Singh number one but Perry the best at Bay Hill
IN: News | US PGA | Bay Hill Invitational (2005) | Wrap | by Bruce Young | 21 Mar 2005
In what has now become the topsy turvy world at the top of professional golf Vijay Singh has reclaimed the number one position in the game but Kenny Perry was clearly the number one man at Bay Hill.
In what became an elongated tournament due to weather and darkness delays, the event finally finished on time with Perry edging out Singh after the Fijian double bogeyed the dangerous last hole at Bay Hill. Singh had closed quickly on Perry just when the American looked to have the tournament in his control. Perry had moved four ahead by the 11th and although nothing it seems is beyond Singh, the manner in which Perry was playing suggested the gap would be sufficient. Singh however saw it differently and when he birdied the 12th he was within three and with birdies at the 15th and 16th - after laying up at the par five - he was within one. Perry missed a par saving putt of 9 feet at the 17th and all of a sudden they were level.
On the 18th tee, Singh drove it perfectly and Perry was in the first cut of rough but with a good angle to a back right flag. Singh was first to play and as he watched his ball in flight his body language gave the impression that he was urging it on a couple of yards more than perhaps he thought it was travelling. It was all over the stick but came up a yard or so short of the green pitched into the rocks and rebounded into the lake. Perry, knowing that a bogey would likely win the hole, took the water out of the equation with a shot that was always going well left of the target and when Singh hit his fourth from the fairway long, Perry knew what he needed to do. A brilliant two putt from 70 feet saw him take the title and left Singh having to hole a four footer for double bogey to share second with Graeme McDowell who, in his first visit to Bay Hill, had done sensationally well.
Singh will be disappointed that he hadn't capitalised fully on what was a brilliant and powerful attempt to win the event for the first time, but his consolation is a return to the number one position in the world. With Singh, Woods, Els and Mickelson all in action together over the next few weeks, we are witnessing one of the special eras in the game with all capable of taking the number one position with a victory or two.
For Northern Ireland's McDowell this was his fifth start in the US this season and clearly he is feeling more and more at home in the US. Not that the US is all that foreign to him as in his time he was the number one ranked collegiate player there while at the University of Alabama. His share of second with Singh will get him into the Players Championship next week and from there, well who knows. He should now be eligible to play the US Masters for the first time and thus the opportunity to play in just his fourth major championship. He has not seen the weekend at any to this stage, but in three weeks time it may be different.
Retief Goosen came from a long way back to finish fourth on his own which after an opening 78 was something very special. Patrick Sheehan, Aaron Baddeley and Corey Pavin shared fifth, one back of Goosen but five behind second place. Baddeley continues to impress, this being his third top ten in his last four starts. His not insignificant cheque of $182,000 now has him virtually assured of playing security in 2006 if that was ever in question. His new found attitude which includes playing naturally and not getting too bogged down with technique is a lesson that could be taken on board by many.
Corey Pavin is almost an anachronism. His game is hardly built for the modern era of golf where accuracy has less importance than power hitting, but there he was battling away on a golf course where par had some value. Pavin is currently in 185th place on the USPGA Tour driving distance stats but this week, with the set up of the course, it hardly mattered.
For Kenny Perry however, who is the best driver of the golf ball on tour when combining distance and accuracy, and the best in greens in regulation, he found a way to master the greens this week and the combination proved lethal. He has shown previously that when he finds winning form he is hard to beat in any tournament and with a third place at last year's Players Championship behind him, then he might just be a candidate for an impressive double.
Of the other Australasians Adam Scott fell away in the last round to finish 30th, Geoff Ogilvy and Stuart Appleby were 36th, Craig Parry was 44th, John Senden 50th, Nick O'Hern 52nd, Richard Green and Peter Lonard 58th, and Stephen Leaney and Craig Perks 63rd.
The PGA Tour now heads north to Ponte Vedra Beach for the Players Championship at the TPC at Sawgrass.
