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With Phil Mickelson suffering through the worst full season of his career in 2014, and Mike Weir continuing a free-falling slump than began in 2010, it has been up to Bubba Watson to pick up the slack for left-handers on the PGA Tour. Watson won his second Masters a year ago, and with his seventh career win at Sunday’s WGC-HSBC Champions in China moves past Bob Charles as the PGA Tour’s third-winningest southpaw. Watson is one win back of Weir for second on the list.

Watson’s playoff victory over Tim Clark also extends his streak of finishing second at least once for 11 straight seasons. It’s tied with Mickelson for the longest active streak, Phil having the rest of the 2014-15 season to get a runner-up finish and extend his streak to 12 years.

This was Watson’s first win in a World Golf Championship event, making him the fourth player to win a major and a WGC in the same calendar year. Tiger Woods accomplished the feat eight times, while Rory McIlroy (2014) and Geoff Ogilvy (2006) did it once.

Most wins by lefthanders in PGA Tour history

Sam Adams, Eric Axley, Russ Cochran, Ernie Gonzalez, Brian Harman and Ted Potter Jr. all have one victory.

Longest active streak of consecutive years with a runner-up finish on Tour 

Auspicious debut

Not often a fast starter on the PGA Tour, Watson won for the first time while making his PGA Tour season debut, and he was able to overcome an opening 71, the highest first-round score by an eventual winner in the young season.

Watson had finished in the top 10 just two previous times while making his season debut. One of those starts came in his rookie season of 2006 and the other was in the short-field Hyundai T of C in 2013. 

Watson’s best finishes in his PGA Tour season opener

Highest first-round score by eventual winners since 2013

Going long

Watson and Clark would never be confused as similar performers. Watson is one of the Tour’s longest hitters and Clark one of the shortest. However, at the WGC-HSBC Champions both players dominated on the par-5 holes. Watson made 12 birdies in addition to his amazing eagle on the last hole of regulation on the three-shotters, a remarkable scoring average of 4.13. Clark made 11 birdies and didn’t have a bogey on the long holes.

Watson finished the week with 25 birdies, matching the most in his career in a 72-hole tournament. Watson made 25 birdies in his victory in the 2010 Zurich Classic, however that week he stumbled on the other holes, finishing just T-43. (Watson made more than 25 birdies in the 2009 and 2010 Bob Hope Classics. Both tournaments were 90-hole affairs.)

Par-5 scoring leaders at the WGC-HSBC Champions

Most birdies in a 72-hole tournament by Bubba Watson

Iwata performance

Hiroshi Iwata’s T-3 finish at the WGC-HSBC Champions is tied for the best finish by a Japanese player in a World Golf Championship event. Iwata matches Toru Taniguchi, who was third in the 2001 Accenture Match Play Championship. The 33-year-old Iwata entered the week ranked 127th on the Official World Ranking and was third on the Japan Golf Tour money list.

Top finishes by Japanese players in WGC events

A down and up weekend

Finally, acknowledgement must be given to Henrik Stenson, who became the first player since 2007 to shoot 80 or worse in the third round and follow with a round of 65 or better on Sunday. Stenson shot 81 on Saturday, but took 16 off strokes his score with a 65 in the final round, the best score of the day.

Third round of 80 or worse, final round of 65 or better on the PGA Tour since 2000

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With Phil Mickelson suffering through the worst full season of his career in 2014, and Mike Weir continuing a free-falling slump than began in 2010, it has been up to Bubba Watson to pick up the slack for left-handers on the PGA Tour. Watson won his second Masters a year ago, and with his seventh career win at Sunday’s WGC-HSBC Champions in China moves past Bob Charles as the PGA Tour’s third-winningest southpaw. Watson is one win back of Weir for second on the list.

Watson’s playoff victory over Tim Clark also extends his streak of finishing second at least once for 11 straight seasons. It’s tied with Mickelson for the longest active streak, Phil having the rest of the 2014-15 season to get a runner-up finish and extend his streak to 12 years.

This was Watson’s first win in a World Golf Championship event, making him the fourth player to win a major and a WGC in the same calendar year. Tiger Woods accomplished the feat eight times, while Rory McIlroy (2014) and Geoff Ogilvy (2006) did it once.

Most wins by lefthanders in PGA Tour history

Sam Adams, Eric Axley, Russ Cochran, Ernie Gonzalez, Brian Harman and Ted Potter Jr. all have one victory.

Longest active streak of consecutive years with a runner-up finish on Tour 

Auspicious debut

Not often a fast starter on the PGA Tour, Watson won for the first time while making his PGA Tour season debut, and he was able to overcome an opening 71, the highest first-round score by an eventual winner in the young season.

Watson had finished in the top 10 just two previous times while making his season debut. One of those starts came in his rookie season of 2006 and the other was in the short-field Hyundai T of C in 2013. 

Watson’s best finishes in his PGA Tour season opener

Highest first-round score by eventual winners since 2013

Going long

Watson and Clark would never be confused as similar performers. Watson is one of the Tour’s longest hitters and Clark one of the shortest. However, at the WGC-HSBC Champions both players dominated on the par-5 holes. Watson made 12 birdies in addition to his amazing eagle on the last hole of regulation on the three-shotters, a remarkable scoring average of 4.13. Clark made 11 birdies and didn’t have a bogey on the long holes.

Watson finished the week with 25 birdies, matching the most in his career in a 72-hole tournament. Watson made 25 birdies in his victory in the 2010 Zurich Classic, however that week he stumbled on the other holes, finishing just T-43. (Watson made more than 25 birdies in the 2009 and 2010 Bob Hope Classics. Both tournaments were 90-hole affairs.)

Par-5 scoring leaders at the WGC-HSBC Champions

Most birdies in a 72-hole tournament by Bubba Watson

Iwata performance

Hiroshi Iwata’s T-3 finish at the WGC-HSBC Champions is tied for the best finish by a Japanese player in a World Golf Championship event. Iwata matches Toru Taniguchi, who was third in the 2001 Accenture Match Play Championship. The 33-year-old Iwata entered the week ranked 127th on the Official World Ranking and was third on the Japan Golf Tour money list.

Top finishes by Japanese players in WGC events

A down and up weekend

Finally, acknowledgement must be given to Henrik Stenson, who became the first player since 2007 to shoot 80 or worse in the third round and follow with a round of 65 or better on Sunday. Stenson shot 81 on Saturday, but took 16 off strokes his score with a 65 in the final round, the best score of the day.

Third round of 80 or worse, final round of 65 or better on the PGA Tour since 2000

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The final round of the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions turned into a shoot-out Sunday, and required sudden death at the end of a long week. Graeme McDowell led through each of the first three rounds, but Bubba Watson walked away with the trophy.

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Bubba Watson has made a living off making impossible shots look downright routine. Sunday at the WGC-HSBC Champions was no exception. After grabbing the solo lead on the back nine, Watson suddenly dropped three shots on the 16^th and 17^th holes and didn’t so himself any favors finding the greenside bunker with his approach to the par-5 18^th. That’s when he found that same magic responsible for those two Masters titles under his belt.

Watson holed his shot from the sand for an eagle, forcing his way into a playoff with Tim Clark. In the playoff, he found the same greenside bunker with his second shot, and splashed out to 20 feet. After Clark missed his birdie attempt, Watson’s putt found the bottom of the cup, giving him his first WGC title and seventh PGA Tour win.

Leaderboard: Bubba Watson (-11), Tim Clark (-11), Rickie Fowler (-10), Hiroshi Iwata (-10), Graeme McDowell (-10), Martin Kaymer (-8), Thorbjorn Olesen (-8), Ian Poulter (-8)

What it means: Watson, who hadn’t won since the Masters in April, proved once again that when he’s on his game – even not all the way on – he’s nearly impossible to beat. He moved back up to No. 3 in the rankings, making him the highest-ranked American in the world.

Round of the day: There certainly were better scores out there Sunday than Bubba’s final-round 70, but Watson sewed up this honor with his final two holes. Watson looked finished after a bogey-double bogey stretch that dropped him from the outright lead to trailing five co-leaders by a shot. Before his hole-out from the bunker on 18, it took him two shots to get out of the sand (and nowhere near the pin) just one hole earlier. That’s how quickly he can flip the switch.

Best of the rest: Tim Clark certainly deserves some credit for battling to a playoff loss in China with a 3-under 69 on Sunday. After Watson’s eagle hole-out, he still had to drain a 5-footer to get into extra holes. In the end, Bubba’s theatrics proved too much to overcome. Henrik Stenson didn’t finish anywhere near the lead, but after a disappointing first three days (70-71-81), it was nice to see him get back on track with a closing 7-under 65.

Biggest disappointment: It’s tough to call any finish inside the top 10 a “disappointment,” but several players had a chance to get into the playoff with birdies at the 72^nd hole. While McDowell and Iwata gave themselves good looks at birdie and eventually settled for pars, Fowler and Kaymer both found the water, essentially ending any chance of extra holes for themselves before they even got to the final green.

Quote of the day: “Clark was like, ‘How’d you do that? Why would you do that?” – Watson, with a laugh, on what Clark said to him after he holed-out for eagle at the last.

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SHANGHAI – Bubba Watson captured his first World Golf Championship with a stunning turnaround Sunday when he holed a bunker shot for eagle on the 18th hole to get into a playoff, and then made a 20-foot birdie putt to beat Tim Clark and win the HSBC Champions.

Watson had a two-shot lead with three holes to play until he appeared to throw it all away. He missed the 16th green with a lob wedge and made bogey, and then took two shots to get out of a bunker on the par-3 17th and made double bogey to fall one shot behind a five-way tie for the lead.

The two-time Masters champion was fidgety and irritated at any movement around him, even stopping at the top of his swing from the bunker left of the green on the par-5 18th hole because of a camera click from the hospitality suite. But angst turned to joy when he blasted onto the green and watched the ball roll some 25 feet into the cup for eagle.

He closed with a 2-under 70.

Clark was the only player from the five-way tie to join Watson at 11-under 277. He laid up on the 18th and hit wedge to 5 feet for birdie and a 69. Rickie Fowler tried to reach the green with a 5-wood from 228 yards, but it rolled back into the water. He scrambled for par and a 70.

”I misjudged how it was going to play,” Fowler said.

All three players in the final group failed to make birdie.

WGC-HSBC Champions: Articles, videos and photos

Graeme McDowell, trying to complete a wire-to-wire win, missed a 12-foot birdie attempt and shot 73. Hiroshi Iwata (72) missed an 8-foot birdie putt. Martin Kaymer’s wedge for his third shot bounded off the green to the right and went into the water, leading to double bogey. He had a 73.

Watson became the 14th player to win a major and a World Golf Championship, and it capped off his best calendar year – the Northern Trust Open at Riviera in February, another green jacket at the Masters in April, and a WGC title in China that he nearly let slip through his fingers.

Both big moments – the bunker shot and the winning putt – produced more high-charged emotion than either of his two Masters victories. With a world-class field, this tournament came down to six players over the final 30 minutes.

The final group – McDowell, Iwata and Kaymer – were so shocked to see the leaderboard when they reached the 16th green that they asked if it was correct. They had been chasing. Suddenly, they were tied at 10 under, and Watson was trailing.

”That’s why I went for the green on 16,” Kaymer said. ”I thought if I can make 3 there, I can square with Bubba. And I saw that he made double bogey on 17, so all of a sudden, there were five guys in the lead.”

Watson at that moment appeared to be the least likely of the bunch to hold the trophy.

Kaymer took two chips to get on the 16th green and had to scramble for par. Iwata was just over the back of the green with his tee shot on the par-4 16th, but he stubbed his chip and two-putted for par. McDowell narrowly missed an 18-foot birdie. All had their chances on the 18th to catch Watson and Clark.

Watson moved up to No. 3 in the world, making him the highest-ranked American.

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Bubba Watson wins his first WGC title after a dramatic play-off as Graeme McDowell falls behind in Shanghai.

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Graeme McDowell lost ground to the field Saturday, but still maintains a one-shot lead heading into the final round of the WGC-HSBC Champions at Sheshan International Golf Club.

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Graeme McDowell remained the man to catch at the WGC-HSBC Champions tournament after three rounds, but had his lead trimmed to one shot going into the final day in Shanghai.

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The stage is set for a thrilling final day at the WGC-HSBC Champions in China, where Graeme McDowell still holds the lead, but only by one shot. Martin Kaymer’s superb 66 has the German in contention, while Bubba Watson continued his extraordinary run on the closing holes here at the Sheshan International GC. See all the best numbers from moving day here…

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