Lowery nips Singh

PEBBLE BEACH, California. — American Steve Lowery clinched his first PGA Tour title in eight years by edging out 2004 champion Vijay Singh in a playoff for the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Sunday.

Lowery, 47, birdied the first extra hole on the Pebble Beach Golf Links, the par-five 18th, to earn the winner’s check for $1.08 million and his third Tour victory.

Three strokes off the pace overnight, Lowery fired a four-under-par 68 on another sun-soaked day on the picturesque Monterey Peninsula to finish the 72 regulation holes level with Singh at 10-under-par 278.

Fiji’s Singh had briefly led by three strokes before making three consecutive bogeys from the 14th but birdied the last for a 71 to force the playoff.

"This is the most meaningful of all my wins," a beaming Lowery said after ending a PGA Tour victory drought dating back to the 2000 Southern Farm Bureau Classic and becoming the oldest champion at Pebble Beach.

"After eight years and winning on this course against Vijay, that really means a lot. This is very special.

"I played solid all day and I couldn’t have given it anymore in 18 holes. I’d been focusing all week."

Lowery, whose 2007 campaign was severely hampered by an injury to his left wrist, charged into contention with a blistering outward nine of five-under 31.

"I couldn’t dream of playing the front nine better than I did," the resident of Birmingham, Alabama said. "That was the key to my round, shooting five under."

Despite bogeying the 11th and 14th, Lowery grabbed the outright lead for the first time by calmly sinking a 19-foot birdie putt at the par-three 17th.

He very nearly picked up his seventh birdie of the round at the last where his long-range attempt from 40 feet rammed the back of the cup before lipping out.

Singh, who appeared to have the title firmly in his grasp before his unexpected collapse after the turn, struck a superb wedge approach to two feet on the 18th green to take the tournament into extra time.

However, the world No. 11 found a fairway bunker off the tee on the first extra hole, hit a poor second shot and ended up with a plugged lie in a greenside bunker with his third before getting up and down for a par five.

Lowery, ranked 305th in the world, drove straight down the middle, laid up in two and delivered a pinpoint wedge approach to seven feet to set up his victory putt.

"I’m very disappointed," Singh said of his failed bid to secure a 32nd PGA Tour title. "I let this one slip away. I didn’t think I was going to lose this. I need to go re-think and see what really went wrong."

The smooth-swinging Fijian, hunting his first Tour victory since the Arnold Palmer Invitational 11 months ago, appeared to have the tournament in control after moving two strokes clear midway through the final round.

Although he bogeyed the 10th after missing the fairway off the tee, he briefly held a three-shot advantage standing in the 14th fairway before losing momentum.

Singh bogeyed 14 and 15 after missing the green with his approaches and also dropped on 16 where he found a bunker off the tee and failed to reach the green with his second.