Furyk wins dramatic Wachovia play-off
Tournament: Wachovia Championship
Venue: Quail Hollow, Charlotte, North Carolina
Winner Jim Furyk
Jim Furyk, the man expected to be Tiger Woods’ partner in September’s Ryder Cup, is up to third in the American points standings after winning the Wachovia Championship in Charlotte on Sunday.
Furyk, beaten by Vijay Singh at the fourth hole of a play-off last year, beat South African young gun Trevor Immelman at the first extra hole of a sudden death play-off on his return to the event this year.
Leading by a shot, Immelman calmly found the green at the 478-yard 18th and, with Furyk in the rough, looked set to claim his first US title.
But the Cape Town golfer, a winner in Europe and two-time South African Open champion who had putted solidly all day, inexplicably three-putted the final hole, albeit on an notoriously difficult green from a long way out, sending his first attempt 10 feet past the hole and then missing the return.
This left Furyk with an eight-footer to force the play-off and the phlegmatic former US Open Champion made no mistake.
So, tied at 12-under-par 276, the duo returned to the 18th tee, this after Retief Goosen, the third member of the group, who had been in sole second place on 10 under, had imploded at the final hole.
The two-time US Open champion found water no fewer than three times for a quintuple bogey nine that dropped him from third to joint 10th and cost him £140,000.
Australian Adam Scott finished third instead.
When they teed-off in the play-off, Immelman drove into the right-hand rough and Furyk into a bunker on the toughest hole on the course.
Furyk was short of the green in two, but Immelman was a few feet away in three and after missing with his chip attempt, Furyk was left with a tricky little putt from five feet for victory.
The lanky American known for his unique, looping swing, felt his winning putt was a difficult one but was so confident it would go in, he pumped his fist in celebration as soon as he struck it.
“I was stumped by the putt,” Furyk admitted. “I thought there was an argument it could have gone right or left.
“I’ve been accused of pumping too early, but that one was going in the middle.”
After collecting his cheque for more than a million Dollars, Furyk added:”It’s nice to come out and get it done this time,”
“But I’ve seen enough of the 18th hole now.”
He has had to play it five times on the final day the last two years – and had not won a play-off in his last six.
Immelman tried to look on the bright side after blowing his winning chances on the final green and then losing his first play-off.
“It was a tough putt,” he said. “In the back of my mind I knew if I was going to get picky I’d like to have an uphill putt coming back. I just hit it too hard.
“I think I misread the second one. It came straight left off the putter face and kept going left and never really had a chance.
“Obviously I’m disappointed, but I think I made a big step in my career today.”
Furyk jumped to second on this year’s US money list, while Immelman improved to 29th.
This is Immelman’s first full season in America, a two-year tour exemption coming with the wild card given to him by Gary Player for last season’s Presidents Cup.
It was there that Furyk teamed up successfully with Woods – and it will be a shock if Tom Lehman does not put them back together at the K Club near Dublin.
Justin Rose missed a chance to improve his hopes of being part of Ian Woosnam’s side when he crashed to a closing 80 – his worst round since the 81 he shot when leading the Masters at Augusta two years ago.
Rose had risen to eighth place with birdies at the second and third but finished only 47th.
Sergio Garcia remains third in the European standings after another disappointing weekend. The Spaniard has still to break par in the final round in the States this season, and a 73-75 finish this time left him only 38th – along with defending champion Vijay Singh, who signed for an 81 after running up a triple-bogey seven at the last.
In the miserably wet conditions, eight players failed to break 80 – and the only man to beat 70 was 2004 winner Joey Sindelar.
Leading European in a tie for 14th was Swede Jesper Parnevik.
ALL THE FINAL ROUND SCORES
276 Jim Furyk* 68 69 68 71 (*Won at first extra hole)
276 Trevor Immelman (RSA) 68 72 66 70
280 Adam Scott (Aus) 71 72 66 71
281 Bill Haas 68 72 71 70, Lucas Glover 69 73 67 72
282 Vaughn Taylor 70 70 71 71, Joey Sindelar 71 74 68 69, Bo Van Pelt 70 64 73 75, Steve Lowery 73 68 69 72
283 Retief Goosen (RSA) 70 71 65 77, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 71 71 70 71
284 Charles Warren 73 70 70 71, Shaun Micheel 70 70 68 76
285 Brett Quigley 74 68 69 74, Davis Love III 69 69 73 74, Ken Duke 72 71 70 72, Kevin Sutherland 71 71 70 73, Tim Clark (Rsa) 73 70 71 71, D.J. Trahan 72 70 71 72, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 73 71 70 71
286 Nick Watney 72 73 71 70
287 John Senden (Aus) 71 73 69 74, David Duval 73 70 72 72, Jay Haas 75 71 65 76, Stephen Ames (Can) 71 73 71 72
288 David Branshaw 77 68 70 73, Joe Ogilvie 73 73 69 73, Stewart Cink 70 74 71 73, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 72 71 67 78, Jason Gore 74 70 70 74
289 Jerry Kelly 73 70 69 77, J J Henry 73 67 71 78, Lee Janzen 72 72 72 73, Jason Bohn 71 73 73 72
290 Phil Mickelson 71 72 73 74, Ted Purdy 77 66 74 73, Tom Lehman 75 69 69 77
291 Charley Hoffman 72 73 72 74, Doug Barron 75 71 72 73, Will MacKenzie 72 73 75 71, Vijay Singh (Fij) 71 68 71 81, Bob Estes 73 72 73 73, Joe Durant 74 71 73 73, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 74 69 73 75, Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 71 75 74, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 71 74 75 71
292 Brad Faxon 72 73 76 71, Justin Rose (Eng) 70 74 68 80, Jeff Sluman 74 72 72 74, Mike Weir (Can) 73 71 72 76, Charles Howell III 74 71 73 74
293 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 68 73 73 79, Olin Browne 71 74 72 76, Troy Matteson 72 69 75 77, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 72 67 74 80
294 Billy Andrade 69 73 78 74, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 75 71 72 76, Woody Austin 73 72 73 76
295 Robert Garrigus 70 74 71 80, Steve Flesch 74 71 74 76, Rocco Mediate 74 71 73 77, Tommy Armour III 74 70 77 74
296 Jay Williamson 75 71 74 76, Marco Dawson 72 73 72 79
297 Ben Crane 71 74 74 78, Arron Oberholser 75 66 75 81
298 Richard S Johnson (Swe) 74 72 77 75, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 72 74 75 77, Mark Calcavecchia 72 73 74 79, Craig Barlow 73 70 74 81, Steve Jones 78 66 77 77
301 Ian Leggatt (Can) 75 71 75 80
304 Wes Short jr. 77 69 77 81
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