Final Round: Vijay cruises to win, huge Playoff lead
NORTON, Mass. (AP) -- Vijay Singh made three long birdie putts and closed with an 8-under 63 to win the Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday for his second straight victory in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. That gave him such a big lead that he could win the $10 million prize without even showing up at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.
Attribute this to the power of positive thinking.
Singh, who has long struggled with the putter, convinced himself last week that he was the best putter in golf when he won The Barclays in a three-man playoff.
He made a few more believers on Labor Day at the TPC Boston.
Singh rolled in a 35-foot birdie putt on the 13th hole to stretch his lead to three shots, then raised the belly putter like a trophy when he holed a 60-foot birdie putt on the next hole. He capped off his amazing run with a 35-foot birdie on the 17th hole.
Any doubters?
"It's nice to see them going in," Singh said. "When they start going in, they believe it."
Weir, who had a one-shot lead until a double bogey on the ninth hole, simply couldn't keep up. He closed with a 71 to finish five shots behind, dropping his record to 1-9 on the PGA TOUR when he has at least a share of the 54-hole lead.
Singh finished at 22-under 262 to break the tournament record by two shots in the six years of this event. It was his third victory in the past five weeks, after going through his longest drought in six years, and it should be enough to move him up to No. 3 in the world ranking.
"He played amazing. It was awesome," said Sergio Garcia, who was paired with Singh and closed with a 72. "I don't think you guys are going to realize how good that was, because you're aren't playing and you don't know how tough the course was playing. When Vijay plays like that, it's hard to beat him.
"It's like when Tiger plays well," he said. "You want to beat him, but it's good to watch. You're watching history."
The victory meant that after more than two months with Tiger Woods sidelined by season-ending knee surgery, someone finally toppled him on the PGA TOUR money list. Singh, who collected his 34th career victory, moved to No. 1 on the list with $1.26 million in earnings.
Singh has 120,500 points, giving him a 12,225-point lead over Garcia, who tied for fifth. That means Singh is assured of having the lead going into THE TOUR Championship, and another top finish might be enough to wrap up the title if none of the guys immediately behind him win in St. Louis next week.
"I'm going to go out and play really hard," Singh said. "If I have another win, it will be icing on the cake. But I don't take anything for granted."
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The Deutsche Bank Championship was like a Vijay Singh highlight-reel. Along with the win, he takes shot of the day honors for the 61-foot putt he knocked in for birdie at the 14th hole to grab what was a five-shot lead at the time.
Vijay Singh's 8-under 63. It was the best score of the day by two shots, as Singh ran away for his second win in as many weeks and an overwhelming lead in the Playoffs.
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The par-5, 528-yard 18th was the easiest with a Monday scoring average of 4.500.
The par-4, 451-yard 13th was toughest with a Monday scoring average of 4.333.| QUOTE OF THE DAY | ||||
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AFTER VICTORY, SINGH AIMING TO CLINCH FEDEXCUP
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
NORTON, Mass. -- Sergio Garcia was glad he got to watch it, and that's high praise from someone who was trying his best to beat Vijay Singh on Sunday.
And for the second straight week, at that.
Eight days after he prevailed over the Spaniard in a three-man playoff, Singh was nothing short of dominant on Labor Day at the TPC Boston in winning the Deutsche Bank Championship by an impressive five strokes.
"He's a good friend of mine, so it's like when Tiger is playing well," said Garcia, who played with Singh and tied for fifth. "You want to beat him, but you've got to give it up to him. It's awesome to watch.
"You're watching history, and to have the chance of playing and battling it out with these kind of guys, it's great."
Singh shot a 63, his best round of the week and the day's best, as well, to move to 22 under and overtake third-round leader Mike Weir in the second event of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. That round of 8 under was even more impressive considering TPC Boston was averaging nearly two strokes over par on Sunday.
"One guy came out and kicked our butts, that's for sure," said Camilo Villegas, who tied for third. "Congrats to Vijay. He played unbelievable today."
His second Playoff victory in as many events gave Singh a commanding lead of 12,225 points over Garcia in the competition for the $10 million bonus. Only Garcia, Weir at No. 3 and the man who wins this week's BMW Championship now have a mathematical chance to beat Singh.
Garcia, who has top-five finishes in his last three starts, needs to continue to play well in St. Louis. But he could still be in contention to win the FedExCup at the season-ending TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola even without a victory at Bellerive.
On the other hand, Weir, who trails Singh by 13,535 points will need to finish among the top two in St. Louis to have a chance in the finale at East Lake. The rest of the 70 players who advanced to the BMW Championship will need at least two wins.
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| At the 2007 Deutsche Bank Championship, only two players were able to advance in the PGA TOURs Playoffs for the FedExCup from Nos. 71-120 into the following weeks BMW Championship: John Mallinger and Bo Van Pelt. In 2008, 10 players were able to move from outside the top 70 and into next weeks BMW Championship. The list includes: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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WAITING GAME CONTINUES FOR RYDER CUP HOPEFULS
By T.J. Auclair, PGATOUR.COM Interactive Producer
NORTON, Mass. -- It seems the only thing that the U.S. Ryder Cup captain's pick hopefuls have in common is, well, none of them really know what's going on.
None of them have been in touch with Captain Paul Azinger and aren't sure what to expect when he announces his four wild-card picks at a news conference in New York City on Tuesday morning.
"I haven't heard from Paul at all and I don't know what he's thinking," said Steve Stricker, who fell out of the top eight and an automatic berth at the PGA Championship and, at No. 9 in the standings, now has to rely on Azinger for the nod. "I've just done what I could to just try to play and do the best I can, and hopefully I get a call tonight or early tomorrow morning. I guess we'll just have to wait and see."
"I haven't spoken to Paul," Woody Austin, the No. 10 ranked player, said. "I've left it up to him. The goal that I set all along was that I wanted to make the team. I didn't officially make the team based on the eight guys that are in, so from there on it's his choice. I'm not going to lobby to change his mind. His mind is made up based on the way he wants the team and he'll set it up accordingly."
"I don't know what they're [Azinger and his assistants] thinking," said Hunter Mahan, who is 12th in the standings. "They haven't been out. I haven't seen them, I haven't heard from them, I guess they're just trying to keep it under wraps, I think. I don't think anybody has a clue."
Luckily, the suspense won't last much longer.
The decision won't be easy, though. None of the players who finished ranked 9-17, respectively -- Stricker, Austin, D.J. Trahan, Hunter Mahan, Sean O'Hair, Rocco Mediate, Brandt Snedeker, Zach Johnson, or J.B. Holmes -- has done anything spectacular in recent weeks to suggest a definitive lock.
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| 2 | The number of PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup out of six, won by Singh, which ties him for the lead with Tiger Woods who won the BMW Championship and THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola in 2007 |
| T13 | As in tied for 13th -- Singh's new position, which he now shares with Phil Mickelson, on the PGA TOUR's career wins list. |
| 34 | The number of PGA TOUR wins by Vijay Singh after Monday's victory at the Deutsche Bank Championship |
STATS AND FACTS: SEPT. 1, 2008
Compiled by Elias Sports Bureau, Inc.
• Vijay Singh's win at the Deutsche Bank Championship has helped widen his lead as the most dominant player over 40 years old in PGA history. With today's victory, Vijay has 22 wins since turning 40. Sam Snead is second on this list with 18 PGA wins. Kenny Perry, who is fifth on this list with 9 victories, is second among active players.
• Singh made a birdie putt of 60 feet, one inch, on the 14th hole in the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship. This is the fourth-longest putt of his career in the SHOTLINK era. His longest putt in this era occurred when he sank an 82-foot, 10-inch putt on the 15th hole in the 3rd round at the 2002 Tour Championship. Vijay's putt today was his longest in a final round of a tournament in the SHOTLINK era.
• Singh's putting was spectacular in the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship as he sank three putts of 35 feet or longer. He became the 10th player in the SHOTLINK era to sink three 35+ foot putts in a round. Steve Wheatcroft was the last player to do so in the first round of the 2007 Ginn sur Mer Classic.
• With the victory at this year's Deutsche Bank Championship Singh has now had the lead in 111 rounds in official PGA TOUR events. Vijay has led 21 first rounds, 23 second rounds, 32 third rounds and has now won 34 events on TOUR. This puts Vijay into a tie with Gene Littler for 6th place in rounds led on the PGA TOUR since World War II. Jack Nicklaus leads that list with 217 rounds led; Tiger Woods is in third with 169.
• Singh's win at the Deutsche Bank Championship was due, for the most part, to his play on the par-5's. He shot 12-under par on the twelve par-5 holes in the tournament. This is a career best at the Deutsche Bank Championship and only one stroke shy of Adam Scott's 13-under par on the par-5's in 2003. Like Vijay, Adam Scott also emerged victorious.
• Singh's win at The Deutsche Bank Championship ties the lowest final round in a tournament that Vijay won. The last time Vijay shot a final-round 63 in a tournament that he won was the 2004 HP Classic of New Orleans.
• Tim Herron began the Deutsche Bank Championship needing to move up in FedEXCup standings if he had hopes of playing next week. He began the tournament with a first-round 72 and tied for 93rd place; hopes were fading for capturing the $10 million prize. Herron was able to rebound by shooting successive rounds of 67 and then a final round of 65 to move into fifth place. The passing of 88 players from the first round to the final round is the second largest comeback of Herron's career. The largest comeback was 89 players passed when Herron began the 1999 British Open Championship in a tie for 119th and finished in a tie for 30th.
INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK
XM Radio announcer Brian Katrek offers these observations from Monday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.
On the eve of the United States Ryder Cup team Captain's Picks, no American players are saying (or at least admitting) that they have talked to captain Paul Azinger recently.
The final four picks will have a lot to do with final-round performance at the Deutsche Bank Championship. I think we might see some real surprises as Captain's Picks. Paul Azinger has that in him. Here are my predictions:
1. Steve Stricker. He has played well despite driver problems. Match-play comes down to chipping and putting, and no one has chipped and putted better than Stricker this year.
2. Woody Austin. Everyone wants to win. Woody seems to want to win more than most. A tremendous team player.
3. Heath Slocum. A multiple winner on the PGATOUR in his career. Teamed with Boo Weekley to finish second in the World Cup this past year. He made 16 cuts in a row earlier this year, and might be needed to make sure Boo shows up in the right town.
4. Sarah Palin. Would it surprise you to hear that she was picked for this too? It has been a big week for her. Let the press that has covered Michelle Wie pen some golf accolades for Palin, and she might have two or three majors by the time the Ryder Cup rolls around.
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