PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Steve Lowery had gone more than
seven years and 199 tournaments without winning, a drought that
would have continued Sunday at Pebble Beach if not for Vijay
Singh's stunning collapse.
Three shots behind when he stood on the 15th tee, Lowery made up
quick ground when Singh made three straight bogeys, then won on the
first hole of a sudden-death playoff with a 7-foot birdie. At 47,
he became the oldest winner in the 71-year history of the AT&T
Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
Lowery closed with a 4-under 68 and won for the third time in
his career, all of them in playoffs. Singh recovered from his three
bogeys with a wedge that stopped 2 feet away for birdie on the
final hole for a 71 to force the playoff at 10-under 278.
But the Fijian's troubles only got worse playing the famous 18th
hole at Pebble Beach a second time. His drive found a bunker to the
right, and his second shot clipped the top of the bunker, leaving
him 192 yards short of the green. A 4-iron for his third shot
plugged into the side of another bunker, and he did well to blast
out to 8 feet and make par. Lowery's birdie putt was good all the
way, an amazing victory for a variety of reasons, least of all
Singh's collapse.
Lowery was No. 305 in the world when he arrived on the Monterey
Peninsula. He finished 148th on the money list last year because of
a wrist injury, and was given eight tournaments to make $282,558 to
keep his card for the rest of the year.
That's no longer a problem. Lowery earned $1.08 million and a
two-year exemption.<
^Allianz Championship=
BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Scott Hoch won his second Champions Tour
title, birdieing five of the final eight holes for a 4-under 68 and
a one-stroke victory over Brad Bryant and Bruce Lietzke in the
Allianz Championship.
Hoch, an 11-time winner on the PGA Tour who also won the
Champions Tour's 2007 FedEx Kinko's Classic, finished at 14-under
202 on The Old Course at Broken Sound.
Bryant shot a 66, and Lietzke had a 68. Second-round leader
Jerry Pate had a 73 to drop into a tie for ninth at 10 under.<
^Indian Masters=
NEW DELHI -- Shiv Chowrasia, the 29-year-old son of a Royal
Calcutta Golf Club greenskeeper, won the Indian Masters for his
first European tour title, closing with a 5-under-67 for a
two-stroke victory over Ireland's Damien McGrane.
Chowrasia had a 9-under 279 total on the Delhi Golf Club course.
McGrane finished with a 70. Ernie Els shot a 71 to tie for sixth
at 3 under.<
^Australian Ladies Masters=
GOLD COAST, Australia -- England's Lisa Hall won the ANZ
Australian Ladies Masters when South Korea's Shin Hyun-ju missed a
3-foot par putt on the final hole.
Hall closed with a 6-under 66 for a 13-under 203 total in the
rain-shortened tournament at Royal Pines.
Shin (68) three-putted the 18th from about 45 feet for bogey,
missing her 3-footer to the left when it appeared both players were
heading for a playoff.
England's Felicity Johnson (65) and Sweden's Louise Stahle (67)
tied for third, two strokes back. Six-time winner Karrie Webb (70)
was another shot behind.