Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
MEMPHIS - David Toms' comeback from wrist surgery is complete.
Toms started the final round of the St. Jude Classic with a seven-stroke lead Sunday, and nothing - not even windy conditions - could stop him from repeating.
He shot 2-over-par 73 and finished with a six-stroke victory over Bob Estes for his 10th PGA Tour title and first since winning here in June.
"I just had to grind it all the way out," Toms said. "It was a tough day for everybody. I knew it would be tough for anybody to shoot a low score. I knew as long as I could hang in there and make a lot of pars, I'd be okay.
"In the end, it was good enough."
This is the eighth time in Toms' career he entered the final round with at least a share of the lead after 54 holes. He has won six of those, including five straight.
With the victory, the 37-year-old is one of five players under 40 on tour with 10 or more victories.
He also becomes the third golfer to win consecutive titles at the tour stop in Memphis and first since the tournament moved to the TPC at Southwind in 1989. Dave Hill won in 1969 and 1970 and Lee Trevino in 1971 and 1972 at Colonial Country Club.
A year ago, Toms said he had been playing great golf for three or four years. Now, he is coming off December surgery to remove bone chips from his left wrist, an injury that kept him from touching a club in the offseason.
Toms came to Memphis having missed five of his past seven cuts, and his world ranking had slipped from ninth to 16th. Only bogey on his final hole of the first round kept him from enjoying a wire-to-wire victory as he finished 16-under 268.
"Considering the injury I had, what I was trying to come back from, this means the world to me," he said. "Thinking about it right now, it's hard to put into words, but I'm sure tonight when I'm laying in bed trying to get to sleep it'll all come to me as far as really what it means."
LPGA: Add the Corning Classic to Annika Sorenstam's resume.
Sorenstam shot 4-under 68 for a two-stroke victory over Michelle Estill, 1-up on Sorenstam before 71-272 Sunday, and Vicki Goetze-Ackerman (67) in New York. It was Sorenstam's third victory in six tournaments this year, No.51 overall, and her 16th come-from-behind win.
The victory was sweeter because it came a year after Sorenstam chose to play against the men at Colonial instead of competing in the Corning.
"The biggest thing is that I felt support last year when I did play Colonial. Corning was very supportive," said Sorenstam, who hadn't played the Corning Country Club course in nine years and won despite two weeks off and no practice round.
"They said whatever is good for the LPGA is good for us, and I thought that was a great comment. That's the way I was looking at the Colonial, too. Long-term, I always thought it was good for the LPGA."
Sorenstam finished 18-under 270 and pocketed $150,000 to take over the top spot on the money list.
CHAMPIONS: Hale Irwin held a one-shot lead over Dave Barr and Jay Haas when the final round was suspended at the rain-plagued Senior PGA Championship in Louisville, Ky. A powerful front that spawned tornadoes in Indiana moved through the area, triggering the fourth delay in four days. The players were to resume their final rounds today. Irwin completed one hole in his final round and was 7 under. The leader after the first three rounds had nine holes left on his suspended third round Sunday morning, and he finished it with his second straight 69.
EUROPEAN PGA: Scotland's Scott Drummond, ranked 435th in the world, won the Volvo PGA Championship in Virginia Water, England. He is the first to capture the tour's flagship event on his first try since Arnold Palmer in 1975. Drummond shot 8-under 64 for a two-stroke victory. He had a bogey-free fourth round and finished 19-under 269, matching a tournament best. Argentina's Angel Cabrera, the third-round leader, closed with 67 for 271.