Chris Smith ended his PGA Tour drought at the Westchester Country Club,
winning his first career title at the Buick Classic.
In his 148th PGA start, Smith shot a one-under-par 70 in the final round to
finish at 12-under 272, two shots ahead of David Gossett, Pat Perez and Loren
Roberts.
Smith, who joined the tour in 1997, captured the first prize of £431,000.
His previous best finish was a tie for third at the 2001 BellSouth Classic but
he moved in front here with a 15-foot birdie putt on the 15th. He put himself in
position by hitting a long drive on the 462-yard hole.
"The last two or three years, I haven't felt like I chipped the ball as well
as I should," Smith said. "To hit shots when I needed them and to make putts
when I needed them is the missing piece to the puzzle that I've been looking for
for a long time."
Perez joined Smith at 11 under with a birdie at the 16th. But he immediately
fell back, three-putting for bogey on the 17th.
"I'm not really happy right now," Perez said. "I had horrible breaks all
day. There's no way I should have lost that tournament today."
Gossett, using his sister Joni as his caddie, was also in contention.
He reached 11 under with a birdie on the 14th, but the 23-year-old fell back
with bogeys on the next two holes. "I was a little disappointed with how many
bogeys I made," said Gossett, who shot even par.
Roberts, who has not won since the 2000 Greater Milwaukee Open, also shot even
after a round that included four birdies and four bogeys.
Afterwards, he felt like he let an opportunity slip away. "I don't want to
take anything away from Chris. He played great," Roberts said.
"He went out and won the golf tournament, but I really felt I let this one
get away from me, I really did."
Defending champion Sergio Garcia, who is expected to challenge at next week's
US Open, shot a 71 and finished at five-under.
Final-round scores from the Buick Classic, Westchester Country Club, Harrison, New York
(US unless stated, par 71)
272 Chris Smith 66 69 67 70
274 Pat Perez 67 70 67 70, David Gossett 66 67 70 71, Loren Roberts 64 68 71
71
275 Ian Leggatt 69 68 67 71, Stewart Cink 67 69 71 68
276 Jerry Kelly 65 70 70 71, Tom Lehman 68 72 68 68
278 Peter Lonard (Aus) 71 68 69 70, Stephen Ames (Tri) 70 71 66 71, Jim Furyk
68 69 74 67
279 Bryce Molder 71 66 71 71, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 68 70 70 71, Mike Weir (Can)
70 71 70 68, David Toms 70 68 68 73, Brad Faxon 69 71 70 69, Len Mattiace 69 70
72 68
280 Jose Coceres (Arg) 68 68 71 73, Kevin Sutherland 73 69 67 71, Hal Sutton
71 68 67 74, Phil Tataurangi (Nzl) 69 70 70 71, Woody Austin 69 69 74 68, Brent
Geiberger 68 75 69 68, Craig Parry (Aus) 67 75 69 69 281 Paul Gow (Aus) 68 73 68
72, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 67 72 70 72, Michael Muehr 65 76 68 72, Brian Gay 68 70
72 71, Mike Sposa 69 70 72 70, Fred Funk 69 73 71 68, Skip Kendall 70 72 70 69,
Phil Mickelson 69 70 71 71
282 KJ Choi (Kor) 72 67 73 70, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 69 73 71 69, Briny Baird 70
70 68 74, Cameron Beckman 73 65 73 71, Dudley Hart 73 65 74 70, Frank Nobilo
(Nzl) 69 70 74 69
283 Joey Sindelar 72 71 68 72, Duffy Waldorf 72 71 70 70, Jay Williamson 69 72
72 70, Fred Couples 68 72 70 73, Steve Elkington (Aus) 67 71 71 74, Ernie Els
(Rsa) 68 69 72 74, Shaun Micheel 69 68 73 73
284 Glen Hnatiuk (Can) 73 70 70 71, JJ Henry 71 68 70 75, Bo Van Pelt 70 71 71
72, Lee Janzen 73 69 70 72
285 John Rollins 67 75 72 71, Bob Tway 71 71 71 72, Richard Zokol (Can) 73 70
70 72, Jim Carter 67 72 73 73, Brandel Chamblee 70 71 73 71
286 Luke Donald (Gbr) 73 68 70 75, Brad Elder 68 74 71 73, Steve Flesch 73 70
71 72, Fulton Allem (Rsa) 71 69 70 76, Davis Love III 71 69 72 74
287 Jeff Gove 71 72 71 73, Kenneth Staton 74 67 73 73, Scott Hoch 70 69 74 74,
Corey Pavin 70 72 73 72 288 Jonathan Byrd 75 67 70 76, Paul Azinger 69 74 73 72,
David Frost (Rsa) 69 72 71 76, Neal Lancaster 69 70 73 76, Franklin Langham 71
71 74 72, Jeff Maggert 72 71 67 78, Brett Quigley 75 68 74 71
289 Brett Wetterich 72 68 73 76, Toshimitsu Izawa (Jpn) 72 70 74 73
290 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 73 70 70 77, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 74 68 72 76,
Mark Brooks 69 74 75 72, Robert Allenby (Aus) 67 75 75 73, Pat Bates 69 72 74
75, Billy Mayfair 70 71 72 77
292 Adam Scott (Aus) 72 71 77 72, Gary Nicklaus 71 70 77 74, Jay Haas 70 73 78
71, Jonathan Kaye 71 70 77 74
296 Danny Ellis 73 69 77 77
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook