VIJAY`S VICTORY; SINGH WINS HIS FIRST MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIP.Byline: Doug Ferguson Douglas 'Doug' Ferguson (born March 4 1947, in Carlisle, Cumbria) is a British musician known mostly for playing the bass guitar in the progressive rock band Camel from 1971 to 1976, his reason for leaving being the evolution of Camel's music towards jazz [1]. Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. The long, lonely hours of practice were merely a dress rehearsal dress rehearsal n. A full, uninterrupted rehearsal of a play with costumes and stage properties. dress rehearsal Noun 1. for Vijay Singh For the politician, see . Vijay Singh (born 22 February, 1963) is a professional golfer who was number one in the Official World Golf Rankings for 32 weeks in 2004 and 2005. . Four-hour rounds were followed by four hours of practice. Then he would go back to his hotel room, re-arrange the furniture and put in even more work on his game. He traveled around the world, but his true home was the driving range. On Sunday, the hardest working man in golf finally got a major payoff by winning the PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the U.S. PGA Championship outside of North America) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers Association of America as part of the PGA Tour. . ``I've practiced so hard for this,'' Singh said. ``It's a dream come true. What I did out there was unbelievable.'' With a lucky bounce out Verb 1. bounce out - bounce a ball so that it becomes an out baseball, baseball game - a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs; "he played baseball in high school"; "there was a baseball of the trees, a spectacular recovery from the woods and nerves of steel down the stretch in a steady rain, Singh shot a 2-under-par 68 and held off Steve Stricker Steven Charles Stricker (born February 23 1967) is an American professional golfer. Stricker was born in Edgerton, Wisconsin. A 1990 graduate of the University of Illinois, Stricker turned professional in 1990 and has won four times on the PGA Tour. at Sahalee Country Club The Sahalee Country Club is a country club and golf course located in Sammamish, Washington, just outside of Seattle, USA. Sahalee is member-owned. In the Chinookan language Sahalee means "high heavenly ground". . His hands slick more from nervousness than a steady rain, Singh two-putted for par on the 18th to finish at 9-under 271 for a two-stroke victory. Steve Elkington Stephen John Elkington (born December 8, 1962) is an Australian golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He was born in Inverell, Australia and grew up in Wagga Wagga.[1] was third at 274. Mark O'Meara Mark Francis O'Meara (born January 13, 1957) is a professional golfer who was a prolific tournament winner on the PGA Tour and around the world from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s. In 2007 he entered his first season on the Champions Tour. , trying to become the first player since Ben Hogan Noun 1. Ben Hogan - United States golfer who won many major golf tournaments (1912-1997) Hogan, William Benjamin Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in a year, made an early charge but wound up in a tie for fourth, five strokes back. It was the 10th time in 11 years that a player won his first major championship at the PGA (1) (Professional Graphics Adapter) An early IBM PC display standard for 3D processing with 640x480x256 resolution. It was not widely used. (2) (Programmable Gate Array) See gate array and FPGA. . This one, fittingly, fell to a player whose name is Hindu for ``Victory.'' His wife and 8-year-old son, Qass, were waiting for him behind the 18th green. Singh waved to the crowd and pointed his putter in their direction when the final putt fell. ``Once I got the ball on the green, the feeling was . . . `I'm the winner. I'm the champion,''' Singh said. ``Every year, you see somebody walk up 18 and you wonder if that's ever going to be you. ``I never expected it to happen like this.'' The stage was Sahalee, the drama a duel with Stricker, two players in search of their first major who played well enough to put a worthy collection of challengers too far behind to catch up. Singh built a two-stroke lead at the turn and never buckled, even when Stricker closed within one stroke and was on the verge On the Verge (or The Geography of Yearning) is a play written by Eric Overmyer. It makes extensive use of esoteric language and pop culture references from the late nineteenth century to 1955. of catching him. Singh finally got some breathing room when he saved par from the bunker on No. 17 from about 18 feet and Stricker couldn't match him. Stricker blasted out of the same bunker to 15 feet, but the par putt grazed past the left side of the hole. ``I was expecting him to make it, too,'' Singh said. ``That was a sigh of relief because I could play a little bit more aggressive and I knew he needed a birdie to catch me if I made bogey.'' All that stood between Singh and the Wanamaker Trophy was an accurate drive on the 475-yard finishing hole, and he split the middle. Stricker, 157th on the PGA Tour The PGA Tour is an organization that operates the USA's main professional golf tours. It is headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA. Its name is officially rendered in all caps as “PGA TOUR". in final-round scoring average, closed with a 70. ``I put up a good fight,'' Stricker said, choking back tears. ``It just didn't happen.'' Soft but steady rain fell throughout the morning, making it easier to attack the flags. But those who made a charge either started too far behind or made their move too late. Elkington was the only one who got seriously close. Just as in 1995, when his 64 was the lowest closing round ever by a PGA champion, Elkington stormed down the stretch and got to 7 under with a birdie on the par-3 17th. But his drive found the right rough on the 18th and he took bogey. Nick Price, trying to join Sam Snead and Gene Sarazen Noun 1. Gene Sarazen - United States golfer who was first to win all four major golf tournaments (1902-1999) Sarazen as a three-time PGA champion, tied the course record with a bogey-free 65. That was only good enough for a 276 and a tie for fourth with O'Meara and Frank Lickliter. O'Meara, Davis Love III Davis Milton Love III (born April 13, 1964) is an American professional golfer. Love was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina before turning professional in 1985. and Tiger Woods all had something to prove and all of them had their chances. O'Meara, impervious to the pressure of trying to match Hogan's trifecta tri·fec·ta n. A system of betting in which the bettor must pick the first three winners in the correct sequence. Also called triple. [tri- + (per)fecta.] , made eagle on No. 2 and got within two strokes with a birdie at the fifth before three straight bogeys took him out of the picture. Love was trying to become the first player to win back-to-back at the PGA since Denny Shute in 1937. His chances were drowned in the water on No. 5 with a double bogey. He had three late birdies that put him at 277, along with Billy Mayfair. Woods will have to wait until next year to squeeze another major out of his awesome talent. Starting five strokes back, Woods made up one stroke before making bogey on the three of the last four holes on the front side to take himself out of the picture. LEADERBOARD lead·er·board n. A board that displays the leaders in a competition. leaderboard Noun a board displaying the current scores of the leading competitors, esp in a golf tournament The top 20 final scores and relation to par with money winnings Sunday of the 80th PGA Championship on the 6,906-yard, par-70 Sahalee Country Club course: Vijay Singh, $540,000 70-66-67-68-271 -9 Steve Stricker, $324,000 69-68-66-70-273 -7 Steve Elkington, $204,000 69-69-69-67-274 -6 Mark O'Meara, $118,000 69-70-69-68-276 -4 Frank Lickliter, $118,000 68-71-69-68-276 -4 Nick Price, $118,000 70-73-68-65-276 -4 Billy Mayfair, $89,500 73-67-67-70-277 -3 Davis Love III, $89,500 70-68-69-70-277 -3 John Cook, $80,000 71-68-70-69-278 -2 Kenny Perry, $69,000 69-72-70-68-279 -1 Tiger Woods, $69,000 66-72-70-71-279 -1 Skip Kendall, $69,000 72-68-68-71-279 -1 John Huston, $46,000 70-71-68-71-280 E Robert Allenby, $46,000 72-68-69-71-280 E Steve Flesch, $46,000 75-69-67-69-280 E Fred Couples, $46,000 74-71-67-68-280 E Bob Tway, $46,000 69-76-67-68-280 E Paul Azinger, $46,000 68-73-70-69-280 E Bill Glasson, $46,000 68-74-69-69-280 E Brad Faxon, $46,000 70-68-74-68-280 E PAST WINNERS 1916 - James M. Barnes 1917-18 - Not played, WWI WWI abbr. World War I WWI World War One 1919 - James M. Barnes 1920 - Jock Hutchison 1921 - Walter Hagen 1922 - Gene Sarazen 1923 - Gene Sarazen 1924 - Walter Hagen 1925 - Walter Hagen 1926 - Walter Hagen 1927 - Walter Hagen 1928 - Leo Diegel 1929 - Leo Diegel 1930 - Tommy Armour 1931 - Tom Creavy 1932 - Olin Dutra 1933 - Gene Sarazen 1934 - Paul Runyan 1935 - Johnny Revolta 1936 - Denny Shute 1937 - Denny Shute 1938 - Paul Runyan 1939 - Henry Picard 1940 - Byron Nelson 1941 - Vic Ghezzi 1942 - Sam Snead 1943 - Not played, WWII WWII abbr. World War II WWII World War Two 1944 - Bob Hamilton 1945 - Byron Nelson 1946 - Ben Hogan 1947 - Jim Ferrier 1948 - Ben Hogan 1949 - Sam Snead 1950 - Chandler Harper 1951 - Sam Snead 1952 - Jim Turnesa 1953 - Walter Burkemo 1954 - Chick Harbert 1955 - Doug Ford 1956 - Jack Burke 1957 - Lionel Hebert 1958 - Dow Finsterwald 1959 - Bob Rosburg 1960 - Jay Hebert 1961 - Jerry Barber 1962 - Gary Player 1963 - Jack Nicklaus 1964 - Bobby Nichols 1965 - Dave Marr 1966 - Al Geiberger 1967 - Don January 1968 - Julius Boros 1969 - Ray Floyd 1970 - Dave Stockton 1971 - Jack Nicklaus 1972 - Gary Player 1973 - Jack Nicklaus 1974 - Lee Trevino 1975 - Jack Nicklaus 1976 - Dave Stockton 1977 - Lanny Wadkins 1978 - John Mahaffey 1979 - David Graham 1980 - Jack Nicklaus 1981 - Larry Nelson 1982 - Raymond Floyd 1983 - Hal Sutton 1984 - Lee Trevino 1985 - Hubert Green 1986 - Bob Tway 1987 - Larry Nelson 1988 - Jeff Sluman 1989 - Payne Stewart 1990 - Wayne Grady 1991 - John Daly 1992 - Nick Price 1993 - Paul Azinger 1994 - Nick Price 1995 - Steve Elkington 1996 - Mark Brooks 1997 - Davis Love III CAPTION(S): 3 Photos, 2 Boxes PHOTO (1--Cover--Color) PRACTI-SINGH PAYS OFF Hard-working golfer wins PGA Championship. (2--Color) Vijay Singh's long practices paid off when he was awarded the Wanamaker Trophy for winning the 80th PGA Championship. Morry Gash/Associated Press (3--Color) Singh, hitting from the rough on the 11th hole, shot a 2-under 68 in the final round to win by two strokes. Elise Amendola/Associated Press BOX: (1) LEADERBOARD (see text) (2) PAST WINNERS (see text) |
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