|
|
| October 7, 2003 | Tuesday | Sha’aban 10, 1424 |
Woods eases to season’s fifth PGA title
WOODSTOCK (Georgia), Oct 6: Tiger Woods picked up his fifth PGA Tour title of the season with a two-shot victory in the WGC-American Express Championship at the Capital City Club Crabapple Course on Sunday.
Woods, who carded a two-over-par 72 for his worst round of the tournament by three strokes, finished on six-under 274 to earn $1,050,000.
Fiji’s Vijay Singh, American Tim Herron and Australia’s Stuart Appleby tied for second on 276.
David Toms finished alone in fifth another stroke back, while Ireland’s Padraig Harrington and South Korea’s K.J. Choi shared sixth on 279.
The world number one’s 39th PGA Tour win was never in much doubt, but it had its moments.
Starting the final round with a two-shot lead over Singh and a three-shot advantage over Herron, Woods came under pressure from the latter midway through the round when Herron birdied the ninth hole as the leader bogeyed.
After Herron dropped a shot on the 10th, he got within one shot of the lead once more with a birdie on the par-five 12th.
However, a Woods birdie on the same hole and Herron’s three-over-par performance over the last six holes gave the winner a comfortable cushion.
Woods came into the final round with a record of 29 wins in 31 attempts when leading after 54 holes and Sunday’s performance did nothing to tarnish that record.
The victory also propelled Woods to the top of the tour’s money earnings list.
Leading final round scores (US unless stated):
274 — Tiger Woods 67, 66, 69, 72.
276 — Stuart Appleby (Australia) 71, 68, 69, 68; Tim Herron 66, 72, 67, 71; Vijay Singh (Fiji) 70, 70, 64, 72.
277 — David Toms 73, 72, 67, 65.
279 — Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 71, 73, 69, 66; K.J. Choi (South Korea) 67, 71, 68, 73.
281 — Paul Casey (Britain) 73, 71, 66, 71; Retief Goosen (South Africa) 73, 69, 67, 72.
282 — Fred Couples 71, 73, 70, 68; Ignacio Garrido (Spain) 68, 71, 69, 74.
283 — Alex Cejka (Germany) 70, 76, 72, 65; Ernie Els (South Africa) 71, 74, 71, 67; Jim Furyk 70, 74, 69, 70; Sergio Garcia (Spain) 65, 73, 70, 75.
284 — Niclas Fasth (Sweden) 68, 76, 70, 70; Loren Roberts 69, 75, 70, 70; Rocco Mediate 66, 72, 73, 73; Brad Faxon 75, 71, 66, 72.
285 — Jonathan Kaye 73, 69, 73, 70.
286 — Robert Allenby (Australia) 72, 76, 73, 65; Steve Flesch 71, 75, 72, 68; Charles Howell III 76, 75, 65, 70; Jerry Kelly 70, 72, 69, 75.
HUSTON VICTORIOUS
MADISON (Mississippi): John Huston birdied three of the final four holes to shoot a four-under-par 68 and rally past South African Brendan Pappas to win the Southern Farm Bureau Classic on Sunday.
Huston finished at 20-under 268, one shot ahead of Pappas, who almost snatched victory with a brilliant 10-under-par 62.
Japan’s Shigeki Maruyama (66) finished alone in third at 18-under 270, while Chris Anderson, Japan’s Hidemichi Tanaka and Paul Stankowski all shot two-under-par 70s to tie for fourth at 16-under 262.
At 42, Huston became the 11th player over 40 to win this year on the PGA Tour.
The win was Huston’s seventh of his PGA Tour career and first since the 2000 Tampa Bay Classic, a span of 67 starts.
Leading final round scores:
268 — John Huston 66, 66, 68, 68.
269 — Brenden Pappas (South Africa) 72, 69, 66, 62.
270 — Shigeki Maruyama (Japan) 68, 68, 68, 66.
272 — Chris Anderson 69, 66, 67, 70; Hidemichi Tanaka (Japan) 66, 68, 68, 70; Paul Stankowski 68, 68, 66, 70.
273 — Jose Coceres (Argentina) 71, 67, 70, 65; Glen Day 72, 69, 66, 66; Tim Clark (South Africa) 69, 66, 69, 69.
274 — Russ Cochran 71, 69, 68, 66; John E. Morgan (Britain) 73, 65, 68, 68; Luke Donald (Britain) 69, 67, 67, 71.
Leading world rankings (US unless stated, previous ranking in brackets):
1. (1) Tiger Woods 17.07 points average; 2. (2) Ernie Els (South Africa) 9.89; 3. (3) Vijay Singh (Fiji) 9.27; 4. (4) Davis Love III 8.24; 5. (5) Jim Furyk 7.77; 6. (6) Mike Weir (Canada) 7.61; 7. (7) David Toms 6.01; 8. (8) Kenny Perry 5.76; 9. (9) Retief Goosen (South Africa) 5.45; 10. (10) Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 5.41; 11. (11) Phil Mickelson 5.10; 12. (12) Nick Price (Zimbabwe) 5.06; 13. (13) Darren Clarke (Britain) 4.87; 14. (15) Justin Leonard 3.88; 15. (16) K.J. Choi (South Korea) 3.83; 16. (14) Chris DiMarco 3.79; 17. (17) Robert Allenby (Australia) 3.51; 18. (18) Adam Scott (Australia) 3.40; 19. (19) Jay Haas 3.36; 20. (37) Stuart Appleby (Australia) 3.30.—Reuters
|
|
