The young aspirants on the PGA Tour just
can't shake off the old-stagers.
The 39-year-old Fijian Vijay Singh recovered from a two-shot deficit at the
start of his round to win by three on Sunday at the Phoenix Open.
He collected a meaty £440,000 winners' cheque as his reward - and Harrison
Frazar, seeking his first career title, suffered a miserable final day as he
fell from the overnight lead to tie for third.
Singh carded an eight-under-par 63 to overcome a two-stroke deficit and romp
past 31-year-old Frazar and several others on the TPC of Scottsdale.
After moving within striking distance on Saturday, Singh's final round was the
best of the day at the TPC of Scottsdale.
He reached the turn in a miserly 29 to pull away from a three-way tie and
overtake three golfers, including Frazar.
"I wanted to start good," said Singh
"I wanted to start with the birdies, which I did, and I think the key to my
good play today was the front nine."
Frazar was well aware of golf being a four-day game, after losing final-day
leads on two prior occasions, but he had no answer to Singh's heroics.
The former Masters and PGA champion won for the fifth time when trailing after
three rounds, getting off to a sensational starts with five birdies in his first
six holes and nine overall. A lone bogey at the 12th hardly derailed his charge
to victory.
"Since November, (I've) been working a lot on my short putts, and I just
never got the same feel like I do on the practice green as I do on the golf
course," said Singh, the world number seven.
"Today just felt like I was on a little pointed end, just started rolling the
ball a little better and (it) started going in."
Singh matched Mark Calcavecchia (1992) for the best final round of any Phoenix
Open winner.
He compiled a 23-under aggregate of 261 for his 12th career tour win.
Singh also won this event in 1995 and finished tied for eighth last year.
Frazar began the tournament with a 62 and held or shared the lead after each
of the first three rounds.
But a 69 on the final day was not what he wanted, having admitted on Sunday
that he would need to shoot in the region of 65 to stay in front.
John Huston shot a 67 to finish alone in second at 20-under 264.
He was full of praise for the champion.
"(Vijay) has a great short game, and when he putts well, I think he's awfully
hard to beat," said Huston.
"I'm sure he played better than I did this week."
Ernie Els was not entered after winning the first two events of the year in
Hawaii.
However, Singh has framed those wins with two of his own, having also captured
the season-ending Tour Championship.
"I kind of forgot about last year," Singh said.
"He's already one up on me this year, but we've got a long season, and I
haven't thought about it.
"I'm not thinking about Ernie when I'm playing golf here."
Singh climbed to second on the season's money list behind Els and boosted his
career earnings to almost £11.8million.
"I think the lead in the beginning of the round kind of kept me going," he
explained.
The 31-year-old Frazar was finished at that point.
His nondescript round included a bogey at the 17th hole which cost him a share
of second place.
He did not meet with reporters afterwards.
Singh admitted it had been a win for the old guard.
"They're younger, but that doesn't mean they're better players," he said.
"There are a lot of them, but we are still playing pretty good golf."
Huston, older than Singh at 41, strung together three birdies to move within a
shot of the lead.
But he had to settle for par after hitting the pin at the par-three 16th and
bogeyed the 17th.
"That kind of sealed any chance I had of winning, but I'm happy with the way
I putted and everything," said Huston.
"I needed to hit it a little better."
Frazar tied for third with a resurgent Robert Gamez (66), Tim Petrovic (68)
and 2001 US Open champion Retief Goosen of South Africa (67).
Alex Cejka of Germany shot a 64 and tied for seventh with Joe Durant at
18-under 266.
It was Cejka's first top-10 finish as a member of the PGA Tour.
World number three Phil Mickelson, who skipped the Hawaii events for a family
vacation, also finished with a 64 and tied with Canadian Mike Weir for ninth at
267.
Collated scores & totals after fourth and final round of Phoenix Open (Par 71, USA unless stated)
261 Vijay Singh (Fij) 67 66 65 63
264 John Huston 64 67 66 67
265 Tim Petrovic 66 63 68 68, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 65 68 65 67, Harrison Frazar
62 67 67 69, Robert Gamez 70 65 64 66
266 Alexander Cejka (Ger) 67 65 70 64, Joe Durant 69 65 66 66
267 Mike Weir (Can) 70 66 65 66, Phil Mickelson 69 67 67 64
268 John Rollins 65 66 70 67, David Toms 64 72 63 69, Scott McCarron 66 65 68
69
269 Chad Campbell 67 65 68 69, Kirk Triplett 66 69 63 71, Chris DiMarco 69 69
62 69, Dan Forsman 66 69 67 67
270 Charles Howell III 66 69 68 67, Matt Gogel 68 66 67 69, Luke Donald (Eng)
65 66 70 69, Rory Sabbatini 69 66 67 68, Steve Stricker 69 62 68 71, Jesper
Parnevik (Swe) 68 68 66 68
271 Cameron Beckman 69 64 69 69, Olin Browne 67 68 66 70, Jay Haas 69 65 67
70, Justin Leonard 69 69 64 69
272 Hidemichi Tanaka (Jpn) 70 66 65 71, Stephen Ames (Tri) 70 68 67 67, Rocco
Mediate 69 67 67 69, Tom Pernice Jr 69 67 71 65
273 James McLean 65 72 68 68, Scott Verplank 69 66 70 68, Jim Carter 69 65 68
71, Brandel Chamblee 69 65 69 70, Carl Paulson 68 66 70 69
274 JJ Henry 65 67 72 70, Carlos Franco 70 67 68 69, Pat Bates 68 70 70 66,
Fred Funk 68 69 69 68, Lee Janzen 69 69 69 67, Spike McRoy 68 70 67 69
275 Rodney Pampling (Rsa) 68 65 69 73, Woody Austin 70 66 69 70, Paul Azinger
68 69 69 69, Steve Elkington (Aus) 66 70 70 69, Tom Lehman 67 70 70 68, David
Peoples 69 69 68 69
276 Gene Sauers 68 69 66 73, Mark Calcavecchia 70 64 66 76, Fulton Allem (Rsa)
68 69 71 68, Robert Allenby (Aus) 67 71 69 69, Per Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 71 67
67 71, Skip Kendall 69 69 72 66, Patrick Moore 68 68 73 67
277 Peter Lonard (Aus) 69 65 74 69, Tim Herron 70 66 66 75
278 Mark Hensby 70 67 70 71, Paul Stankowski 69 68 72 69, Shaun Micheel 66 67
71 74
279 Sergio Garcia 69 67 70 73 (Spa), Chris Smith 67 70 71 71, Jonathan Kaye 72
64 75 68, Billy Mayfair 69 68 71 71
281 Craig Barlow 69 69 74 69, Jay Williamson 68 70 71 72, Jose Maria Olazabal
(Spa) 67 71 74 69
283 Aaron Oberholser 72 66 69 76, Notah Begay III 69 69 70 75, Dudley Hart 70
68 70 75, Andrew Magee 73 65 73 72
293 Bill Glasson 71 67 76 79
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