BETHESDA, Md. -- Justin Rose has won enough times on the strongest golf courses to appreciate how one mistake can make a difference.
He got away with one Sunday at Congressional to win the Quicken Loans National.
Shawn Stefani did not.
Rose atoned for a 4-iron he hit into the water on the 18th hole to make a 15-foot bogey putt that got him into a playoff and gave him new life.
Then, when playing the 18th hole in the playoff, Stefani hit the same type of shot that rolled into the same pond left of the green.
There are no second chances in a sudden-death playoff.
Rose won with a par on the first extra hole for his first victory since the U.S. Open last summer at Merion. This one required about as much work, with Congressional far more difficult and unrelenting than when it hosted a soggy U.S. Open three years ago.
"Congressional got its reputation back after the U.S. Open," Rose said. "I really enjoy this type of golf and this type of test. I think it tested all of us. I'm delighted."
The Englishman was far from delighted after thinking he had thrown this one away.
Tied for the lead as he played the 18th, Rose tried to squeeze a 4-iron through a tiny gap in the trees from 209 yards away, playing toward the right side of the green for a chance at par. Instead, he turned it over and realized when he jogged toward the fairway that it was headed for the water.
His caddie, Mark Fulcher, told Rose that Stefani had just made bogey behind them on the 17th.
"Everything else was forgotten at that point," Rose said. "I wiped the slate clean and just focused on my putt on 18. An amazing feeling in any sort of championship when you make a putt like that. That means something. That's special.
"And then the playoff, it was just up to me to not do what I did the first time around."
Only six players broke par in the final round, no one crashed harder than Patrick Reed, who had a two-shot lead to start the final round, still had a two-shot lead at the turn and didn't even finish in the top 10. He made back-to-back double bogeys, shot 41 on the back and closed with a 77 to tie for 11th.
"This definitely burns and definitely gets me more fired up for more events coming up," Reed said.
SENIOR PLAYERS
Langer edges Sluman
PITTSBURGH -- Bernhard Langer made a short birdie putt on the second hole of a playoff with Jeff Sluman to win the Senior Players Championship.
Langer, 56, appeared to be in trouble when his second shot on the par-5 18th ended up in the rough short of the green. He hit a brilliant pitch to 5 feet and made the putt after Sluman's birdie attempt rolled just wide.
Langer's victory was his third of the year and his third major title on the Champions Tour. The two-time Masters champion shot an even-par 70 to finish at 15-under 265 at Fox Chapel.
Sluman had a bogey-free 65 to match Langer, but narrowly missed a birdie putt on the first playoff hole that would have won it.
Russ Cochran, who trailed by seven shots early in the final round, had a 67 to finish third at 14 under.
EUROPEAN TOUR
Paraguayan wins
COLOGNE, Germany -- Fabrizio Zanotti won the BMW International Open to become the first player from Paraguay to win a European Tour event, beating World No. 2 Henrik Stenson on the fifth hole of a playoff.
Zanotti won when Stenson conceded after failing to hole a bunker shot. Rafa Cabrera-Bello was eliminated on the fourth extra hole, and Gregory Havret dropped out on the second.
Zanotti closed with a 7-under 65 to match Havret (66), Stenson (67) and Cabrera-Bello (67) at 19-under 269 on the Gut Laerchenhof course.
John Daly (Arkansas Razorbacks, Dardanelle) finished tied for 66th after a final-round 71.
WEB.COM TOUR
Englishman triumphs
NEWBURGH, Ind. -- England's Greg Owen won the United Leasing Championship for his first Web.com Tour title, overcoming a seven-stroke deficit with a 5-under 67 for a one-shot victory.
Owen, 43, the winner of the European Tour's 2003 British Masters, had a 9-under 279 total at Victoria National and earned $108,000.
Glen Day (Little Rock), shot a 1-over 73 to finish tied for 19th at 2 under and earned $6,349. Sebastian Cappelen (Arkansas Razorbacks) winner of last week's Air Capital Classic in Wichita in his first start as a professional, tied for 40th after a final-round 74 to finish at 1-over 249 and earned $2,460. Tag Ridings (Arkansas Razorbacks) finished with a 6-over 78 to come in tied for 44th at 2 over and earned $1,850.
Sports on 06/30/2014