01 June 2004	Tuesday	12 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

GERMANTOWN, May 31: Defending champion David Toms cruised to a six-stroke victory in the St Jude Classic in blustery conditions on Sunday.

Toms could manage only a two-over-par 73 in wind that gusted as high as 30 mph to finish on 16-under 268, four shots higher than his winning total last season.

Toms was not alone in having difficulties, as only six of the 12 players tied for ninth or better broke par. Bob Estes carded a 69 and took solo second place on 274, while Steve Lowery had the round of the day, a four-under 67, to jump from a tie for 19th into a share of third with Tim Herron, who shot a 70.

Stewart Cink and Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson each shot a 69 and tied Vaughn Taylor and Brian Gay for fifth. Taylor, in second place and seven strokes behind Toms when the round began, struggled to a 74. Gay shot a 73.

Last season in the Wachovia Championship, Toms had begun the final round with a five-shot lead, built it to six but then made a quadruple-bogey eight at the final hole to scrape home by two.

He began his final round on Sunday with a bogey at the par-four first but then made back-to-back birdies at the fifth and sixth after putting his approach shots within six feet on each hole.

After 10 holes, Toms had a nine-shot margin over the field and had all but wrapped up the title. However, he then bogeyed the 11th, 12th and 14th. The ex-US PGA champion bounced back with a birdie at the 16th, only to lose another shot at the 17th but by then he was home and dry. With a forecast of severe thunderstorms and 50 mph winds for the last round, the field teed off early and were grouped in threesomes instead of in pairs.

Leading final round scores (US unless stated):

268 - David Toms 67, 63, 65, 73.

274 - Bob Estes 74, 64, 67, 69.

275 - Steve Lowery 74, 64, 70, 67; Tim Herron 72, 64, 69, 70.

276 - Stewart Cink 68, 70, 69, 69; Fredrik Jacobson (Sweden) 75, 68, 64, 69; Vaughn Taylor 66, 65, 71, 74; Brian Gay 71, 66, 66, 73.

277 - Charles Howell III 70, 70, 68, 69; Paul Stankowski 67, 69, 71, 70; Craig Bowden 72, 68, 66, 71; Hirofumi Miyase (Japan) 68, 69, 67, 73.

278 - Michael Allen 71, 68, 70, 69; Joel Kribel 73, 65, 70, 70; Brian Kortan 75, 67, 66, 70; Michael Bradley 70, 70, 67, 71; Dennis Paulson 72, 68, 67, 71.

279 - Loren Roberts 71, 71, 67, 70; John Senden (Australia) 74, 69, 65, 71; Kris Cox 72, 67, 68, 72; Steve Allan (Australia) 70, 67, 69, 73; Tom Pernice Jr 75, 68, 63, 73.

Leading world rankings (US unless stated, previous ranking in brackets):

1. (1) Tiger Woods 12.31 points average;

2. (2) Vijay Singh (Fiji) 10.42;

3. (3) Ernie Els (South Africa) 9.51;

4. (4) Davis Love III 8.02;

5. (5) Phil Mickelson 7.44;

6. (6) Mike Weir (Canada) 6.43;

7. (7) Jim Furyk 6.09; 8.

(8) Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 5.83;

9. (9) Chad Campbell 5.05;

10. (10) Retief Goosen (South Africa) 5.00;

11. (12) Stuart Appleby (Australia) 4.88;

12. (11) Kenny Perry 4.73;

13. (14) Darren Clarke (Britain) 4.69;

14. (13) Adam Scott (Australia) 4.49;

15. (16) David Toms 4.13;

16. (15) Scott Verplank 3.92;

17. (17) Sergio Garcia (Spain) 3.81;

18. (19) Jonathan Kaye 3.61;

19. (18) Nick Price (Zimbabwe) 3.58;

20. (20) K.J. Choi (South Korea) 3.55. -Reuters