Mike Weir carded a final-round level-par 71 to hold off a spirited late
challenge from Shigeki Maruyama and defend his title at the Nissan Open in
California.
The Canadian left-hander had a seven-shot lead over Maruyama when he birdied
the third hole but the Japanese golfer chipped away before finally catching Weir
at 17 under with a birdie at the 166-yard 16th hole.
Both golfers parred the 17th, but Maruyama sent his drive on the 18th into the
right rough while Weir split the fairway.
Maruyama could not reach the green with his second shot, leaving the ball 10
yards short in the rough before chipping to the back of the green.
Weir pulled his second shot on to a hillside left of the pin but nearly holed
his 45-foot chip.
Maruyama missed his 12-foot par putt but Weir sank his for the 465,000 dollar top
prize.
"I hit a good chip at 18," said Weir, who had a 72-hole total of 17 under to
finish on 267.
"Maybe the rain actually helped a little bit. I was able to slide (the club)
a little further under the ball than maybe I would have."
It was the first win of the season for Weir, the reigning Masters champion.
"Right after Augusta, I played very well," he said. "I had three
third-place finishes in a row. I played OK but not great.
"So I was ready to start playing some better golf. I had been working with my
coach to figure things out a little."
Maruyama had predicted on Saturday that he would not be able to reach the 18th
green in the final round if the weather was cold and rainy and it came true.
"On the last hole, I was trying to hit the ball farther because it started
raining and I thought I wouldn't be able to reach the green," Maruyama
explained. "So I wasn't expecting to hit the ball that hard, but it happened
under pressure.
"That was the biggest mistake of the whole week."
Rain fell sporadically yesterday, slowing things down as players were allowed
to lift and clean their balls.
Australia's Stuart Appleby shot 66 to grab sole possession of third place at
14 under 260.
John Daly birdied the final two holes to cap a 67 and placed fourth for his
second straight top-10 finish.
Hank Kuehne finished a further stroke back.
Tiger Woods closed with a superb seven-under 64 for a share of seventh place
with Jay Williamson and JJ Henry.
The world number one has now posted three top-10 showings in as many events
this season.
Weir joined Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Mac Smith, Paul Harney and Corey Pavin
as the only repeat champions of this tournament, which began in 1926.
Collated final scores (USA unless stated, par 71):
267 Mike Weir (Can) 66 64 66 71
268 Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 64 66 71 67
270 Stuart Appleby (Aus) 70 64 70 66
271 John Daly 68 64 72 67
272 Hank Kuehne 65 72 68 67
273 Kirk Triplett 66 67 72 68
274 Jay Williamson 69 69 72 64, Tiger Woods 72 66 72 64, J J Henry 71 69 65
69
275 Tim Clark 72 69 64 70, Bob Tway 68 67 71 69, Briny Baird 69 62 73 71,
Loren Roberts 70 65 69 71, Jeff Maggert 67 66 69 73, 276 Brandt Jobe 72 69 66
69, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 70 67 71 68, Robert Allenby (Aus) 66 69 72 69, Brent
Geiberger 70 67 69 70, Corey Pavin 68 69 72 67
277 Tim Petrovic 68 68 74 67, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 71 65 72 69, Neal Lancaster
69 68 72 68, Scott McCarron 66 65 72 74
278 Shaun Micheel 64 70 73 71, Hidemichi Tanaka (Jpn) 72 68 71 67, Mathias
Gronberg (Swe) 68 69 71 70, Stephen Ames (Tri) 70 67 72 69, Russ Cochran 67 66
73 72, Joe Durant 71 65 72 70, Vijay Singh (Fij) 71 70 68 69, Carl Pettersson
(Swe) 68 69 68 73
279 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 71 65 74 69, Tim Herron 69 64 73 73, Stewart
Cink 69 67 70 73, Paul Stankowski 69 68 70 72, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 70 66 69 74,
Steve Elkington (Aus) 73 68 68 70, Fred Funk 71 66 71 71
280 Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 72 69 73 66, Chad Campbell 70 71 69 70, Kevin
Sutherland 69 69 71 71, Michael Allen (Irl) 71 66 70 73, Jay Haas 71 66 70 73
281 Joe Ogilvie 67 73 69 72, Paul Azinger 74 64 73 70, Lee Westwood (Gbr) 73
67 67 74, Chris DiMarco 70 67 72 72, Hal Sutton 72 68 71 70, Bo Van Pelt 68 73
69 71, Carlos Franco (Par) 69 72 70 70
282 Tom Carter 70 71 68 73, Billy Andrade 69 68 73 72, Tom Byrum 69 72 70 71,
Bernhard Langer (Den) 73 68 69 72, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 71 68 71 72
283 Rich Beem 73 67 71 72, Zach Johnson 71 68 77 67, Tom Lehman 70 70 72 71
284 Spike McRoy 71 69 71 73, Fred Couples 66 70 77 71, Woody Austin 67 69 71
77, Justin Rose (Gbr) 75 65 67 77, Frank Lickliter II 74 65 70 75, Ben Crane 73
67 73 71
285 Phillip Price (Gbr) 68 73 74 70, Kj Choi (Kor) 69 72 71 73
286 Steve Flesch 70 69 72 75, Luke Donald (Gbr) 69 71 74 72, Lee Janzen 70 66
76 74
287 Brenden Pappas (Rsa) 68 73 73 73, Jeff Brehaut 69 72 70 76, Thomas Bjorn
(Den) 69 71 73 74
288 Charles Howell III 70 71 75 72
289 Pat Perez 71 68 75 75, Jerry Kelly 71 69 76 73, Matt Gogel 70 70 72 77
290 John Riegger 68 71 73 78
295 Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 69 69 83 74
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