PARAMUS, New Jersey: Vijay Singh won The Barclays for a record fourth time by beating Sergio Garcia on the second playoff hole on Sunday.
The 45-year-old Fijian closed with a 1-under 70 to match Garcia (70) and Kevin Sutherland (68) at 8-under 276 on the sun-baked Ridgewood Country Club course, the first-time site after 41 seasons at Westchester Country Club.
“It’s a great golf course,” said Singh, the 1993, 1995 and 2006 winner at Westchester. “Westchester was a good golf course. This tops Westchester. Every single player out there absolutely enjoyed this golf course.”
Singh earned 11,000 points in the US PGA Tour playoff opener to take the lead with 109,500 points — 5,125 ahead of second-place Garcia. The WGC-Bridgestone Invitational winner three weeks ago, Singh also earned $1.26 million (€850,000) for his 33rd tour victory.
Third-round leader Kevin Streelman (72), Ben Curtis (68) and Mathew Goggin (67) tied for fourth at 7 under, and Martin Laird (67), Justin Leonard (67), Nicholas Thompson (67), Mike Weir (72) and Paul Casey (72) followed at 6 under.
Garcia, a two-time Westchester champion, and Singh made long birdie putts on the first extra hole, the 472-yard 18th framed by a canyon of trees, with Garcia rolling a 27-footer and Singh matching him moments later from 26 feet. After driving into the right rough, Sutherland was on the back fringe in three when Garcia and Singh made their birdie putts.
“I think he was surprised to make his,” Singh said. “I was surprised to see it go in and he was even more surprised to see mine go in.” Singh and Garcia high-fived each other after Singh holed his putt.
“He’s a good friend of mine,” Singh said. “It’s hard to see your friend not win, especially if he’s playing against you, but somebody has to win.”
Garcia and Singh then moved to the 577-yard, par-5 17th. Garcia hooked his drive into the left rough, just feet from towering trees. With Singh in the middle of the fairway, Garcia hit his second shot behind a tree in the right rough. Singh then hit a 267-yard approach onto the green, about 20 feet long and right.
Because the gnarly ground around Garcia’s ball was ruled abnormal, he was able to take a drop that allowed him to get a clear shot to the green. He advanced the ball to near the front about 30 feet from the hole and nearly holed his chip. Singh then rolled his 20-foot eagle putt within inches for a tap-in birdie.
“I wasn’t really concerned about him,” Singh said. “I just wanted to know why he got a drop, there was obviously a mole there and he was burrowing at that moment, you could see him popping out. ... I was really focused on what I was doing.” Garcia reached 8 under with a tap-in birdie on 17, and missed a chance to get to 9 under on 18 when he pulled a 16-footer. Singh, playing in the final group, reached 8 under with a two-putt birdie on 17, and also missed a 16-foot birdie try on 18. “It was a tough day. It wasn’t easy to get close to the hole, so birdie was difficult to come by,” Singh said. “It was drying out really, really a lot, and you’ve got to play almost conservative on some holes.
“But it was a great playoff, though. I enjoyed that.”
Phil Mickelson shot a 68 to tie for 19th at 4 under. He dropped from third to fourth in the points standings entering his Deutsche Bank Championship title defense.
“It was a good round and it gives me some momentum to carry over,” he said.
Defending champion Steve Stricker had a 71 to join Mickelson at 4 under.
Kenny Perry, second in the standings behind the sidelined Tiger Woods entering the week, had weekend rounds of 72 and 76 to tie for 48th at even par. A three-time winner this season, Perry dropped to seventh in the points race.
