Weir shows his delight (Getty Images).
By Mark Garrod, PA Sport Golf Correspondent, Los Angeles
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Canadian Mike Weir came from seven shots back to win his second US Tour title
in four weeks - and with it knocks Ernie Els off the top of the money
list.
The left-hander, who last season did not manage a single top-10 finish, beat
long-time leader Charles Howell at the second play-off hole of the Nissan Open
at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles.
Howell was two in front with seven to play, but bogeyed the 12th and 14th
while Weir was putting the finishing touches to his 66.
Then 23-year-old Howell missed from six feet at the second extra hole after
Weir had converted his nine-foot birdie attempt.
The pair had finished on the nine-under-par mark of 275, two ahead of
46-year-olds Fred Funk and Nick Price. Price was joint leader until he bogeyed
the 15th and 16th.
Tiger Woods, out of the hunt after a Saturday 73 that started with him driving
out of bounds, roared back in typical fashion with a 65 to move up from 28th to
fifth.
Darren Clarke's two closing 68s, after he made the halfway cut with nothing to
spare, brought him a share of 10th.
Woods, winner of last week's Buick Invitational after two months out
recovering from knee surgery, said: "My game felt a lot different today. It
helps, though, when you get off to a better start.
"I hit it better and made a lot of putts. You'll do all right when you put
those together.
"My goal was just to play a solid round to be positive going into next week -
and to climb into the top 10 for some more Ryder Cup points!"
This coming week is the Accenture World Match Play Championship down the
California coast at Carlsbad and Woods learnt he had yet another change of
opponent.
With Fijian Vijay Singh, the fourth seed, pulling out injured Swede Carl
Pettersson comes into the 64-man field.
Woods, originally set to face Robert Karlsson and then New Zealander Phil
Tataurangi when Nick Faldo withdrew on Friday with 'flu, said: "I spoke with
Carl in the locker room this week.
"He had a great Open last year (Pettersson led the first day, but fell back
to 43rd) and is a very good player. It should be a great match."
Last week Pettersson was runner-up to Woods in the Buick only three months
after coming through the US Tour qualifying school.
Pettersson got the news he was playing Woods as he finished with a 70 for two
over.
"I'm looking forward to it. I'm happy it's Tiger I'm playing - there will be
no pressure on me and it should be extremely exciting. A challenge.
"I'm playing pretty good. This week I just got off to a bad start. The last
three rounds were nearly as good as last week.
"I watched Tiger lose to Peter O'Malley in the first round last year.
Anything can happen in 18 holes match play."
Clarke, who now meets South African Tim Clark rather than Justin Rose in
Wednesday's first round (presuming there are no more withdrawals before Monday
night's draw), said: "I had three good days and one bad one.
"Overall I'm very pleased with the way things are going. I'm looking forward
to going back to La Costa."
He won the million-dollar first prize in 2000, beating Woods four and three in
the final to round off the best week of his career.
The Ulsterman has recently gone back to Woods' coach Butch Harmon and added:
"Butch will be there and hopefully I'll keep improving. I'm really on the right
lines and accepting my mistakes."
Collated final totals in the Nissan Open at Riviera Country Club, Los Angeles, (US unless stated, par 71):
275 Mike Weir (Can) 72 68 69 66, Charles Howell 69 65 68 73 (Weir won at
sudden death play-off hole)
277 Fred Funk 65 74 70 68, Nick Price (Zim) 68 67 70 72
278 Tiger Woods 72 68 73 65, KJ Choi 70 69 67 72
279 Fred Couples 74 68 69 68
280 Chad Campbell 73 70 66 71, Len Mattiace 69 67 71 73
281 Shaun Micheel 74 69 72 66, Darren Clarke (Gbr) 71 74 68 68, Dan Forsman 76
66 70 69, Marco Dawson 72 73 66 70, Duffy Waldorf 70 69 70 72, Bob Estes 69 71
68 73, Rich Beem 73 65 69 74
282 Niclas Fasth (Swe) 75 66 73 68, Brendan Pappas (Rsa) 74 67 72 69, Stephen
Ames (Tri) 70 69 72 71, Stewart Cink 73 67 69 73, Steve Elkington (Aus) 68 73 67
74, Brandt Jobe 74 67 67 74, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 75 68 65 74
283 Lee Janzen 70 71 72 70, Olin Browne 72 73 70 68, Hidemichi Tanaka (Jap) 72
68 72 71, Jeff Sluman 68 74 69 72
284 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 69 71 72 72, Brian Gay 71 74 67 72, Loren Roberts 72
70 70 72, Corey Pavin 72 68 70 74
285 Skip Kendall 71 71 72 71, Arron Oberholser 73 69 71 72, Jim Furyk 74 70 71
70, Pat Perez 74 69 68 74, Cameron Beckman 68 73 68 76
286 Kevin Sutherland 72 70 71 73, Steve Flesch 74 70 71 71, Phil Tataurangi
(Nzl) 72 70 74 70, Craig Parry (Aus) 76 66 74 70, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 77 68 71
70
287 Scott Verplank 75 70 69 73, Robert Allenby (Aus) 72 69 73 73, Steve
Stricker 72 69 74 72, David Duval 69 70 73 75, Jay Haas 73 69 74 71, Peter
Lonard (Aus) 75 69 73 70, Pat Bates 72 73 72 70
288 Jeff Brehaut 73 72 70 73, Davis Love 76 69 71 72
289 Chris Smith 74 69 70 76, Jerry Kelly 73 71 73 72, Scott Hoch 74 71 73 71,
Billy Mayfair 72 71 77 69
290 Glen Hnatiuk (Can) 69 74 72 75, Rocco Meduiate 73 72 70 75, Alex Cejka
(Ger) 73 71 73 73, Esteban Toledo (Mex) 75 70 73 72
291 David Berganio 75 69 71 76, Joe Acosta 71 72 73 75, Shigeki Maruyama (Jap)
74 70 72 75, Bernhard Langer (Ger) 72 72 73 74, John Cook 74 70 74 73, Paul
Stankowski 75 70 76 70
292 Greg Chalmers (Aus) 72 72 72 76, Jeff Maggert 72 73 72 75, David Gossett
75 70 74 73, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 74 71 75 72
293 Ben Crane 71 74 72 76, Tom Byrum 76 69 74 74
294 Craig Barlow 72 71 73 78
296 JJ Henry 72 73 73 78
297 Craig Stadler 76 69 76 76
298 Bob Burns 73 70 79 76
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