The 2015 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational was a professional golf tournament held August 6–9 on the South Course of Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. It was the 17th WGC-Bridgestone Invitational tournament, and the third of the World Golf Championships events in 2015. Shane Lowry shot a final-round 66 to win his first WGC event, two strokes ahead of runner-up Bubba Watson.
Course layout
Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal Yards399526442471200469219482494370241041818047146722166740046436987400Par454434344354434435443570 The South Course was designed by Bert Way and redesigned by Robert Trent Jones in 1960.
Field The field consisted of players drawn primarily from the Official World Golf Ranking and the winners of the world-wide tournaments with the strongest fields.
1. Playing members of the 2014 United States and European Ryder Cup teams.
Thomas Bjørn, Keegan Bradley (2,3), Jamie Donaldson (2,3), Victor Dubuisson (2,3), Rickie Fowler (2,3,4), Jim Furyk (2,3,4), Stephen Gallacher, Sergio García (2,3), Zach Johnson (2,3,4), Martin Kaymer (2,3), Matt Kuchar (2,3), Hunter Mahan (2,3,4), Graeme McDowell, Phil Mickelson (2,3), Ian Poulter (2,3), Patrick Reed (2,3,4), Justin Rose (2,3,4), Webb Simpson (2,3), Jordan Spieth (2,3,4), Henrik Stenson (2,3,4), Jimmy Walker (2,3,4), Bubba Watson (2,3,4), Lee Westwood (2,3,4,5) Rory McIlroy (2,3,4) withdrew due to an ankle injury.
2. The top 50 players from the Official World Golf Ranking as of July 27, 2015.
Paul Casey (3,4), Jason Day (3,4), Branden Grace (3,4,5), Bill Haas (3,4), Russell Henley, Charley Hoffman (3), J. B. Holmes (3,4), Billy Horschel (3,4), Thongchai Jaidee (3), Dustin Johnson (3,4), Kevin Kisner (3), Brooks Koepka (3,4), Anirban Lahiri (4), Marc Leishman (3), Shane Lowry (3), Hideki Matsuyama (3), Francesco Molinari (3), Ryan Moore (3,4), Kevin Na (3), Louis Oosthuizen (3), Ryan Palmer (3), Charl Schwartzel (3), Adam Scott (3), Brandt Snedeker (3,4), Brendon Todd (3), Bernd Wiesberger (3,4), Danny Willett (3,4), Gary Woodland (3) Chris Kirk (3,4) withdrew due to a hand injury.
3. The top 50 players from the Official World Golf Ranking as of August 3, 2015.
Marc Warren, Robert Streb (4)
4. Tournament winners, whose victories are considered official, of tournaments from the Federation Tours since the prior season's Bridgestone Invitational with an Official World Golf Ranking Strength of Field Rating of 115 points or more.The 'Strength of Field Rating' is a loose term for what the Official World Golf Ranking calls the 'Total Rating Value' (see Event ranking).
An Byeong-hun, Bae Sang-moon, Steven Bowditch, Andrew Dodt, Matt Every, Fabián Gómez, James Hahn, Pádraig Harrington, Mikko Ilonen, Søren Kjeldsen, Pablo Larrazábal, Danny Lee, David Lingmerth, David Lipsky, Joost Luiten, Ben Martin, Troy Merritt, Marcel Siem, Gary Stal, Camilo Villegas, Oliver Wilson Alex Norén withdrew due to a rib injury.
5. The winner of selected tournaments from each of the following tours: Asian Tour: Thailand Golf Championship (2014) – Lee Westwood, already qualified under categories 1, 2, 3, and 4 PGA Tour of Australasia: BetEasy Masters (2014) – Nick Cullen Japan Golf Tour: Bridgestone Open (2014) – Koumei Oda Japan Golf Tour: Japan Golf Tour Championship – Liang Wenchong Sunshine Tour: Dimension Data Pro-Am – Branden Grace, already qualified under categories 2, 3, and 4
Notably missing from the field is former number 1 player Tiger Woods, who is outside the top 200 in the world rankings and whose last tournament win was his eighth title at the 2013 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
Round summaries First round Thursday, August 6, 2015
Danny Lee shot a 5-under-par 65 to take the lead by one stroke over Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell. The greens were firm and difficult and only 21 golfers in the field of 77 managed under-par rounds.
PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Danny Lee 65 −5T2 Jim Furyk 66 −4 Graeme McDowellT4 Rickie Fowler 67 −3 Justin RoseT6 Paul Casey 68 −2 Victor Dubuisson Koumei Oda Ian Poulter Webb Simpson Henrik Stenson Robert Streb Lee Westwood
Second round Friday, August 7, 2015
PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Jim Furyk 66-66=132 −8T2 Dustin Johnson 69-67=136 −4 Shane Lowry 70-66=136 Bubba Watson 70-66=136T5 Danny Lee 65-72=137 −3 Graeme McDowell 66-71=137 Henrik Stenson 68-69=137T8 Jason Day 69-69=138 −2 Sergio García 71-67=138 Brooks Koepka 69-69=138 Patrick Reed 71-67=138 Justin Rose 67-71=138 Webb Simpson 68-70=138 Jordan Spieth 70-68=138 Robert Streb 68-70=138 Lee Westwood 68-70=138 Source:
Third round Saturday, August 8, 2015
PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Jim Furyk 66-66-69=201 −9 Justin Rose 67-71-63=2013 Shane Lowry 70-66-67=203 −7T4 Steven Bowditch 73-69-63=205 −5 Ian Poulter 68-72-65=205 Henrik Stenson 68-69-68=205 Bubba Watson 70-66-69=205T8 Brooks Koepka 69-69-68=206 −4 Graeme McDowell 66-71-69=206 Robert Streb 68-70-68=206 Source:
Final round Sunday, August 9, 2015
Shane Lowry's 66 (−4) overtook third round co-leaders Justin Rose and Jim Furyk, who each carded 72 (+2). Runner-up Bubba Watson also shot 66 and finished two strokes behind Lowry. PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Shane Lowry 70-66-67-66=269 −11 1,570,0002 Bubba Watson 70-66-69-66=271 −9 930,000T3 Jim Furyk 66-66-69-72=273 −7 470,000 Justin Rose 67-71-63-72=273 5 Robert Streb 68-70-68-68=274 −6 330,000T6 Brooks Koepka 69-69-68-69=275 −5 219,000 Danny Lee 65-72-70-68=275 David Lingmerth 70-71-66-68=275 Henrik Stenson 68-69-68-70=275T10 Rickie Fowler 67-72-70-67=276 −4 149,500 Jordan Spieth 70-68-72-66=276 Source:
Scorecard Final round Hole 1 234 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415161718Par454434344 443443544 Lowry −7 −8 −8 −8 −8 −8 −8 −9 −9 −10 −10 −10 −10 −10 −10 −10 −10 −11 Watson −5 −6 −5 −5 −5 −5 −5 −6 −7 −8 −8 −8 −9 −9 −8 −8 −9 −9 Rose −9 −9 −9 −8 −8 −8 −7 −7 −8 −7 −7 −7 −7 −7 −7 −8 −8 −7 Furyk −9 −10 −10 −10 −9 −9 −9 −8 −8 −8 −9 −8 −8 −8 −8 −8 −8 −7 Streb −3 −4 −5 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −3 −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −5 −6 −6 −6 Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par BirdieBogey Source
References
External links
Coverage on European Tour's official site Firestone Country Club site