CROMWELL, Conn. – Bubba Watson made an 8-foot birdie putt on the second hole a playoff Sunday to outlast Paul Casey and win the Travelers Championship for the second time.

Casey overcame a three-stroke deficit with five to play, tying Watson at 16-under 264 in light rain at TPC River Highlands.

But the 37-year-old Englishman, playing the tournament for the first time, lost his chance at the title while playing the par-4 18th for the third time when his third shot from a greenside bunker flew over the green and landed on the cart path.

Watson hit his 160-yard approach just to the right of the hole to set up his winning putt.

“I hung on, and that’s what you have to do sometimes to win,” Watson said.

Watson had a chance to win in regulation. But the two-time Masters champion bogeyed the 17th, while Casey closed with three birdies on the final five holes, sandwiched around a bogey on 15.

Casey watched in the scoring trailer with 9-month-old son Lex on his lap as Watson made a 3 1/2 -foot par putt to force the playoff.

Watson finished with a 67, and Casey shot 65.

“There are always ifs and buts and could haves,” Casey said. “But the goal was to give myself a chance to win, and I did that.”

Watson has eight PGA Tour titles, also winning a playoff in the WGC-HSBC Champions in China in November at the start of the season. He won the Travelers in 2010 in a three-way playoff for his first win on the PGA Tour and is 5-1 in playoffs.

“It’s just about staying calm,” he said. “That’s what you have to do, you just breathe and walk slower, take some deep breaths and focus on the fact that no matter what you still come in second place.”

This was the sixth time since 2004 the tournament has been decided in a playoff.

Brian Harman, who had a one-stroke lead after 54 holes, had a 69 to finish a stroke out of the playoff. After 39 straight holes without a bogey, he had back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 9 and 10 to fall two strokes behind Watson. His birdies on the final two holes were not enough to catch Casey and Watson.

But the finish assured the 28-year-old from Georgia a spot in the British Open, along with Canadian Graham DeLaet, who finished two shots back, Carl Pettersson who finished fifth at 13 under, and Luke Donald, who tied for seventh at 11 under. Sixth-place finisher Zach Johnson already had an exemption into the field.

“I’ve been thinking about that tournament for a long time and really trying to look at a way to get in there,” Harman said. “This one burns a little bit, but that definitely helps the sting.”

The Travelers was the first of three PGA Tour events where finishers not already exempt can get into St. Andrew’s. There also are four spots available at The Greenbrier Classic and one at the John Deere Classic.

Watson became the sixth multiple winner of this tournament, joining Billy Casper (1963, 1965, 1968, 1973), Arnold Palmer (1956, 1960), Paul Azinger (1987, 1989), Phil Mickelson (2001, 2002), Peter Jacobsen (1984, 2003) and Stewart Cink (1997, 2008).

Watson started strong with birdies on his first two holes, and seemed to lock up the championship on the 13th, where he sank a 39-foot putt for eagle, his longest made putt of the tournament.

His approach at 14 ended up 13-feet right of the pin, but his birdie putt ended up on the front lip of the cup.

“I was hoping nobody else would birdie, but Paul Casey decided he wanted to birdie some holes to make it interesting,” Watson said.

Casey began the day tied for fourth, but moved up quickly. His second shot at the 431-yard third hole bounced once from 126 yards out and went straight into the hole for an eagle.

He made a 6-foot birdie putt on 16, and a 15-footer on 17 to stay in contention. Watson lost his lead after hitting his approach on 17 to the right of the hole behind two bunkers.

Both made par on the first playoff hole. But on the second, Watson’s tee shot when down the middle, and Casey found bunkers on his first two shots.

“It does remind me of 2010, where coming down the stretch I had to hit some good shots and I didn’t,” Watson said. “I wish it was a lot easier, but a victory is a victory.”

He moved a closer to his career goal.

“My whole goal in my career was to get 10 wins,” he said. “I need two more wins.”

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. – West Vancouver, British Columbia’s Kevin Spooner outlasted Choctaw, Oklahoma’s Talor Gooch and Thornhill, Ontario’s Ben Silverman in a marathon five-hole playoff on Sunday to capture the Syncrude Boreal Open presented by AECON, his first career Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada victory.

Spooner, who entered the week without status on the Mackenzie Tour and earned a spot in the field thanks to a top-20 finish at the Bayview Place Island Savings Open presented by Times Colonist three weeks ago, immediately earns exempt status and moves to no. 2 on the Order of Merit behind leader Albin Choi.

“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind for me, because I was just trying to get status on this tour. I was fortunate enough to get an exemption into Victoria and turned that into another start for me. I was just trying to rack up those dollars to get status after the re-shuffle, and the win certainly helped; I don’t think I have to worry about that anymore,” said the 26 year-old Spooner.

Spooner began the day nine strokes off Silverman’s 54-hole lead, but came out on fire with four birdies and an eagle in a front-nine 30. After adding three more birdies at the 10^th, 12^th and 15^th holes, Spooner made par at the par-5 18^th for a 9-under 63 and a 16-under total. He then had to wait over 1 hour and 45 minutes to see how the final groups would determine his fate.

Gooch, playing in the day’s penultimate group, carded a birdie at 16 and pars and 17 and 18 to join Spooner at 16-under, while Silverman, who held or shared the lead after every round this week, came to 18 with a chance to win outright. After he was unable to convert a 20-footer for the win outright, the trio headed back to 18 for a sudden-victory playoff.

The first two extra holes settled nothing, with Gooch making a pair of miraculous up-and-downs from the back bunker and the hazard short of the green to record pars that Silverman and Spooner each matched.

With each player laying up on the first two extra holes, Gooch took matters into his own hands on the third trip around, blasting a three-wood and hybrid onto the green in two and putting the pressure squarely on Silverman and Spooner. While Silverman was unable to convert a birdie chip to tie, Spooner knocked his approach to 12 feet and calmly rolled in the putt to keep things going.

Another extra hole between the two produced a pair of pars, sending them back for a fifth extra hole, and setting the new record for the longest playoff of the PGA TOUR era on the Mackenzie Tour in the process. While Spooner stayed steady by hitting an iron off the tee, Gooch’s more aggressive strategy with a three-wood was ultimately his undoing, with a wild tee shot leading to a lost ball. Four shots later, Spooner tapped in for an easy par and the victory.

“Teeing up this morning, I thought I had absolutely no chance to get into contention for the win, being nine shots back to start. I got off to a great start, played pretty aggressive and made a lot of putts,” said Spooner. “It was quite the grind, quite the battle to keep going there for five holes.”

With his win, Spooner joins a long line of players from the University of Washington to succeed on the Mackenzie Tour, following in the footsteps of former Huskies Brock Mackenzie, Joel Dahmen and Joe Panzeri, along with Nick Taylor, who won the Sanderson Farms Championship on the PGA TOUR less than 14 months after finishing No. 7 on the Mackenzie Tour Order of Merit.

“I’ve come a long way in my golf. I was really never that good in college, and up-and-down and in and out of the lineup. I really had no aspirations to turn pro. I ended up playing a lot better golf in some amateur events and turned pro a couple of years ago,” said Spooner. “I’ve played a lot of golf with those guys and learned a lot from Joel and Nick and gained a lot of confidence and my game’s come a long way.”

With an original goal of earning status by placing in the top three on the Order of Merit through six events, Spooner’s focus now shifts to the race for The Five and earning status on the Web.com Tour.

“The goal was originally just to get status, but with a win I’d love to get one of those top five spots and join my friends out on the Web.com Tour and hopefully be playing with Nick on the PGA TOUR,” said Spooner.

Gooch, a Mackenzie Tour rookie, and Silverman, a second year member, each notched their best career finishes on Tour.

SPOONER WINS FREEDOM 55 FINANCIAL TOP CANADIAN AWARD

In addition to his victory on Sunday, Kevin Spooner claimed Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Player of the Week honours along with a $2,500 prize. Each week, the top Canadian on the leaderboard will earn the award, with the top Canadian on the Order of Merit at season’s end earning the Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Player of the Year and a $25,000 prize.

CHOI CONTINUES TO LEAD ORDER OF MERIT

Toronto, Ontario’s Albin Choi continues to lead the Mackenzie Tour Order of Merit through three events. The top five will earn status on the Web.com Tour for the following season, with the Order of Merit winner earning fully exempt status. Below are the top five (bold denotes Canadian):

1. Albin Choi – $37,310
2. Kevin Spooner – $36,575
3. Drew Weaver – $36,225
4. Adam Svensson – $25,617
5. Ben Silverman – $16,151

WICHITA, Kansas – Rob Oppenheim won the Air Capital Classic on Sunday for his first Web.com Tour title, closing with a 6-under 66 for a one-stroke victory over Andy Winings.

The 35-year-old Oppenheim finished at 13-under 267 at Crestview Country Club. He made a 25-foot eagle putt on the par-5 14th and closed with four straight pars, finishing more than an hour in front of the final pairing.

“You never know out here,” Oppenheim said. “It’s a lot less pressure and definitely easier playing from where I was than being in the lead. The leaders don’t want to make mistakes and I’m just firing at pins and trying to go as low as I can.”

He began the round six strokes behind Winings.

“It was pretty much put my head down and go,” Oppenheim said. “I did the best job, maybe of my career, of being focused and trying to make birdies not look at the leaderboard. I think I fall too much into looking at the board and where I finish. Sometimes it doesn’t help.”

Making his 129th tour start, Oppenheim earned $108,000 to jump from 70th to 13th on the money list with $146,227.

Winings bogeyed the final hole for a 71.

“I played well,” Winings said. “You’re always happy with second place but it kind of stinks when you have a chance to win and you don’t pull it off.”

Rhein Gibson and Nicholas Lindheim tied for second at 11 under.

HARRIS, Mich. – Sweden’s Dani Holmqvist won the Island Resort Championship on Sunday at Sweetgrass for her first Symetra Tour title.

The former University of California player closed with a 2-under 70 for a one-stroke victory over Canada’s Samantha Richdale.

Holmqvist finished at 10-under 206 and earned $18,750 to jump from 38th to 13th on the money list with $27,272. The final top 10 will earn 2016 LPGA Tour cards.

After dropping strokes on Nos. 6 and 7, Holmqvist birdies Nos. 9, 11 and 12 and closed with six straight pars. She opened with rounds of 67 and 69.

Richdale birdied the final hole for a 68. She played the back nine in 5-under 31.

Canada’s Brooke Henderson was third at 8 under, making an eagle on the par-4 14th in a 67. The 17-year-old Henderson won the tour’s Four Winds Invitational last week in South Bend, Indiana.

MUNICH – Pablo Larrazabal won the BMW International Open by one shot Sunday for his fourth European Tour title.

The Spaniard, who also won the tournament in 2011, closed with a bogey-free 6-under 66 to finish with a 17-under 271 on the Eichenried Golf Club course.

Sweden’s Henrik Stenson shot five birdies and an eagle for a 65 but finished a stroke back after Larrazabal seized the lead with his sixth birdie on the par-4 16th hole.

Larrazabal is the third golfer to win the tournament for the second time after Paul Azinger of the United States and Thomas Bjorn of Denmark.

Chris Paisley was in contention until a bogey on the 17th left him two shots behind in third with a 71. It was a career-best finish for the Englishman.

Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat (68), Spain’s Carlos del Moral (69) and South Africa’s Retief Goosen (67) were three strokes behind Larrazabal for a share of fourth.

Northern Ireland’s Michael Hoey and Sweden’s Peter Hansen were another stroke back.

Overnight leader James Morrison of England finished in a group in 11th place, his hopes ended by five bogeys in a 77.

CROMWELL, Conn. – Brian Harman has always looked up to Bubba Watson, who preceded him as a standout left-hander for the University of Georgia Bulldogs.

On Sunday, Watson will begin the day looking up the leaderboard at Harmon as the two begin play in the final round of the Travelers Championship.

Harman birdied the 18th hole for his second consecutive 5-under 65 and a one-stroke lead over Watson and Canadian Graham DeLaet on Saturday in the Travelers Championship.

Looking for his second PGA Tour victory, Harman had a bogey-free round to take a 14-under 196 total into the final round at TPC River Highlands.

Harman hit a 149-yard wedge to 4 feet on the par-4 18th. He sank the putt after Watson, who led by two strokes after the each of the first two rounds, missed a 17-footer.

“Bubba’s a lot of fun to play golf with,” Harman said. “He was a little before me at Georgia, so I always looked up to him, was always really proud of the way he was doing and we were always rooting for him at Georgia.”

This is the second 54-hole lead for Harmon, who won the 2014 John Deere Classic from the front on the final day.

“He’s a solid player,” Watson said. “It sounds funny saying this, but he’s like a little bulldog.”

Watson shot a 68 in a light rain after opening with a tournament-best 62 on Thursday and adding a 67 in the second round.

He needed a bit of luck Saturday after his tee shot on the par-4 15th hole went left and into the woods. He got a fortuitous bounce high off a tree trunk and the ball dropped back over the gallery and into the fairway bunker. He was able to save par from there.

“It hit the tree and everybody roared,” he said. “I had to ask the camera guy, and he said it was in the bunker.”

DeLaet, playing on wife Ruby’s birthday, had five birdies and grabbed a share of the lead with an eagle on the 15th, putting his drive within 6 feet of the pin.

He had a chance to move to 14 under, but left an 18-foot birdie putt on 18th just short.

DeLaet was in a three-way tie for first place with Watson entering the final round two years ago before finishing third. He has never won on the PGA Tour, and had back surgery for a pinched nerve in 2011, a problem that he says still bothers him.

“The last couple months I’ve been moving really well and feeling a lot better,” He said. “My golf game is coming around too, which is nice.”

He and his wife also are expecting their first children, twins, in December.

Brandt Snedeker, Paul Casey and Zach Johnson were 11 under. Snedeker had a 63 to match the best round of the day, and Casey and Johnson shot 64.

Snedeker’s round began with a par before reeling off three straight birdies and then chipping in from a green-side bunker on the par-3 eighth.

He finished before the rain picked up with three more birdies on the final six holes. He almost holed out on the par-4 17th, hitting his second shot across the course’s signature lake where it rolled back within a foot.

“It was absolutely perfect,” he said. “It came off exactly how I was looking and almost went in. That’s a tough hole, so to steal one there gave me some good thoughts coming into tomorrow.”

He finished a stroke ahead of Chris Stroud, who shot a 68. Seven players were tied for eighth, including former Stanford star Patrick Rodgers.

Rodgers, who was in the first pair of the day after just making the cut Friday, also shot 63 with a career-best round that included seven birdies Saturday including five on the back nine, and two in row to finish.

“As much as I don’t like making the cut on the number, I really like playing the first golf,” he said. “The greens were perfect. It was really, really great conditions for scoring this morning.”

Rodgers, who won 11 tournaments at Stanford to tie Tiger Woods’ school record, played his first tour event here as an amateur in 2012, then made his professional debut at the Travelers a year ago.

“There’s really not too many venues where I show up and I feel like I know what I’m doing,” he said. “So, it’s really nice to be back here.”

Sergio Garcia also was in that group at 9 under after shooting a 66. He had a chance to go lower, but put a tee shot in the water at 13 and ended up shooting a seven on the par-5 hole.

With a storm moving into to Connecticut, officials said Sunday’s round will be played in threesomes, going off the first and 10th tees beginning at 11:30 a.m.

“I’ve never played particularly well in the rain,” Harman said. But I try to look at today and we got a break. The weather was not as bad as I thought it was going to be.”

ROGERS, Ark. – Na Yeon Choi felt as if she had nothing to lose starring down her second shot on the par-5 18th hole at Pinnacle Country Club.

The eight-time LPGA Tour winner certainly played without a sense of fear throughout her second round at the NW Arkansas Championship on Saturday, matching her career best with an 8-under 63 to surge to the top of the leaderboard.

Choi reached 13 under overall after sinking a 45-foot eagle putt on the 525-yard final hole, a shot she set up with a fearless 3-wood approach shot to the elevated green.

“I got the 3-wood out first, then changed it to a pitching wedge and then back to a 3-wood because there is a small gap to the right side of the green,” Choi said. “… I mean, I couldn’t hit a 3-wood if today is Sunday, but today’s Saturday, and I feel good about my swing so I just hit it.”

Choi had reason to feel comfortable at Pinnacle, where she’s never shot above par in 23 career rounds and has finished in the top 10 in each of the last four years.

The South Korean will enter Sunday’s final round with a two-shot lead over Mi Jung Hur and Anna Nordqvist and in search of her ninth career LPGA title – her first since opening the year with a victory at the Coates Golf Championship.

“This course seems like it suits me, so I feel confidence,” Choi said.

In addition to Hur and Nordqvist at 11 under, several players enter the final round within striking distance – none more notable than defending champion and local favorite Stacy Lewis at 9 under overall.

The former Arkansas standout was also four shots off the lead entering the final round last year when she sank a seven-foot birdie putt on the final hole to earn her 11th career victory.

Lewis hasn’t won since, but she sank a 25-foot birdie putt on No. 17 on Saturday, and she followed that by capping her round with another birdie on the par-5 18th – much to the delight of the partisan gallery following her every shot at Pinnacle Country Club.

She finished with a second-round 65, doing so after an early round double bogey.

“I just stayed patient and finally hit some good shots and rolled the rock in there at the end,” Lewis said. “Those two putts on 17 and 18 were huge going into tomorrow, but it also gave the fans something to cheer about, too.”

While Lewis will enjoy the biggest spotlight on Sunday, she’ll have to catch Choi.

The South Korean’s second-round 8 under was one shot off the course record of 62, set in 2008 by both Angela Park and Jane Park. Also, Choi’s two-round total of 13-under par was one shot off the 36-hole record set by Veronica Felibert in 2012.

One South Korean who won’t be around for the final round is top-ranked Inbee Park, who missed her first cut in more than a year. Park shot a 1-over 72 to finish 1 under overall, the same score as Michelle Wie, who also missed the cut.

Hur opened the day by finishing her first round with a 63 to take the lead, and she followed with a second-round 68 to reach 11 under.

Nordqvist, who won the ShopRite LPGA Classic last month, also reached 11 under with a birdie on her final hole of the second round. She followed an opening 65 with a 66 on Saturday.

 Canada’s Rebecca Lee-Bentham carded an even-par 71 to make Sunday’s final round of the 54-hole tournament.

Alena Sharp missed the cut by two-strokes despite a second round of one-under 70. Sue Kim posted a 68 on the day and Jennifer Kirby shot 72, both missed the two-under cut.

HARRIS, Mich. – Anne-Catherine Tanguay (Quebec, Canada) will take a one-shot lead over Dani Holmqvist (Stockholm, Sweden) into the final round of the Island Resort Championship.

“I think the biggest part of my game this week has been putting,” Tanguay explained. “I’m usually a pretty good ball striker but yesterday I wasn’t as consistent with my ball striking so I hit the range and touched some little things and today was just great.”

Tanguay used six birdies against a lone bogey on 18 to card her second round 67 and put her at 9-under for the championship, a stroke up on Holmqvist who posted a 3-under 69 on Saturday.

“I personally don’t think it’s been easy out there,” Holmqvist admitted. “The score may reflect something else but I think the course has been a really fair and good golf course and I think it’s going to be a good test tomorrow as well especially if the wind picks up a bit.”

Rounding out the final group is Volvik Race for the Card No. 9 Casey Grice (College Station, Texas) who will be looking to capture her first victory on the Symetra Tour.

“I’ve been hitting the ball very well and giving myself opportunities within two feet,” Grice said. “That makes it a little easier and takes the pressure off the putting but I was hitting good putts so a solid day overall.”

The penultimate group will consist of Shannon Fish (Spring, Texas) at 6-under and Samantha Richdale (Kelowna, British Columbia) and Katie Kempter (Albuquerque, N.M.) at 5-under.

FELLOW CANADIAN WINNERS INSPIRE TANGUAY: A.C. Tanguay has seen three of her fellow Canadians – Brooke Henderson, Augusta James and Sue Kim – capture victories on the Symetra Tour this season and would like to be the fourth to take home a win tomorrow during the final round of the Island Resort Championship.

“It’s very exciting for Canadian golf, especially on the women’s side, to have so much success. It’d be amazing to get a win tomorrow,” Tanguay said.

Tanguay, who ranks 42nd on the Volvik Race for the Card Money List, finds herself in a good position to accomplish that heading into the final round as she is the leader by one. The win would mean a little more to the Oklahoma grad as she has taken a shine to the event and venue.

“I think this is my favorite event so far,” Tanguay admitted. “Everything is great about it. The hotel, the casino, the food, everything with the golf course and the people. Everybody is so excited that we’re here and the golf course is in amazing shape too so it’s just been great.”