Tiger Woods Wins

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July 4th wrap up: Watney wins, a Woods loses, another Woods ...

While many golf fans were out on the links, basking in the sun at the beach, and savoring burgers and dogs at their Happy Birthday America BBQs, Nick Watney won his fourth PGA Tour title, Rickie Fowler suffered another Sunday implosion, Tiger Woods’ niece Cheyenne did not run the table in U.S. amateur play, and French Open winner Thomas Levet broke his leg after a celebratory jump into a lake following his win on  Bubba Watson’s favorite golf course .

Watney, who crashed into the top 10 of the world golf rankings with his two-stroke victory over K.J. Choi at the AT&T National, notched his second victory of the season. The 30-year-old Californian fired a flawless 4-under 66 to earn the title after entering the final round tied with Fowler for the lead.

For those who care about such things, Watney, with his eighth top-10 finish of the year, took over top spot in FedEx Cup points with his convincing victory at Tiger’s tourney at Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia. Watney put himself into position for the win with a 27 over his final nine holes during the third round, in which he carded a course-record 62.

"With 27 holes to go in the tournament, I was really just trying to play my way back in and then for some reason the hole just got bigger for me," Watney told reporters following his win.

Nick Watney earns his second PGA Tour win of the season at AT&T National over July 4th weekend (Hunter Martin/Getty Images)

Fan fave Fowler, on the other hand, continued his saga of Sunday slides. The kid’s only 22 and, no doubt, has a huge future ahead of him. But ever since his controversial decision to lay up on the 15th hole in the final round of the 2010 Phoenix Open, Fowler has not been a factor on a Sunday. As  Shane Bacon  pointed out, the guy in the neon orange and flat-billed Puma cap has broken 70 only twice in 11 final rounds this year.

After limping in with a closing 74 on Sunday at Aronimink, Fowler hoped he could take something positive from his playing partner’s success.

"Just a tough day, but I learned a lot," Fowler said after watching Watney’s bogey-free final round. "It was great to be in that position. You know, it's good to see what other guys do in the same situation and how they handle themselves."

Meanwhile, in USGA play and with Uncle Tiger on the sidelines, Woods, who won medalist honors in the stroke-play qualifier, looked to be  on her way  to hoisting the hardware at last week’s U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links (WAPL) Championship. After taking matches by the lopsided scores of 4 and 3 and 8 and 7, however, the 20-year-old Wake Forest senior lost to Annie Park, 3 and 2, in the quarterfinals.

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