GMac relieved to end frustrating year on top of the world

Graeme McDowell loves nothing better than to close out a long year with a win, and there’s no better place for him to do that than Sherwood Country Club and the World Challenge.

Two years ago, he rallied from four shots behind in the final round and beat Tiger Woods in a playoff.

Staked to a two-shot lead on Sunday, McDowell never let Keegan Bradley catch him, and he protected his lead on the back nine with a pair of superb short-game shots to save par. One of them was a 75-foot lag putt to within tap-in range, critical for someone coming off a three-putt bogey. The other was a delicate chip behind the 17th green that the ball had to land in the rough, and then the fringe, or it would have raced by the cup. It stopped a fraction of an inch away from falling.