SOMETHING WEIR HAPPENS LEFT-HANDER RISES FROM 7 SHOTS BACK ON LAST DAY, BEATS HOWELL IN PLAYOFF.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Staff Writer

Tiger Woods wowed the crowd early and Mike Weir dazzled them late.

In between, a mostly solid week of work by Charles Howell III was undone, and Howell had to settle for learning a lesson he already knew.

There is no fun in losing.

``It sucked,'' said Howell, who entered the final round Sunday leading the Nissan Open at Riviera Country Club by three strokes and wound up a playoff loser to Weir - who started the day seven shots off the lead with no thoughts of winning.

The only goal, Weir said, ``was to play solid and try to shoot a really good number. But I won't say winning was in my mind.''

But winning is what he got after his final-round 66, combined with Howell's closing 73, forced a two-hole playoff that Weir ended with an 8-foot, 9-inch birdie putt on the par-4, 315-yard 10th.

Weir and Howell finished 9-under-par 275 for the week, two shots ahead of Fred Funk, who closed with a 68, and Nick Price (72), who shared third place at 277. K.J. Choi (72) and Woods tied for fifth at 278, Woods finishing with a 65 that equaled the best round of the tournament and established his personal best at Riviera.

Like Woods, who also started the final round well off the pace, Weir's goal merely was to shoot a good round and take a positive attitude into this week's WGC Accenture Match Play Championship.

But six birdies and a start early enough for him to miss some cold weather in the afternoon worked in favor of Weir, who earned $810,000 for his fifth career tour victory and first in this tournament.

``Everything went right for me today, really,'' said Weir, the first left-handed winner in the event's long history. ``It definitely surprised me, you know, shooting 5 under. I can see (winning) if I blitzed it at 9 under or something like that, but the course did play difficult. The wind started picking up. Charles and Nick had to play 40 more minutes into this than I had.''

Howell and Price, who opened the final round three shots back in second, waged a close duel most of the day, Price moving into a share of the lead when Howell bogeyed No. 14. But Price followed with bogeys on 15 and 16 to leave Howell and Weir - who had finished at 9 under - tied for first.

They remained that way after Howell missed a birdie opportunity on the par-5, 576-yard 17th hole - coming up short of the green with a pitch after hitting his second shot into greenside rough. Howell took par there, and when he followed with another par on No. 18, the stage was set for the second overtime in three years at the Nissan.

In the playoff, Howell hit perhaps his best shot of the tournament on the second hole, blasting a 31-yard bunker shot within reach of a birdie putt, only to miss that putt after Weir made his own birdie from two feet farther.

``I said to him he hit a heck of a shot (from the bunker),'' said Weir, who shot 72-68-69-66 for the week. ``I said things just fell my way, which they did. And obviously he is disappointed. But Charles is a great player, you know. That is the way it goes sometimes.''

For much of a final round that followed a 69-65-68 tournament start, Howell never imagined he might lose.

``I never at one point thought that I wasn't going to win the tournament,'' he said. ``I don't mean that cocky or whatever, but I felt really good about my game. And, you know, from the position I was in and all that, I never really felt out of the tournament, even, in fact, on the playoff holes.''

Not even when he had to hit out out of a bunker 31 yards from the flagstick while Weir was hitting a wedge to the green from 74 yards out on the second playoff hole?

``Not at all,'' Howell said. ``I don't think that wedge shot is any bargain either. In fact, I had a shorter birdie putt than Mike.''

But that putt, and others he deemed more important, failed to drop for the long-hitting Howell, whose bogeys on Nos. 12 and 14 cost him a lead he had held for most of the weekend.

``Had I played the way I should have,'' he said, ``it shouldn't have been a playoff. This tournament was lost well before that 10th hole (playoff).''

Price, 46, a three-time major champion who has known Howell for 13 years, said Howell's problems might have been the result of nervousness, since Howell, for all his talent, is 23 years old with just one tour victory.

``I was trying to keep him settled down,'' Price said. ``But I was also trying to beat him.''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) OUT OF LEFT FIELD

Mike Weir makes up seven strokes and beats Charles Howell III on the second playoff hole to become the first southpaw to win the Nissan Open

(2) Mike Weir pumps his fist after making the tournament-winning putt Sunday.

(3) Charles Howell III hoped for the best but came up short, losing after two playoff holes.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer

Box:

(1) L.A. OPEN/NISSAN OPEN PAST WINNERS

(2) LEADERBOARD