American trio battle for victory

Phil Mickelson and Nick Watney were locked in battle at the top of the Doral leaderboard with Jim Furyk at the front of the chasing pack as the WGC-CA Championship neared its conclusion this evening.

Mickelson, who had been treated overnight for heat exhaustion and dehydration, showed no ill effects from his visit to a hospital emergency room as he and fellow American Watney reached 20 under par after 10 holes of their final round.

The co-leaders had stretched their advantage over the field from four shots overnight to seven as they battled one another for a second tournament victory of the year.

Yet Watney dropped a shot at the 11th and they both bogeyed the 12th as another American, Furyk, moved to 16 under with birdies at the 15th and 16th holes.

That left Mickelson in front at 19 under with three to play, one ahead of Watney.

Justin Leonard was also gathering momentum as he birdied the 16th to go to 14 under before finishing with two bogeys, while England’s Oliver Wilson was holding the clubhouse lead on 13 under following a final-round, six-birdie, no-bogey 66 on the par-72 Blue Monster course.

“It feels pretty good to be honest,” Wilson said afterwards. “Yesterday was probably one of the best rounds I’ve played for a while, shooting level – I really hung in and ground it out and it gave me a chance to do what I did today so it worked out pretty good.”

Mickelson and Watney had exchanged the lead several times as playing partners during the third round and the duel was renewed today, as the advantage changed hands three times on the front nine.

Wilson cut the gap on Watney to four shots when he birdied the 15th hole, the Englishman moving to 13 under for the tournament before the American holed in a chip at the ninth from 80 feet from beneath the hole at the back of the green, and between a spectator stand and a television tower.

That put Watney back to within a shot of the lead but Furyk led the charge to close the gap on the back nine.

Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen, India’s Jeev Milkha Singh and Camilo Villegas of Colombia were level with Wilson at 13 under with two, three and three holes to play respectively.

World number one Tiger Woods finished with his second consecutive 68 of the week to maintain his record of always finishing in the top 10, both in this event and at Doral.

Woods finished at 11 under to guarantee at least a tie for ninth place.

Ian Poulter wrapped things up for a final-round 69 to finish on 10 under as did Soren Hansen of Denmark.

Rory McIlroy’s tournament ended in disappointing fashion with a bogey at the last for a final-round 73, but the 19-year-old from Northern Ireland was still on course for a second consecutive top-20 finish in the US at nine under par, the same mark achieved by, among others, Luke Donald (72), Ernie Els (70), Padraig Harrington (71) and Justin Rose.

Rose finished with a second 68 of the weekend having bogeyed the last hole.

“I got better as the week went on and so I am pretty happy to be honest with you,” Rose said.

“I started off a little bit ropey but as I said I got better and my scoring got better and I was bogey-free until the last hole today, and that would have been a nice achievement but never mind.

“For the most part I hit the ball really nicely and I feel a lot more relaxed, and the putting is coming around so basically I am trying to keep this momentum going as we head into Bay Hill, Houston and the Masters.”

Richard Finch had started his round with a four birdies in a row but ended his week with a double-bogey six at the last to card a 71 and finish at four under, one better than fellow Englishman Ross Fisher.