Rory Sabbatini had to settle for beating the number-three player in the world and a two-time Masters champion. As usual, Tiger Woods wasn’t at the Colonial.
Sabbatini made a 15-foot birdie putt on the first play-off hole at the Crowne Plaza Invitational to beat Jim Furyk and Bernhard Langer, and then jokingly referred to an earlier verbal spat with the top-ranked player.
Asked about the large skull-and-wings belt buckle he wore on Sunday, Sabbatini said it was the same one he had on during the final round at Wachovia.
”I got all the jinx off that week,” said Sabbatini, who had a one-shot lead last month before closing with a 74 playing in the final group with Woods.
Colonial was the fourth career PGA Tour victory for Sabbatini, the 31-year-old South African who won the Nissan Open last year and earlier this season had consecutive top-three finishes at the Masters, EDS Byron Nelson Championship and Wachovia.
Sabbatini had said last month that he wanted to be in the final pairing with Woods to prove his victory last year — when Woods withdrew with the flu — wasn’t a fluke. Then, at the Players Championship, Sabbatini said Woods looked ”as beatable as ever”.
But Sabbatini still doesn’t understand all the fuss, saying that he only meant that he wanted to compete with the number-one player in the world.
”I was getting frustrated earlier this year, playing well and I didn’t feel like anything was happening,” Sabbatini said after winning the Colonial. ”I told my wife, by the end of the year I’m going to be top 10 in the world rankings, and I’m not going to let anything stop me. My goal next year is to probably try to get to number one.”
Play-off
After beginning the final round at the Colonial tied at 11 under, Sabbatini, Furyk and the 49-year-old Langer closed with matching three-under 67s to finish at 14 under.
All three hit their play-off drives into the fairway on the 433-yard 18th. Their approach shots all landed safely on the green.
Furyk, the only of the top 12 players in the world ranking at the Colonial, missed his 34-foot putt. Sabbatini then made his putt before Langer, with the shortest putt and a chance to force another hole, pushed an eight-footer to the right.
”I knew I had to make it. I wasn’t planning on lagging it,” Langer said. ”I’m disappointed I didn’t win, but at the same time I’m encouraged with my game.”
It was the first three-man play-off ever at the Colonial, which had not needed extra holes since 1994 before Tim Herron won a two-hole play-off last year with Richard S Johnson.
Woods had won the last three-man play-off on the PGA Tour, beating Nathan Green and Jose Maria Olazabal at the Buick Invitational in January last year.
Sabbatini finished the rain-delayed third round early on Sunday with a 62, missing the tournament record by a stroke when his eight-foot birdie attempt scooted just left on number nine, the last hole he played in the third round.
Pat Perez (66) finished fourth at 12-under 268, and Green (66) and Tom Lehman (68) were another stroke back.
Scott Verplank also was tied for the lead going into the final round in his attempt to become the only player other than Ben Hogan to win the Colonial and the Byron Nelson Championship in the same year. He closed with a 71 to tie for seventh.
Final round
Sabbatini got to 14 under when he made a 28-foot birdie at the 171-yard 13th, but there were plenty of other shots that almost went in during the final round.
At number nine for the second time on Sunday, Sabbatini’s 22-foot birdie attempt stopped just an inch short of going in. Out of a greenside bunker at the 611-yard 11th hole, he blasted his shot within six inches and had to settle for a tap-in birdie.
Sabbatini escaped trouble at number 17 when hit his approach shot out of the thick rough on to the green for a two-putt par. On the final hole of regulation, he had a 19-foot birdie putt that curled away from the hole at the last second.
Now he gets a much-needed break, staying home in nearby Southlake instead of going to play in the Memorial. He had withdrawn from that tournament even before winning the Colonial, his fifth straight week playing. His next event will be the United States Open — and another chance to go against Woods, whose only Colonial appearance came in 1997.
Furyk got his first top-10 finish since three consecutive tournaments before the end of February. He tied for 13th at the Masters, but hasn’t been better than 28th in any other tournament since, which allowed Phil Mickelson to leapfrog him in the world ranking after Mickelson won the Players Championship.
Langer, who had only one bogey in the 29 holes in regulation he played on Sunday, regained a share of the lead when he hit his approach at the 382-yard 17th hole within four feet for a birdie.
His drive to the right at number 18 then wound up in a tromped-down area of mud, though he got relief. His approach was still short of the green, but he saved par after his chip rolled within three feet of the cup.
Langer was trying to add the plaid jacket to the two green ones he won a long time ago. He hasn’t won on the PGA Tour since getting his second green jacket at Augusta in 1993, eight years after his first.
An eagle and three birdies in a late four-hole stretch at the end of his third round got him to the top of the leader board. ”I can’t remember all that,” he said. ”It’s a lot to go through.” — Sapa-AP