Lowery defeats Singh in AT&T playoff
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2008 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am | Round Four | 11 Feb 2008
Steve Lowery won his first tournament since the 2000 Southern Farm Bureau Classic when he edged out Vijay Singh at the first playoff hole of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am.
Effectively, Lowery won this tournament in a stretch of 15 holes between the 13th hole of his third round at Poppy Hills yesterday and his 9th hole today. He birdied ten of those 15 holes and moved from the threat of a missed cut to contending for the lead.
Sure, there were individual shots over the closing stages today, more especially his 18 foot birdie putt at the dangerous par three 17th that took him into a share of the lead with Singh, but it was the aforementioned stretch of holes that created the platform for his bid for victory late in today’s final round.
Lowery nearly sealed the deal at the 72nd hole when his birdie putt lipped out. He then led by one over Singh who was playing in the last group of the day and whose bid for his second AT&T Championship was falling apart over the closing nine holes. Somehow the Fijian reversed the trend at the 72nd hole when hit a delightful pitch to two feet and holed the putt to tie with Lowery at ten under.
Back to the 18th tee again and Lowery found the fairway while Singh blocked his tee shot into the right hand trap. Singh was first to hit and almost inexplicably topped his second only just clearing the bunker and leaving himself with still 195 yards to the hole. Lowery hit a four iron for his second to 75 yards and after Singh had plugged his third shot in the right hand bunker, Lowery hit a beautiful pitch over the flag drawing it back to four feet. Singh found a way to get up and down for par and so the stage was left for Lowery to convert the winning putt which he did and his third PGA Tour title was his.
Corey Pavin showed that this game is not just for big hitters when he produced a final round of 66 to share third with Dudley Hart and John Mallinger.
Pavin, who averaged just 242 yards from his measured tee shots for the week, was the shortest hitter of those who made the cut but his great week on the greens kept him in touch and the 48-year-old recorded his best finish in 18 months on the PGA Tour. Singh, Hart and Pavin made it a great week for the ‘40 somethings’.
Jason Day earned his biggest cheque (US$216,000) in his short professional career when he finished 6th after playing his first three rounds with one of his childhood heroes Greg Norman. Day is finding his feet in his rookie season and this result will be a great boost in the weeks ahead.
Andrew Buckle also had a good week finishing 26th while Mathew Goggin was 43rd. Buckle is in a category where he will gain only limited starts on the PGA Tour in 2008. This is a good result for him and follows a 21st placing on the Nationwide Tour in Mexico last week. He is on the comeback trail after injury in 2007.
Matt Jones and Steve Allan both made the cut but finished in the MDF category where they are guaranteed a cheque but not a place in the final round field.
The PGA Tour now moves to Los Angeles for this week’s Northern Trust Open.
