufner, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson and Scott Piercy by two strokes and win his second career World Golf Championships title.
Earns his second PGA TOUR victory at the age of 36 years, 10 months, 24 days, becoming the 19th player in his 30s to win on TOUR this year (24 events total).
Poulter’s 21-under-par total sets the new tournament low score in relation to par. It is the third-lowest total by a winner in World Golf Championships history.
Ian Poulter proudly holds aloft the Old Tom Morris trophy. (Photo – www.golffile.ie)
Ian Poulter
Becomes only the second player to record his first two PGA TOUR wins at World Golf Championships events, joining Darren Clarke (2000 Accenture Match Play Championship; 2003 Bridgestone Invitational).
With two World Golf Championships titles, Poulter becomes the seventh player with multiple World Golf Championships victories: Tiger Woods (16), Geoff Ogilvy (3), Darren Clarke (2), Ernie Els (2), Phil Mickelson (2), Hunter Mahan (2).
Becomes the first Englishman to win two World Golf Championships titles.
Has won 13 previous times internationally, including two other wins in Asia (2009 Barclays Singapore Open and 2010 UBS Hong Kong Open).
Poulter is the only player who has competed in all eight HSBC Champions. His best finish previously was a T13 in both 2010 and 2011.
Poulter began the round T4, four shots off the pace, his best standing through three rounds at a World Golf Championships event (stroke play).
Wins with all four rounds in the 60s (69-68-65-65). The last time Poulter carded all four rounds in the 60s in a PGA TOUR-sanctioned event was the June 2011 Travelers Championship (T24).
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About Ian Poulter Birthdate: January 10, 1976 Birthplace: Stevenage, England Residence: Buckinghamshire, England; Orlando, Florida Family: Wife, Katie; Aimee-Leigh (2002), Luke James (2004), Lily Mai (2009) Joshua James (2012) Height/Weight: 6-3/200 Turned Pro: 1995 Joined TOUR: 2004 |
Jason Dufner 68-66-71-64=269 (-19)
Jason Dufner shot a final-round 64 following a disappointing 71 in the third round for his second runner-up finish in the last three weeks. Dufner finished second to Bo Van Pelt at the European Tour’s ISPS HANDA Perth International two weeks ago. He finished T16 at last week’s CIMB Classic and now finished T2 at the HSBC Champions. Dufner played each of the last three weeks with three different local caddies at each event. Dufner’s regular caddie had passport issues and was unable to make the trip abroad.
Ernie Els 70-63-69-67=269 (-19)
Ernie Els played the front nine in 18-under-par and the back nine in 1-under-par enroute to his second-career runner-up finish at the HSBC Champions. Els also finished runner-up at this event in 2009.
The HSBC Champions was Els’ 39th career start in a World Golf Championships event, second only to Lee Westwood’s 41 starts.
Scott Piercy (USA), 68-68-68-65=269 (-19)
Scott Piercy’s 7-under-par 65 on Sunday which moved him into a tie for second comes one week after he shot 62 on Sunday at the CIMB Classic to move into the top 10.
Piercy’s runner-up finish comes in just his second start in a World Golf Championships event. Piercy finished T19 earlier this year at the Bridgestone Invitational.
Phil Mickelson (USA), 66-69-66-68=269 (-19)
Phil Mickelson finished runner-up in his return to the HSBC Champions after a one-year hiatus. He is the only two-time winner of the tournament (2007, 2009) and owns a second World Golf Championships title from the 2009 Cadillac Championship.
A win this week would have given Mickelson three World Golf Championships titles and put him tied with Geoff Ogilvy (3) behind Tiger Woods (16) for most WGC wins.
This is the second time in 37 starts at World Golf Championships that Mickelson has finished runner-up. He also finished second at the 1999 Bridgestone Invitational. His runner-up finish is his first top-10 finish at a World Golf Championships event since the 2009 HSBC Champions, a streak of eight events, the longest streak in his 37 career starts.
Lee Westwood (ENG), 70-67-61-72=270 (-18)
After a third round 61, his lowest round in a World Golf Championships event, Lee Westwood shot 72 to finish T6. Westwood’s 61 is his personal-best in a PGA TOUR or PGA TOUR co-sanctioned event. His previous best was a 63, which he shot three times (2005 Bridgestone Invitational, 2010 FedEx St. Jude Classic and the 2012 Honda Classic).
Westwood, playing in a World Golf Championships event for the 41st time in his career, has the most career World Golf Championships starts in the history of the global series.
* Thanks to PGA Tour for this information.
