Graeme McDowell edges out Russell Knox to win OHL Classic title
Monday 16 November 2015 19:25, UK
Graeme McDowell produced the shot of a champion to win the rain-delayed OHL Classic at Mayakoba after a play-off against Russell Knox and Jason Bohn.
McDowell settled the tournament on the first extra hole as his sublime approach almost found the cup and settled less than three feet beyond the pin and, after his rivals could not better par, he calmly stroked in the birdie putt to clinch his first win since the French Open in July last year.
The former US Open champion shared the overnight lead with Knox when play was suspended due to darkness on Sunday following an earlier three-and-a-half hour rain delay, and play was halted again moments after the resumption as another storm whipped up.
When the weather relented, McDowell made good pars at 14 and 15 but then three-putted the 16th to hand the lead back to Knox, who started the day with a birdie at 13 before giving the shot back at the next.
Knox failed to convert a stunning approach to six feet at the 15th, but he holed clutch putts for pars at the next two holes before snap-hooking his drive at the last into a fairway bunker.
Up ahead, McDowell did well to get down in two from long range at 17 and 18 to return a five-under 66 and set the clubhouse target at 18 under.
Knox then came up short with his second from the sand, and his pitch took a soft first bounce and pulled up 12 feet from the pin, from where his putt for back-to-back victories was always left of the target.
Bohn then made it a three-man play-off with an excellent pitch and putt to save par on the 72nd hole, and all three players split the middle of the fairway when they returned to the 18th tee.
But McDowell piled on the pressure with his pure five-iron, and Bohn's second came up 30 feet short and right of the pin before last week's WGC-HSBC Champions winner Knox tugged his approach into the greenside rough.
Knox's pitch and Bohn's birdie putt were both wide of the target, leaving the stage clear for McDowell to wrap up a long-awaited first win of the year and his first PGA Tour title since April 2013.
"It gives me something to really grab on to," said a relieved McDowell on Sky Sports 4 afterwards. "When you go through a year like this, you think 'am I finished' or 'am I not good enough'. You ask yourself a lot of questions.
"I've been dreaming of this day and I said to myself I was going to appreciate it when it came, and I'm going to appreciate this one. This year has been a grind, but this is special. I want to be back up there, winning more major championships and winning more tournaments, so this is special."
Asked about his superb second shot in the play-off, he added: "I didn't see this hole as driver, I haven't driven it well this week so I went three-wood and then hit as true a five-iron as I could have hit. I could tell from the audience it was a pretty good shot and thankfully it wasn't much longer than a two-and-a-half footer left to take care of it."
