Vijay, Tiger wage war at Buick Open
IN: News | US PGA | Buick Open (2005) | Wrap | by Bruce Young | 01 Aug 2005
In what was the near perfect scenario for tournament sponsors at this week's Buick Open Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods have finished one, two, or at least Tiger shared second, and the Warwick Hills course near Flint in Michigan was jammed to capacity to witness a thrilling finale.
Ideally for Buick the perfect scenario would have been for their man, Woods, to have won but he left no stone unturned in his quest to bridge the almost insurmountable lead that Singh had established leading into the final day. That lead over Woods was even greater when Woods three putted the first and in fact stretched to ten when Singh birdied the 5th.
Not that Singh and Woods were the only two in the mix. Zach Johnson, who after a stellar rookie season in 2004 has struggled a little in 2005, including three missed cuts in his last four starts, rediscovered his putting touch this week to challenge throughout the week. He eventually finished in a share of second with Woods, who bogeyed the last just twenty minutes before Johnson and Singh finished.
Woods' run in the middle of the round had the packed house at Warwick Hills urging him on. Once he started his birdie run it was not about to stop. From the 9th hole where he recorded his first birdie of the day, Woods played the next nine holes in eight under par to close momentarily within two. He had picked up eight shots on Singh with one of those typical Woods charges but things quickly turned the other way when he bogeyed the last and Singh birdied the 16th.
Still it was stuff that the fans just loved to be part of and they were certainly not backwards in coming forwards in their appreciation of such a contest. Interviewed afterwards, Singh said that he had he had not felt threatened all day and the difficulty was to keep the momentum going. I guess he had not been looking at leaderboards.
Singh won for the fourth time in 2005 but despite his cheque for US$828,000 he will not catch Woods at the top of the 2005 money list. Woods stole quite a break on Singh at the Open Championship but the gap has been narrowed to around the US$200,000 mark.
Singh has been simply brilliant again in 2005 with the consistency of his performances. In addition to the four wins there has been another four top threes and although his putting left room for improvement on day four, his game is exactly where he wants it to be heading to Baltusrol in just over a week. Singh said afterwards that he would head to New Jersey early to prepare himself for a tilt at his third PGA Championship title. The looming battle between both he and Woods at that event is one that will have golf fans world wide licking their lips.
Robert Allenby, who has been heading south in his world ranking in recent months, turned the corner today and he has staked a serious claim for Presidents Cup consideration with his late charge for fourth. His back nine of 29 included a hole in one at the 11th but he was also able to follow that up with five more birdies to finish.
He is currently 22nd on the International Presidents Cup list but he will improve on that list with this performance and another good week in Colorado next week and the following week at the PGA, will almost certainly see Gary Player putting a tick alongside his name. His record at the Presidents Cup is not great but with Els' now likely absence, International team captain, Gary Player, now has the need for even greater experience in those he picks.
Stephen Leaney was the next best of the Australians in 12th place, one of his better finishes of the 2005 season and one that will all but assure him of his playing status in 2006. Geoff Ogilvy's last round of 72 was never going to get the job done on a course where low scoring was the order of the week. Still it was yet another good tournament for the Victorian.
John Senden was 22nd, Steve Elkington 32nd, Brendan Jones 39th, Rod Pampling 66th, Paul Gow 70th and Steve Allan 78th.
The PGA Tour now heads to Castle Pines in Colorado for the International.
