Vijay Singh withstood a mid-round challenge from Tiger Woods to win the Deutsche Bank Open and take over the number one ranking in the world.
With his tour-leading sixth victory of the year, Singh ended Woods' reign of 264 consecutive weeks as the world's top-ranked player.
"Thank you. You guys look so sad," Singh said with a laugh after being congratulated for winning and taking over the number one ranking.
"No, it is great. I have worked pretty hard for this. I finally achieved what I wanted to do starting at the beginning of the year. It was a good win, as well. Coming down the stretch got pretty tight there, but I got focused and I played pretty good coming down."
After the round ended, Woods took off his cap, congratulated the winner and Singh acknowledged the crowd by raising his fist in the air.
In the final round, Singh and Woods each shot three-under-par 69s. Singh finished at 16-under 268 overall, three shots in front of Woods and Adam Scott.
Singh, who needed to finish ahead of Woods to take over the top ranking, was paired with Woods in the final round of an event for the fourth time.
"It (being number one) probably has not sunk in yet. It was a goal from the beginning of the year. But like I said to you guys, that was not my goal coming over here. My goal was to come over here and win the golf tournament. This is
the Deutsche Bank event, and that was my goal, to win the title.
"I enjoy playing with Tiger. It is intense. He is a very intense player and he makes you know that. So you just have to go out there and play your own game and beat him and that is the only way to play."
In the three previous head-to-head showdowns, Woods finished ahead of Singh each time.
"This is the best ball-striking week I have had all year, and unfortunately I did not win because I did not play the par-fives well at all in the final round," Woods said.
"I missed that putt there on 14, which turned the momentum around because I had it on my side."
Singh wrapped up the victory with a 23-foot birdie on the 17th while Woods missed his 15-foot birdie putt to fall three shots back.
The latest win for Singh also pushed his earnings on the year to £4,485,913.
Singh, who started the day with a three-stroke advantage, went four up with a birdie on the first, but Woods chipped away and drew even with Singh when he holed out from 63 feet for birdie at the 12th and Singh bogeyed the 13th.
"My main goal was to go out there and win the tournament," he said.
"But it got pretty tight. I think the 10th hole, I was still one up or two up. He played well and made that great chip-in on number 12 and I bogeyed number 13."
"That is why there is 18 holes. It is not just a nine-hole event. I was playing well. I think that putt on 14 kind of really pumped me up a bit and then I birdied 15."
But Woods bogeyed the next hole and Singh birdied 15 to go 14 under and regain a two-shot lead.
"I had a great opportunity to win," Woods said.
"I got it to even with five holes to go, and I just did not do it."
Meanwhile, the 24-year-old Scott, playing two groups ahead of Woods and Singh, carded four straight birdies from the ninth to move to 12 under and tie Woods.
Scott birdied the par-five 18th to go three-under and was being interviewed as Woods birdied 18.
"Yeah, it was a good run," Scott said. "And maybe if I could keep that going for a few more holes, I would have had more of a realistic chance. I just played a beautiful back nine. I hit every green, and every putt I hit had a
chance. So a couple of them, I am a little shocked they did not go in."
In a battle of two of the longest hitters on tour, Singh outfought Woods with birdies on 10 of the 12 par-fives over the weekend. Woods had seven birdies.
"Unfortunately I just did not take care of the par-fives and you can't do that around this golf course," Woods said.
"The par-fives are to be had and I did not do it."
On the 553-yard second hole, Woods hit his drive 359 yards into the rocks and injured his wrist and damaged his lob wedge when he hit a rock trying to get out and the ball went four feet. He replaced the wedge and used the new one to hole out on 12.
"I broke the sand wedge, and my wrist hurt all day," Woods said.
John Rollins and Daniel Chopra tied for fourth at 10 under.
Collated final scores (USA unless stated, par 71):
268 Vijay Singh (Fij) 68 63 68 69
271 Tiger Woods 65 68 69 69, Adam Scott (Aus) 69 67 70 65
274 John Rollins 67 66 75 66, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 68 69 70 67
275 Hank Kuehne 68 68 71 68, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 68 66 71 70
276 Jay Williamson 68 68 70 70
277 Brad Faxon 72 69 68 68, Charles Howell III 67 68 76 66, Bill Haas 69 64 71
73
278 Camilo Villegas (Col) 69 68 72 69
279 David Toms 69 71 73 66, Dennis Paulson 69 70 71 69, David Duval 72 70 70
67, Zach Johnson 68 72 71 68
280 Richard S Johnson (Swe) 70 69 73 68, Ryan Palmer 65 69 74 72, Matt Kuchar
69 73 70 68, Dan Forsman 68 72 69 71, Deane Pappas (Rsa) 67 70 72 71
281 Tim Petrovic 70 68 71 72, Skip Kendall 69 69 71 72, Neal Lancaster 72 69
70 70
282 Hunter Mahan 72 69 71 70, David Peoples 73 66 73 70, Frank Lickliter II 68
67 76 71, Todd Fischer 72 67 73 70
283 Jonathan Byrd 66 71 72 74, Brent Geiberger 72 70 70 71, Dean Wilson 71 71
68 73, Justin Rose (Eng) 72 70 74 67, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 70 71 73 69, Aaron
Baddeley (Aus) 68 70 74 71
284 Jim Furyk 69 70 77 68, Jeff Brehaut 71 68 78 67
285 John Daly 71 70 73 71, Ken Green 72 68 74 71, Jason Dufner 71 69 75 70,
Mike Heinen 72 70 74 69, Mark Hensby (Aus) 69 70 73 73, Kent Jones 71 68 74 72,
Hidemichi Tanaka (Jpn) 70 72 72 71, Arron Oberholser 70 69 71 75, Lee Janzen 70
69 74 72, Jeff Sluman 70 68 77 70, J J Henry 70 71 75 69
287 Tim Clark 70 67 75 75, Robert Gamez 71 71 74 71, Jason Bohn 72 70 73 72,
Steve Pate 71 71 72 73, Craig Perks (Nzl) 67 71 74 75, Cameron Beckman 66 71 76
74, John Senden (Aus) 71 69 79 68
288 Joey Sindelar 72 69 74 73, Dan Briggs 68 73 73 74, Billy Mayfair 67 72 77
72, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 71 70 74 73
289 Mark Wilson 73 68 73 75, Robert Damron 69 72 71 77, Michael Allen (Irl) 72
69 77 71
290 Ben Crane 69 72 75 74, Briny Baird 72 69 76 73, Danny Ellis 72 68 74 76
291 Bob Burns 71 66 77 77, Harrison Frazar 70 71 74 76
293 Pat Bates 70 72 78 73
294 Brian Kortan 72 70 74 78
295 Guy Boros 72 70 74 79
298 Mark O'Meara 66 74 82 76
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