CHARLOTTE, North Carolina, 10 May 2005 — Vijay Singh took advantage of a record-tying collapse by Sergio Garcia and an untimely mistake by Jim Furyk, rallying from six shots behind with a 6-under 66 and winning the Wachovia Championship on the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff Sunday.
Singh only needed a par on the 18th hole at Quail Hollow to win for the third time this year after Furyk’s tee shot skipped over a creek and rolled down into the water.
Still, he needed more help than anyone imagined possible.
Garcia started of the day with a six-shot lead, then recovering from his meltdown to take a one-shot lead with two holes to play.
But he pulled his tee shot on the par-3 17th into the water and scrambled for bogey, and missed a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to fall into a three-man playoff.
It matched the largest final-round collapse in U.S. PGA Tour history, last accomplished by Greg Norman in the 1996 Masters. Garcia was eliminated in fitting fashion, three-putting from 45 feet and missing a 6-footer for par on the first extra hole.
Singh, Garcia and Furyk all finished at 12-under 276, four shots better than anyone else. Singh’s victory overshadowed a gritty performance by Furyk, who birdied two of his last three holes to get into the playoff, including a 7-footer on the 18th.
Singh played away from the flag and into the bunker, but blasted out to a foot and tapped in for an unlikely victory.
He joined Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson as the only three-time winners on the PGA Tour this year, one that never looked possible until Garcia couldn’t make a putt, then couldn’t hit a fairway.
Spectacular as ever, the 42-year-old Fijian applied enormous pressure with a 12-foot par putt on the ninth, then four straight birdies to start the back nine that gave him a two-shot lead.
Kerr Cruises to Victory as Sorenstam’s Streak Ends
In Williamsburg, Virginia, Christie Kerr cruised to a five-shot victory at the $ 2.2 million Michelob Ultra Open on Sunday as Swedish superstar Annika Sorenstam’s LPGA winning streak ran out of steam.
Sorenstam entered the tournament seeking a record sixth consecutive victory.
But she never completely recovered from a first-round 76. Sorenstam bogeyed the opening hole of the last round, and any chance of a challenge ended with a double-bogey at the par-five third. A win would have given Sorenstam, who has not missed a cut since the 2002 Women’s British Open, four wins in four starts this season and sole possession of the LPGA consecutive wins record. In her last event - the season’s first major — Sorenstam matched Nancy Lopez’s record of five consecutive wins with an eight-shot victory at the Kraft Nabisco Championship.
But it was Kerr collecting the $ 330,000 first prize at the end of a long Sunday. She signed for a one-over-par 72 in the final round and never was seriously threatened as she finished on eight-under 276
