Lahiri stumbles to tied ninth

A double bogey on the back nine almost ruined his day before Anirban Lahiri recovered to finish tied 9th after carding 69 in the final round of the Travelers Championships here on Sunday.

Lying tied-3rd after the third round, a possible top-3 finish looked on the cards but Lahiri lost a couple of shots at the Par-4 14th hole before he managed to end the day with back-to-back birdies.

"It felt good to play consistently this week but was disappointed to hit so many wayward shots today. Really felt like I played my C game, but glad that I held it together in the end and finished strong," said Lahiri.

"I have a couple more tournaments to build on this before The Open. A lot of work and even more patience has gone into my golf this year. I am glad that I put four rounds together this week. I would have liked to finish stronger but not too disappointed with the week overall.”

Meanwhile, Bubba Watson rallied from a six-shot deficit to triumph for the third time since 2010. It was his 12th PGA Tour win and the third this season as he rose to third in the FedExCup standings.

Watson (63) finished at 17-under and won by three shots over four players who were tied-2nd and that included overnight leader Paul Casey (72), who seemed under pressure after first three rounds of 65-67-62.

Lahiri played the front nine in even par with two birdies and two bogeys. With a birdie on 12th, he was one-under through 13 despite missing a bunch of putts. Then came the disappointing Par-4 14th.

Lahiri went into the rough on the right and took four shots to get to the green. The double bogey pushed him back on a tight scoreboard. Yet he showed great character and fought back with back-to-back birdies on 17th and 18th to finish at 69 and totalled 12-under 268.

That saw him finish T-9, disappointing in the circumstances, but still only his third Top-10 of the season and it came more than six months after his previous one which was T-10 at CJ Cup@ Nine Bridges in Korea.

The finish also helped Lahiri move up on the FedExCup standings from 111 to 95th though it could have been a lot better but for that double.