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| May 26, 2003 | Monday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 23,1424 |
Garrido sinks Immelman in Wentworth playoff
VIRGINIA WATER (England), May 25: Spain’s Ignacio Garrido birdied the first extra hole in a sudden-death playoff with South African Trevor Immelman to win Europe’s flagship event on Sunday, the Volvo PGA Championship.
Immelman three-putted the 18th at Wentworth, the first playoff hole, to hand the $673,000 first prize to the Spaniard.
Both had finished on 18-under-par 270, three shots better than Swede Mathias Gronberg and four ahead of South Africa’s Ernie Els.
Immelman, leading overnight, had birdied the last two holes to force the playoff but in the end conceded to Garrido, who took over on top of the leaderboard at the 11th and went on to post a seven-under-par 65 to Immelman’s 68.
It was a dramatic change in fortunes for Garrido, who had lost form since playing in Europe’s victorious Ryder Cup team of 1997, the year he won his sole previous title, the German Open.
Last year he finished only 65th on Europe’s money-list and, until his surprise turn in form at Wentworth had missed four cuts in eight starts this year to languish 123rd on the European order of merit.
Ernie Els’s fourth place took the British Open Champion back to the top of the European money-list.
Leading final round scores (British unless stated):
270 — Ignacio Garrido (Spain) 70, 69, 66, 65; Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 69, 69, 64, 68 (Garrido win sudden-death play-off at first extra hole).
273 — Mathias Gronberg (Sweden) 72, 67, 67, 67.
274 — Ernie Els (South Africa) 69, 69, 67, 69.
275 — Barry Lane 72, 68, 68, 67; Kenneth Ferrie 70, 67, 70, 68.
276 — Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark) 68, 72, 69, 67; Thomas Levet (France) 74, 69, 66, 67.
277 — Colin Montgomerie 69, 70, 69, 69; Nick Faldo 71, 68, 68, 70; Gary Orr 69, 72, 66, 70; Paul Casey 70, 72, 64, 71; Phillip Price 71, 69, 67, 70.
278 — David Gilford 70, 69, 71, 68; Paul Eales 74, 69, 67, 68; Darren Clarke 66, 69, 72, 71; Eduardo Romero (Argentina) 72, 71, 65, 70; Kevin Na (South Korea) 69, 70, 68, 71; Niclas Fasth (Sweden) 69, 67, 68, 74.
279 — Adam Scott (Australia) 68, 73, 71, 67; Peter Fowler (Australia) 70, 71, 70, 68; Stephen Leaney (Australia) 69, 73, 65, 72.
280 — Henrik Bjornstad (Norway) 71, 71, 71, 67; John Bickerton 72, 69, 71, 68; Martin Maritz (South Africa) 71, 71, 68, 70; Sandy Lyle 75, 68, 67, 70; Robert Rock 69, 68, 70, 73.
281 — Stephen Dodd 71, 72, 69, 69; Peter Hedblom (Sweden) 69, 74, 69, 69; Mikko Ilonen (Finland) 69, 70, 72, 70; Marten Olander (Sweden) 73, 67, 69, 72.
282 — Ronan Rafferty 69, 72, 72, 69; Miles Tunnicliff 69, 73, 71, 69; Fredrik Jacobson (Sweden) 72, 69, 70, 71; Justin Rose 68, 73, 70, 71; Paul Mcginley (Ireland) 70, 69, 71, 72; Andrew Coltart 68, 71, 70, 73; Emanuele Canonica (Italy) 71, 69, 69, 73;
Mark McNulty (Zimbabwe) 69, 71, 68, 74.
PERRY EIGHT SHOTS CLEAR
FORT WORTH (Texas): Kenny Perry streaked eight shots clear of the field with a sizzling nine-under-par 61 in the third round of the Colonial PGA tournament on Saturday.
The 42-year-old American, who began the day in a share of the lead with Dan Forsman, raced ahead of his title rivals with a 17-under total of 193.
First-round leader Rory Sabbatini (67) of South Africa was second on 201, followed by Jim Furyk (69) another stroke back. US Ryder Cup captain Hal Sutton (65), Stewart Cink (66) and Jeff Sluman (67) were tied for fourth place on 203.
Perry sped to the turn in a six-under 29 at the Colonial Country Club before picking up three more shots coming home to equal the course record shared by Keith Clearwater (1993), Lee Janzen (1993) and Greg Kraft (1999), and post his best round in 17 years on the PGA Tour.
“I was hanging around and I saw Loren Roberts birdie the first three holes before I teed off,” Perry told reporters. “That kind of got me in the mindset and sure enough I went out there and I birdied the first three holes.”
Perry, chasing his fifth tour title, was one shot off the front-nine record of 28 set by Wayne Levi in 1993.
After birdies at the 11th and 14th, the chance of a 59 began to go through his mind.
“I’m thinking, if I can make this putt I’ve got a very good shot at shooting 59,” Perry said of a failed birdie attempt at the 15th.
“Then, I hit it close on 16 and missed it. After I missed that little putt on 16, I knew it was virtually impossible.”
Perry did, though, make a 16-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to open up the biggest lead on the tour since Ernie Els’s eight-shot cushion over Tiger Woods and Australia’s Peter Lonard in the 2002 Genuity Championship.
He missed only two greens, two fairways and needed just 25 putts, including 11 one-putts, to beat his previous best round by one stroke.
“I told my caddie, Freddie, I never had my rhythm any better this week than I’ve ever had it in my life,” Perry said.
Forsman ballooned to a three-over-par 73 for a five-under total of 205.
Leading third round scores (US unless stated):
193 — Kenny Perry 68, 64, 61.
201 — Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 64, 70, 67.
202 — Jim Furyk 68, 65, 69.
203 — Hal Sutton 71, 67, 65; Stewart Cink 67, 70, 66; Jeff Sluman 68, 68, 67.
204 — Harrison Frazar 69, 69, 66; Steve Flesch 69, 66, 69; Frank Lickliter II 68, 66, 70; Pat Bates 69, 66, 69.
205 — Alex Cejka (Germany) 70, 70, 65; Brandt Jobe 67, 70, 68; Patrick Sheehan 65, 72, 68; Phil Mickelson 67, 70, 68; Esteban Toledo (Mexico) 68, 68, 69; Dan Forsman 66, 66, 73.
206 — Justin Leonard 68, 72, 66; Jay Haas 69, 70, 67; Olin Browne 67, 71, 68; Briny Baird 70, 68, 68; Fred Funk 70, 67, 69; Loren Roberts 67, 69, 70; Tim Petrovic 68, 66, 72.
Other international players:
207 — Jesper Parnevik (Sweden) 66, 68, 73.
208 — Carl Pettersson (Sweden) 71, 69, 68; Shigeki Maruyama (Japan) 70, 68, 70.
209 — John Senden (Australia) 71, 70, 68; Craig Parry (Australia) 67, 70, 72.
210 — Steve Elkington (Australia) 72, 68, 70; Brian Watts (Canada) 67, 71, 72.
211 — Greg Chalmers (Australia) 68, 71, 72.
212 — Luke Donald (Britain) 68, 71, 73; Brenden Pappas (South Africa) 70, 68, 74.
213 — Stephen Ames (Trinidad & Tobago) 67, 72, 74.
215 — Fulton Allem (South Africa) 75, 66, 74; David Frost (South Africa) 69, 71, 75.—Reuters
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