Singh keeps his cool despite zero birdies and a 4-over final round in the PGA Championship.
By BOB HARIG
Published August 16, 2004
HAVEN, Wis. - His name inscribed on the Wanamaker Trophy, Vijay Singh could breathe easier. They weren't going to take the award for winning the PGA Championship away. He really did win his third major title.
Didn't he?
Playing one of the worst final rounds by a winner in major championship history, Singh at least knows there is no room on the trophy to describe the dubious distinction alongside his name. Despite not making a birdie in regulation and shooting 4-over-par 76 at Whistling Straits on Sunday, Singh emerged victorious over Justin Leonard and Chris DiMarco in a three-hole aggregate playoff to win the 86th PGA Championship.
A birdie on the first extra hole was the difference after DiMarco and Leonard missed 72nd hole putts that could have won the event for either in regulation.
Ugly victory?
"It's the prettiest one, I think," said Singh, who received $1.25-million from the $6.25-million purse. "I really tried my hardest out there. It was just a tough day. I just hung in there. I never gave up, and I just said I'm going to make a putt sooner or later."
Singh, who won the 1998 PGA and the 2000 Masters, joins elite company. Only Tiger Woods (eight) and Nick Faldo (six), among active players, have won more majors. Ernie Els and Nick Price also have won three each.
Singh became the first since Faldo parred all 18 holes during the final round of the British Open at Muirfield in 1987 to win a major championship without a birdie on the last day.
"Yeah, I doubt that anybody would have thought that could happen on this golf course this week," Leonard said.
After yielding a slew of birdies during the first three rounds, Whistling Straits turned tough Sunday. There were just two scores in the 60s and only 14 subpar rounds. Leonard, who led by two early on the back nine, shot 75. He had a 12-foot par putt on the final hole that would have won it in regulation.
"I think what ultimately cost me the tournament was putting," said Leonard, who won the 1997 British Open but lost the '99 British in a playoff to Paul Lawrie and blew a third-round lead in the 2002 PGA, shooting a final-round 77 and tying for fourth. "I missed about four putts inside of 10 feet on the back nine. It's pretty hard to win a golf tournament, much less a major, when you do something like that."
DiMarco, who began the final round five strokes behind Singh, surged into contention with birdies at the ninth, 11th and 12th holes. After bogeys at the 15th and 16th, he thought it was over, but a perfect approach to 15 feet at the 18th hole gave him a chance for birdie that would have won. He left it short and finished with 71. "I hit it dead center," said DiMarco, a former University of Florida golfer who lives in Orlando. "I was just a little tentative with it. I just didn't hit it. I putted really good all week. You know, unfortunately, one short."
Others can say the same.
The playoff participants finished the 72-hole event at 8-under 280. Another shot back was hard-luck major performer Els, who three-putted the final green to miss the playoff by one. Els came up a shot short in three majors this year. He shot 73. Chris Riley also shot 73, three-putting the final green to miss the playoff. Singh, 41, got a second chance, which is the story of his career. A native of Fiji, he spent his early 20s in the jungles of Borneo as a teaching pro, banished after an alleged cheating incident in 1985 on the Asian Tour. He used the time to become one of the game's most proficient workers.
He made it to the PGA Tour as a 30-year-old rookie in 1993 and has put together a Hall of Fame career. His win Sunday was his 20th on tour and fifth this year. He's in good position to win his first PGA player of the year award, and though he won't pass Woods in the world ranking, he undoubtedly has closed the gap, certainly in the minds of competitors.
But it was far from easy. Singh, who has won eight straight tournaments when he has held or shared the 54-hole lead, looked out of sorts all day. He double-bogeyed the fourth hole, bogeyed the seventh and made another bogey at the 15th. He hit just three fairways and needed 34 putts. It was there for somebody else to take from him, but nobody did.
"I think this is the biggest accomplishment I've ever had in my whole career," Singh said. "This makes my year. I played well at the Masters and did not win. I played well the first two days at the U.S. Open, played well at the British. But this is it. I wanted to win one again, a major again, and it came at the right time."
No player since Reg Whitcombe shot 78 at the 1938 British Open shot a higher final round and won a major.
