Fiji’s Vijay Singh fired five birdies and an eagle in the final eight holes in New Orleans on Monday to capture the PGA New Orleans Classic and seize the US PGA money lead from Masters winner Phil Mickelson.
It was the second week in a row Singh made a triumphant Monday charge in a rain-delayed final round to win. Last week he pulled off the rainy comeback in Houston. He has now won four US PGA Monday finishes, including the past three.
Singh rallied from four strokes down when the round began to win his third event of the season, having also taken a title in February at Pebble Beach.
”It’s just the way I finished, hanging in there,” Singh said.
”The guys were way ahead. I just wanted to play a solid round of golf on the back.”
Reigning United States money champion Singh won $918 000 dollars to leap past Mickelson into the money lead with more than $4,25-million.
Singh (41) fired a nine-under-par 63 to finish at 22-under-par 266, one stroke ahead of Mickelson and fellow American Joe Ogilvie.
Japan’s Hidemichi Tanaka was fourth on 269, two strokes ahead of England’s Justin Rose and American Charles Howell with South Korea’s KJ Choi, Trinidad’s Stephen Ames and American Brian Bateman on 272.
World number two Singh dropped a 25-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole to close a spectacular back nine, erasing a six-stroke deficit when he made the turn.
”I thought I didn’t hit it hard enough,” Singh said of his winning putt. ”I was just happy to see it get there. I haven’t made that many putts on 18 to win.”
Singh began to sizzle on the 11th, touching off a streak of three birdies in a row. He followed with an eagle at the 15th and birdies on the 16th and 18th to complete the rally.
”The eagle on 15 took me high enough,” Singh said.
Unheralded Ogilvie almost forced a playoff when his blast from the left bunker on the final hole nearly reached the cup.
Mickelson birdied three of the last four holes but settled for second in his first tournament since capturing his first major crown last month at the Masters. — Sapa-AFP