SANYA, China, 21 March 2005 — England’s Paul Casey triumphed in the TCL Classic yesterday after edging Irishman Paul McGinley with a birdie on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff.
The 27-year-old Casey fired a final round of six-under-par 66 at Yalong Bay Golf Club for a 22-under-par 266 aggregate which was matched by McGinley, who equaled the course record of 63 that included five birdies on the trot from the 13th hole.
After both players parred the first extra hole played on the 18th, McGinley found bunkers with his drive and then his approach shot to hand the advantage to Casey.
The talented Englishman drained a glorious 25-foot birdie putt to seal his fourth career title on the European Tour. The one million US dollar TCL Classic was jointly sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour.
Thailand’s Chawalit Plaphol, Korea’s Kang Wook-soon and Thomas Bjorn of Denmark shared third place on 21-under-par, while Scotsman Colin Montgomerie, the winner of this event when it was last played in 2002, finished a further stroke back following a 68 for sixth place. Montgomerie needed a top-two finish to break into the top-50 in the world and qualify for next week’s The Players Championship.
Perry Clings to Bay Hill Lead as Singh Closes In
In Toronto, American Kenny Perry was clinging to a one-stroke lead over Canada’s Stephen Ames when third round play at the Bay Hill Invitational was called off due to poor light on Saturday with Vijay Singh charging up the leaderboard.
Tiger Woods chances’ of a fifth victory at the tournament and of keeping Singh from reclaiming the No. 1 ranking he lost to the 29-year-old American two weeks ago, faded with the light at Orlando’s Bay Hill Resort and Lodge. Woods began positively enough to end his second round with a two-under 70, just three shots off the lead and one behind Singh, however he began his third round with two bogies and a double bogey at the ninth dropped him to three over with five to play and nine behind Perry.
