Vijay Singh followed up three spectacular rounds with an average one Sunday. It was enough to win his third Buick Open, holding off a surging Tiger Woods in Grand Blanc, Mich.
Singh closed with a final-round 70 for a four-stroke victory and a 24-under 264 total.
The Fijian said he never really worried about losing his lead, which dropped to two strokes on No. 17.
“I wasn’t as aggressive,” Singh said. “I felt very much in control so I didn’t want to make any mistakes because nobody was making a charge. To protect the lead is not a fun way to play.”
What was an exciting tournament for three days became anticlimactic during the final round until Woods created a buzz with his comeback attempt.
Woods, who began the day eight shots back, vaulted into contention with six birdies and an eagle in an nine-hole stretch.
Following his 17-foot putt for birdie at 17, Woods whipped the gallery into a frenzy by cupping his left ear, a gesture usually reserved for professional wrestling.
“I wanted to know how loud those drunk guys get,” he said. “They were pretty hammered, they were wobbling as it was.”
Woods’ drive at the final hole sailed wide right while Singh made his second birdie at No. 16 to take a three-shot lead. Woods bogeyed the final hole and fell another shot back, finishing with a 6-under 66.
Zach Johnson (69) tied for second — his best finish this year — at 20 under. Robert Allenby (65) finished 18 under, alone in fourth. He aced the 179-yard 11th.
U.S. Senior Open: Allen Doyle, 57, of LaGrange, Ga., shattered the tournament final-round record, closing with an 8-under 63 in Kettering, Ohio, to win his third major championship while others struggled.
Doyle had a bogey-free round that included eight birdies, and he managed to avoid the trouble that knocked third-round co-leaders Craig Stadler and Loren Roberts, as well as D.A. Weibring and others out of contention. His final-round 63, which beat the course record by a stroke, was the lowest by a Senior Open winner.
Doyle finished at 10-under 274, one shot ahead of Roberts and Weibring. The victory, worth $470,000, was his 10th on the Champions Tour.
Stadler led by three shots with 10 holes to play but imploded and finished four shots behind Doyle. Roberts was in control until making a double bogey at No. 11. Weibring was on top by a shot with two holes left, but bogeyed both.
Greg Norman and Tom Watson, among others, had prime opportunities to steal the championship but failed to make putts on the undulating greens at NCR Country Club.
Women’s British Open: After Jeong Jang had wrapped up the tournament in Southport, England, Annika Sorenstam took a moment to contemplate her own failed bid for her third major title of the year.
“I’m not so disappointed. I think J.J. just played incredible,” Sorenstam said.
Jang, who led after each round and entered the day with a five-stroke lead, shot a 3-under 69 Sunday to finish at 16-under 272 at Royal Birkdale and win by four shots. It was the first victory of her six-year LPGA career.
Sorenstam, trying to win the 10th major of her career, knew she had lost by the time she came to the final hole. To make matters worse, she lost her ball off the tee on the way to a double bogey at the 18th and wound up in a tie for fifth, seven shots back.
Sorenstam’s final-round 71 left her at 9-under 279, one shot behind Michelle Wie.
Western Amateur: Jamie Lovemark, 17, of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., became the youngest winner in the tournament’s 103 years, beating 20-year-old Chris Wilson, a Northwestern junior, 3 and 2 in the final in Benton Harbor, Mich.
Scandinavian Masters: In Stockholm, Australia’s Mark Hensby beat Henrik Stenson on the second playoff hole.
