Vijay Singh raised both hands over his head when he saw his 3 1/2 -foot par putt swirl into the cup for a one-shot victory, a familiar sight for someone who has won 32 times on the PGA Tour.
This was more relief than celebration at the Bridgestone Invitational. On the verge of throwing away a World Golf Championship, as Phil Mickelson had done ahead of him, Singh overcame some shaky putting Sunday on the back nine of Firestone by making the only one that mattered.
Three times in the last year he had at least a share of the 54-hole and failed to finish it off. Needing two putts from 30 feet to end an 0-for-34 drought on the PGA Tour, the last thing he wanted was the kind of putt that has given him fits.
But he trusted the countless hours of practice he spent last week on such a putt, and it paid off.
“What a relief,” Singh said. “I didn’t think I could finish it there at the end.”
With par putts on the final two holes, Singh closed with a 2-under 68 to hold off hard-charging Lee Westwood and Stuart Appleby and the fast-fading Mickelson, who lost a one-shot lead with three bogeys on his final four holes.
Singh captured his first World Golf Championship event and won for the 32nd time on the PGA Tour, putting him in the record books for most victories by an international player. He had been tied with Harry “Lighthorse” Cooper of England since winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March 2007, a victory that seemed like a lifetime ago.
“Although I was hadn’t won, I was confident I was going to win,” Singh said. “I told everybody that knows me that it’s just a matter of time, it’s going to come. This was a six-week run, and I was geared up to win. I’m glad that it happened the first week out.”
As shaky as Singh looked down the stretch, Mickelson fared even worse.
With his best chance to win a WGC title—especially with six-time Firestone champion Tiger Woods on the disabled list—Mickelson played bogey-free for 14 holes and had a one-shot lead until taking bogey from the bunker on three of the last four holes, and watching yet another birdie putt from 10 feet hang on the edge. He closed with a 70 and tied for fourth with Retief Goosen (67).
“It wasn’t a good finish for me, but I played really well today,” Mickelson said. “I’m turning 63s and 64s into 70s, and that’s kind of what happened today. I couldn’t get any putts to go in, then in the end, I made some bogeys.”
So did Singh.
According to tour statistics, Singh was 9-of-19 on putts from 4 to 8 feet during the tournament. But he kept his lead with a 4 1/2 -foot par putt on the 17th hole, setting up one more nerve-jangling putt that he didn’t want on the 18th.
“I said, ‘Just cozy it down there. If it goes in fine. Don’t leave yourself a 4-footer.’ And I left myself a 4-footer,” Singh said. “I’ve been practicing 4- and 5-footers all week last week, and at the end of the day it pays off.”
Why did he practice from that distance during his week off in Florida?
“Because I miss a lot of those,” Singh said.
Singh finished at 10-under 270 and earned $1.35 million for a victory expected to move him to No. 4 in the world.
Westwood, who could have moved up to No. 4 with his first U.S. title in 10 years, rallied from a five-shot deficit with 11 holes to play to get within one of the lead. But he missed a 7-foot birdie on the 17th, and his 15-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the 18th to tie for the lead was left all the way. He closed with a 69.
“I gave myself a real good look at it,” Westwood said.
An equally impressive rally belonged to Appleby, the only player to compete in all 29 of these WGC events since they began in 1999. He was seemingly out of the picture until a 30-foot birdie on the 16th, a 3-foot birdie on the 17th and an 18-foot birdie attempt on the final hole that just stayed right of the cup. He shot 68.
“I had a putt for what I thought would get me into a playoff,” Appleby said. “I hit the best putt I could have hit without it going in.”
Darren Clarke made a strong showing in his first U.S. tournament since the PGA Championship last year. Clarke closed with a 67 to tie for sixth with Peter Lonard (66).
Singh broke out of a three-way tie with Westwood and Mickelson by making four birdies in a five-hole stretch on the front nine, starting with a two-putt birdie from about 18 feet on the second hole, concluding with an approach to tap-in range on the sixth.
But the first sign of a struggle came on No. 8 when he missed an 8-foot par putt.
Mickelson hit from the left rough to inches of the hole on the 11th for a birdie. That gave him the lead when Singh, playing in the group behind him, spun a wedge back 40 feet and three-putted from the fringe.
“I started missing 5- and 6-footers,” Singh said. “I tried to hit it as close as possible so I didn’t leave myself any putts.”
It was a grind the rest of the day. Singh badly missed an 8-footer for par on the 13th, and with a chance to seize control on the 16th, his 4-foot birdie putt missed on the low side.
But he came through on the final two holes for a victory long overdue. Next up is the PGA Championship, followed by the PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedEx Cup and the $10 million prize.
“It puts me in a really good frame of mind going into next week and the rest of the season,” he said.
Bridgestone Invitational
270 Vijay Singh (Fij) 67 66 69 68
271 Lee Westwood (Eng) 70 65 67 69, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 70 66 67 68
272 Phil Mickelson 68 66 68 70, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 66 71 68 67
273 Darren Clarke (NIrl) 70 71 65 67, Peter Lonard (Aus) 69 66 72 66
274 Paul Casey (Eng) 70 71 68 65, D.J. Trahan 69 67 70 68
275 Hunter Mahan 71 66 70 68, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 70 66 70 69
276 Sean O'Hair 68 67 73 68, Chris DiMarco 68 70 68 70
277 Daniel Chopra (Swe) 67 74 66 70, Chad Campbell 68 71 68 70
278 Zach Johnson 67 68 72 71, KJ Choi (Kor) 73 67 70 68, Ian Poulter (Eng) 70 68 69 71, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 73 70 68 67
279 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 71 67 71 70, Justin Leonard 68 70 70 71, Robert Allenby (Aus) 71 70 70 68, Steve Lowery 75 67 70 67, Tim Clark (Rsa) 67 71 71 70, Scott Verplank 71 70 70 68, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 69 75 68 67
280 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 69 67 70 74, Vaughn Taylor 72 67 69 72, Oliver Wilson (Eng) 71 69 72 68, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 70 68 71 71, Charles Howell III 68 70 70 72, Justin Rose (Eng) 71 70 68 71, Jim Furyk 68 69 71 72, Ernie Els (Rsa) 69 74 69 68, Paul McGinley (Irl) 70 67 72 71
281 J.B. Holmes 69 68 72 72, Anthony Kim 71 72 70 68, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 75 64 68 74, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 69 72 68 72, Richard Finch (Eng) 69 75 70 67, Brendan Jones (Aus) 69 73 69 70, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 72 73 68 68
282 Steve Stricker 68 69 75 70, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 79 69 66 68, Richard Green (Aus) 72 73 70 67, Stewart Cink 68 68 74 72, Brandt Snedeker 68 76 69 69
283 Hidemasa Hoshino (Jpn) 75 73 65 70, Steve Flesch 70 70 73 70, David Toms 72 72 70 69, Stephen Ames (Can) 69 71 71 72
284 Niclas Fasth (Swe) 71 71 72 70, Woody Austin 71 70 72 71, Rocco Mediate 68 73 71 72, Chez Reavie 68 74 70 72
285 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 69 71 75 70, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 71 71 70 73, Ross Fisher (Eng) 69 73 70 73, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 70 71 73 71, Adam Scott (Aus) 69 76 72 68
286 Steve Webster (Eng) 68 72 72 74, Nick Dougherty (Eng) 72 76 69 69
287 Lucas Glover 70 75 72 70, Andres Romero (Arg) 73 71 73 70, Scott Strange (Aus) 68 74 73 72
288 Kenny Perry 74 69 73 72, Boo Weekley 72 73 71 72
289 Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 70 73 73 73, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 71 67 79 72, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 72 79 68 70
290 Brett Rumford (Aus) 75 70 76 69, Johnson Wagner 70 74 75 71
292 J J Henry 69 73 73 77, David Howell (Eng) 70 75 70 77, Soren Hansen (Den) 75 73 70 74
294 Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 72 75 71 76
295 Colin Montgomerie (Sco) 72 71 76 76
296 James Kingston (Rsa) 73 72 71 80
297 Craig Parry (Aus) 70 75 75 77
301 Mark Brown 80 75 76 70
