Jim Furyk avenged last year’s playoff loss at the Wachovia Championship by returning for another try on Sunday, and claimed the crown with a six-foot putt on the first extra hole to beat South Africa’s Trevor Immelman.
A hard-luck loser in a four-hole playoff last year, Furyk made an eight-foot par putt to force extra holes and then sunk the winner for par on number 18 to erase bad memories at Quail Hollow.
But he needed some help from the 26-year-old South African.
Immelman had to two-putt from 50 feet on the 18th hole in regulation to capture his first United States PGA Tour victory, but ran the first try 10 feet past and then missed the par attempt.
In the playoff, he hit his tee shot into a miserable lie in the right rough, had to lay up 80 yards short of the green and saw his wedge spin off the front. The best he could do was get up-and-down for bogey.
Furyk, who had a one-shot lead going into a rainy final round, closed with a one-under 71 and earned $1,134-million for his 11th career victory, and one that might be enough to move him into the top five in the world ranking.
It also ended a spell of close calls, including a runner-up finish in his last start three weeks ago at Hilton Head.
Furyk found the bunker off the tee in the playoff, but ripped a three-iron at the flag and it rolled just off the green. Electing to use putter, he ran it six feet by, and made the par try — thrusting his fist into the air before the ball even reached the cup.
”It’s nice to come out and get it done this time,” Furyk said.
Immelman was solid throughout the heavy rain in the middle of the round, and the pressure down the stretch. He built a two-shot lead with a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-three 13th hole and kept his cushion as Furyk closed. The South African twice made clutch par saves on the 16th and 17th to keep the lead, and hit the middle of the fairway and the middle of the green on the final hole.
”For anybody to get within five feet would have been a good effort,” Immelman said of his 50-foot putt in regulation. ”When you come that close, you’re disappointed to not finish the job. It’s my best finish on the PGA Tour, and I’ve got to build on that.”
Furyk knows that disappointment well.
A year ago, he closed with a 66 to make up six shots on Sergio Garcia and join a three-man playoff that included Vijay Singh.
Furyk twice had birdie putts to win, then hit into the creek on the 18th hole — his third time playing that hole — to give it away.
”I’ve seen enough of the 18th hole,” said Furyk, who has played it five times in the final round over the last two years.
Adam Scott never got within four shots of the lead, but wound up third after closing with a 71.
Retief Goosen was tied for the lead with seven holes to play but couldn’t keep up. Then, the two-time US Open champion hit three balls into the creek on the par-four 18th and made a nine to close with 77 and drop into a tie for 10th.
Singh, without a victory in nine months, made triple bogey on the last hole for an 81, his highest score on the PGA Tour since he shot 82 in the final round of the 1996 Kemper Open.
Masters champion Phil Mickelson continued to look sluggish in closing with a 74 to finish at 290, then hinted he might skip the Byron Nelson Championship this week to stay fresh before starting his run to the US Open at the Memorial. – Sapa-AP