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LA JOLLA (California), Feb 11: Jose Maria Olazabal shot a final round 65 Sunday to win the $3.6 million Buick Invitational Golf Tournament by one shot over J.L. Lewis.
The Spanish golfer endured a long wait in the clubhouse but his patience was rewarded when Lewis bogeyed the final hole to miss a chance at a playoff.
Lewis missed a five-foot par putt after playing up short, giving Olazabal, who has 22 international titles to his credit, his sixth PGA Tour victory and first since the 1999 Masters.
Olazabal birdied his final hole to complete a dramatic climb up the leaderboard at the Torrey Pines South Course to finish at 13-under-par 275, one shot better than Lewis and Mark O’Meara, who both shot two-under-par 70s on Sunday.
Olazabal had eight birdies and one bogey in his final round.
Crowd favourite John Daly also managed a final round 70 to finish alone in fourth at 11-under-par 277, while Tiger Woods posted his best finish of the season, thanks to a final round 66.
Woods tied for fifth at 10-under 278 with Bob Estes, who also shot a final round 66, and South Africa’s Rory Sabbatini, who shot 71.
Olazabal struggled just to make the cut, but a 67 Saturday put him in a tie for 11th place heading into the final round.
Nobody would accuse the Spaniard of backing into the title.
275 Jose Maria Olazabal 71 72 67 65 276 J.L. Lewis 68 67 71 70, Mark O’Meara 67 69 70 70 277 John Daly 69 70 68 70 278 Bob Estes 75 66 71 66, Tiger Woods 66 77 69 66, Rory Sabbatini 70 66 71 71 279 Jerry Kelly 73 67 66 73, Chris Riley 66 73 71 69, John Rollins 70 67 71 71 280 Lee Janzen 70 72 69 69, Vijay Singh 69 71 71 69 281 Fred Funk 72 70 67 72, Jay Haas 68 68 76 69, Jay Williamson 65 72 70 74, Greg Chalmers 70 73 75 63, John Senden 72 65 75 69.—Reuters
