Rose, Furyk stumble...Lowry steps up to win Bridgestone Invitational

WGC Bridgestone Invitational final leaderboard http://espn.go.com/golf/leaderboard?tour=pga

With 10 players within 5 shots of the leaders Justin Rose and Jim Furyk, there were any number of scenario's waiting to unravel at the start of play on Sunday, and in the end both leaders faltered on their front nines and managing only +2 72's which opened the door for the rest of the contenders...

Jordan shot 66 and Rickie 67 but they were too far behind, ending up T10 -4. David Lingmerth -5 Robert Streb -6 and Danny Lee -5 all did their best with 68's, but were too far behind as well.

It was Shane Lowry the 28 year old Irishman, who has been playing nicely this season ever since he grew the beard, who relied on some great recovery play and clutch par saving putts to shoot 66 -11 total for a two shot win over Bubba Watson who also carded a 66.

An example of Lowry's recovery prowess came on the 10th when he hit a wild hook and was given a free drop to avoid the 11th tee and he proceeded to sky a wedge over a tree and made the birdie 3. He also clipped another wedge through a tree on the 18th that landed as luck would have it just 10 feet from the pin for a closing birdie.

He also made clutch par saving putts at 14 and 17 along the way to his first WGC victory that has changed his life. He earned $1.57 million, along with a PGA Tour card for the next three years and says he plans to play both tours next year. This morning he has moved to No. 19 from 48th in the world.

I first saw his talent on display in the pouring rain when he won the Irish Open in 2009 as an amateur, much to the delight of the drenched crowd and his close pal Rory McIlroy.

As for the leaders, Furyk was concerned about the way he was hitting the ball earlier in the week and said poor shots were covered up by his putting  while Justin Rose said just the opposite, in that he is playing better than anyone tee to green, but needs to putt a lot better than he did yesterday.

Last night flights were landing from all over the world at Mitchell airport in Milwaukee where a fleet of courtesy cars whisked the players to their accommodation at Whistling Straits where defending champion Rory McIlroy is waiting to welcome them all. in particular his mate and WGC champion, Shane Lowry !

Bryan