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| November 4, 2003 | Tuesday | Ramazan 8, 1424 |
Goosen holds off Singh for victory
PALM HARBOR (Florida), Nov 3: Retief Goosen fired a steady final round one-under-par 70 to win the Chrysler Championship by three strokes on Sunday.
The South African ended the event on 12-under 272 with Fiji’s Vijay Singh finishing alone in second. Briny Baird took third place on 276, while Chad Campbell and Tim Petrovic tied for fourth on 278.
Leading Baird by a stroke after three rounds, Goosen said on Saturday that he expected his primary competition over the final 18 holes to come from Singh, who was a further shot back.
His prediction proved correct, as the two battled into the back nine before Goosen was able to pull away. After making birdie on the 10th hole, Goosen held a three-shot advantage but Singh came right back with birdies on the next two holes to trim that margin to one shot.
However, Goosen birdied both the 13th and 14th while Singh could manage only pars and one bogey over the final six holes.
“It’s starting to be a great year now for me,” Goosen said.
“It was a bit of a slow start and so on, but it’s been a great year, the birth of our first child, now a win in Europe and a win over here. It’s turning out to be a very good year.”
Goosen, who won the Lancome Trophy on the European Tour in mid-September, said his play in the final round was not quite as good as the previous three rounds.
The world number two Singh could have clinched the PGA Tour money title over Tiger Woods by winning this title but with earnings of $7,345,907, the Fijian has made it very difficult for the world number one to overtake him.
In the upcoming Tour Championship, Woods must win and Singh finish fourth or worse.
If Singh places no lower than a tie for third, the earnings title belongs to him no matter what Woods does.
The Fijian has 17 top-10 finishes for the season, the most since Woods had the same number in 2000.
In addition, Singh has placed either first or second in last four tournaments and has finished no worse than eighth in 10 of his last 11 events.
The 40-year-old Singh said he was looking forward to battling Woods for the money title, and possibly player of the year honours, on Thursday.
“It will be a good tournament,” he said. “He raised the bar for everybody a few years ago. I have been working hard physically on my golf game. I think everybody’s game has risen to the next level, and I just kind of rose with it.
“I’m playing better than I have before. It’s easier to go out there and hit the ball. It feels good, and I am enjoying playing the game of golf.”
Baird, 35th in money when this tournament began, moved into the top-30 money winners with his $326,400 payday and earned a trip to Houston for the Tour Championship.
Rocco Mediate dropped back to number 31.
Leading final round scores:
272 Retief Goosen (South Africa) 69 66 67 70
275 Vijay Singh (Fiji) 70 70 65 70
276 Briny Baird 72 66 66 72
278 Chad Campbell 68 69 72 69, Tim Petrovic 71 69 66 72
279 Davis Love III 69 72 72 66, Dan Forsman 67 75 69 68, Thomas Levet (France) 71 67 71 70
280 Stephen Ames (Trinidad & Tobago) 74 67 72 67, Peter Lonard (Australia) 71 71 70 68, Brad Faxon 72 71 68 69, Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 71 71 68 70
281 Mike Weir (Canada) 71 73 70 67, Jonathan Byrd 72 67 72 70, Justin Leonard 74 71 66 70, Jeff Sluman 71 70 68 72
283 Duffy Waldorf 69 73 70 71, Tom Byrum 70 71 71 71, Robert Gamez 68 71 74 69, Kenny Perry 73 69 70 71, Pat Perez 70 70 70 73, Loren Roberts 71 69 68 75, Jose Coceres (Argentina) 68 68 72 75
Jacobson clinches title
SOTOGRANDE (Spain): Sweden’s Fredrik Jacobson won his third European title of the season on Sunday, surviving a roller-coaster ride with Carlos Rodiles of Spain before clinching the Volvo Masters at the fourth extra hole.
Both players completed the regulation 72 holes in 12-under-par 276, with closing rounds of 70, before Jacobson sealed victory with a rock-solid par at the 18th, the Spaniard having bogeyed after pushing his tee shot right into the trees.
The 29-year-old Swede, winner of the Hong Kong and Portuguese Opens this season, had looked the shakier of the two players over the first three extra holes, but regrouped at the fourth time of asking with an accurate drive on the 18th.
Rodiles could have sealed the European Tour’s season-ending event in regulation play when he moved two clear with one hole remaining, but he bogeyed the last after pulling his drive left while Jacobson countered with a brilliant birdie-three.—Reuters
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