Faxon celebrates his win.
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England's Justin Rose had to settle for third place as Brad Faxon sank a short
birdie putt on the first play-off to defeat Tjaart van der Walt and win the
Buick Championship.
Rose, leading by one going into the final round, shot a one-under-par 69 to
finish on 13-under 267 but was overhauled by Faxon and van der Walt.
The 25-year-old birdied the seventh but then had three bogeys in five holes.
He battled back with three birdies in the next four holes but missed the
play-off by one shot.
Faxon, entering the final round seven shots behind Rose, made his charge by
carding the lowest round of his career, a nine-under-par 61 at the TPC at River
Highlands. He shot a 62 in the second round at Provident Classic back in 1986.
However, Faxon's huge round was not enough to win in regulation since van der
Walt birdied the 17th and 18th en route to a 64 to force a play-off after a tie
on 14-under 266 .
Back at the par-four 18th, Faxon hit his second shot from a fairway bunker
within three feet of the cup. Van der Walt answered by driving his second shot
off the flag to within about eight feet.
Van der Walt sent his birdie putt to the right of the hole and Faxon calmly
stepped up and sank his, giving the Rhode Island resident his first victory in
125 events dating to the 2001 Sony Open.
Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke had a double-bogey at the short eighth as a
71 slid him into a share of 31st place on four under
Lee Westwood also shot 71 and finished one under, one ahead of fellow
Englishman Brian Davis, who carded a final round 69.
On his slender lead going into the final round, Rose said: "One shot is
nothing really. That was my approach. I knew I had to go out there and play a
good round, make it mine.
"That's what I needed to do because guys are shooting 61 and 64 from behind
you, so I needed to keep moving forward. I was aware of that at the time."
Rose had a chance to forge a three-way play-off at the 18th but was unable to
convert a birdie putt from about 20 feet.
"I am disappointed, but at the 18th hole I gave the putt a chance. It just
sort of missed on the high side.
"It was one of the few putts I got to the hole all day. I would never forgive
myself if I left it short."
Collated final round scores & totals (USA unless stated, par 70):
266 Brad Faxon 69 71 65 61 (Won at the first playoff hole), Tjaart Van der Walt (Rsa) 68 66 68 64
267 Justin Rose (Eng) 65 63 70 69
268 Jerry Kelly 68 67 67 66, Michael Putnam 65 69 71 63, Ben Curtis 64 68 67
69
269 Kenny Perry 70 69 67 63
270 Corey Pavin 66 69 67 68
271 Woody Austin 69 68 65 69, Darron Stiles 71 69 63 68, Nick Watney 69 66 70
66
272 Vaughn Taylor 65 70 71 66, Glen Day 68 67 71 66, Jeff Brehaut 68 68 72 64,
Tom Gillis 67 68 71 66
273 Robert Allenby (Aus) 68 66 72 67, Kevin Sutherland 65 67 72 69, Steve
Allan (Aus) 70 68 68 67, Jeff Maggert 70 68 69 66
274 Joey Sindelar 75 62 72 65, Pat Perez 70 66 70 68, Frank Lickliter II 68 70
68 68, Spencer Levin 68 68 69 69, Bart Bryant 70 69 70 65
275 D.J. Trahan 71 68 67 69, John Rollins 74 66 69 66, Bo Van Pelt 67 71 71
66, Hidemichi Tanaka (Jpn) 66 70 74 65, Jeff Hart 71 67 68 69, Peter Lonard
(Aus) 68 71 68 68
276 Tim Petrovic 67 67 70 72, Spike McRoy 68 71 66 71, Darren Clarke (NIrl) 70
65 70 71, Joe Durant 66 73 69 68, J J Henry 67 67 73 69
277 Chris Smith 66 67 75 69, Tom Byrum 67 71 73 66, Paul Azinger 73 65 69 70,
Paul Gow (Aus) 69 70 69 69, Matt Kuchar 70 67 70 70, Dudley Hart 67 73 69 68
278 Patrick Sheehan 72 65 71 70, Jason Bohn 67 70 71 70, Hunter Haas 73 65 71
69, Marco Dawson 68 71 70 69, Mark Calcavecchia 70 69 72 67, Zach Johnson 72 63
72 71, Doug Barron 71 66 71 70, Cameron Beckman 68 69 72 69, Will MacKenzie 70
66 71 71
279 Michael Long (Nzl) 71 68 68 72, Dean Wilson 67 66 73 73, Lee Westwood
(Eng) 69 69 70 71
280 J.L. Lewis 64 74 73 69, Omar Uresti 69 70 71 70, Tim Herron 70 67 73 70,
Hunter Mahan 69 71 72 68, Brenden Pappas (Rsa) 69 69 71 71, Brian Davis (Eng) 71
67 73 69, Kevin Na (Kor) 70 70 75 65
281 Paul Claxton 68 71 72 70, Mario Tiziani 67 71 71 72
282 Brian Gay 71 66 73 72, Matt Gogel 73 66 73 70, Jeff Sluman 71 67 76 68
283 Franklin Langham 65 70 75 73, Len Mattiace 71 68 71 73, Neal Lancaster 71
69 70 73
284 Robert Gamez 69 70 71 74, John Huston 67 70 76 71
285 Joey Snyder III 69 71 69 76, D.A. Points 67 72 73 73
287 Steven Bowditch (Aus) 68 68 74 77, Jason Gore 74 65 76 72
288 Brian Watts (Can) 69 71 76 72
292 Dennis Paulson 68 69 74 81, DJ Brigman 73 67 78 74
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