Harold Varner III drains HUGE eagle putt at 72nd hole to win Saudi International

Harold Varner III needed a birdie to force a playoff but drained a massive eagle putt to snatch the win at the Saudi International by one stroke. 

Ben Smith's picture
Sun, 6 Feb 2022
Harold Varner III drains HUGE eagle putt at 72nd hole to win Saudi International

Harold Varner III drained a huge eagle putt at the 72nd hole to snatch a landmark victory at the Saudi International. 

It looked like the title and the $900,000 winner's cheque was destined to be heading towards Bubba Watson. 

Watson, 43, carded a 6-under final round to snatch the clubhouse lead at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club to pile the pressure on Varner III. 

The left-hander also made an eagle and a birdie in his final two holes after seemingly coming out of nowhere on the final day. 

Varner III looked as if he was going to have to lament a frustrating double bogey at the 14th which looked like it put an end to his chances. 

But a birdie at 17 meant that he needed a birdie to force a playoff with the two-time Masters champion. Instead, he drained his eagle putt. 

Varner III let out a massive roar in celebration and embraced his caddie. He has never won on the PGA Tour. 

The 31-year-old has won on the European Tour before. That victory came at the Australian PGA Championship in 2016. 

A 1-under par final round of 69 at the par-70 lay out was enough to get the job done. He had also signed for rounds of 64, 66 and 68. 

Elsewhere, England's Steve Lewton was a surprise package and finished inside the top five after finishing at 9-under par for the week. 

Cameron Smith joined him on the same score. Matthew Wolff, Tommy Fleetwood and Dustin Johnson finished inside the top 10. 

Final leaderboard

H. Varner III -13

B. Watson -12

A. Arnaus -10

S. Lewton -9

C. Smith -9 

P. Larrazabal -8 

M. Wolff -8 

A. Ancer -7

T. Fleetwood -7

D. Johnson -7

R. Kinoshita -7

J. Niemann -7

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Saudi International prize purse, winner's share

1. $900,000

2. $550,000

3. $315,000

4. $250,000

5. $205,000

6. $166,500

7. $142,500

8. $122,500

9. $107,000

10. $95,500

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