Post by kevinfelixlee on May 23, 2011 1:59:14 GMT -5
David Toms threw his arms up and smiled when he finally regained the lead at the Colonial. This time, he did not let it get away.
A day after blowing a seven-stroke advantage to go into the final round at Forth Worth trailing Charlie Wi by one, Toms made an eagle with a wedge shot from 83 yards at the par-5 11th hole Sunday to take the lead for good. Toms went on to his first PGA runescape power leveling Tour victory since January 2006.
Toms, 44, closed with a three-under 67 at Hogan¡¯s Alley to finish at 15 under, one better than Wi. Toms¡¯s 13th title came a week after a playoff loss to K. J. Choi at the Players Championship, his sixth runner-up finish since his previous victory.
¡°That just took a lot of guts; that¡¯s really all,¡± Toms said. ¡°That¡¯s what I got by on today.¡± Wi, of South Korea, shot a 69 for his fourth runner-up finish without a victory.
After that playoff loss at T.P.C. Sawgrass in Florida, Toms began at the Colonial with a 62, his best score in 429 rounds since a career-best 61 during his last victory at the Sony runescape gold Open in Hawaii. Toms followed with another bogey-free 62 to match the PGA Tour scoring record for the first 36 holes of a tournament (124), and he opened the third round with a birdie.
At 17 under through 37 holes and seemingly in control Saturday, Toms scored three bogeys in the next five holes. Wi took the lead with a 32-foot birdie at the par-3 16th.
Wi extended his lead to three strokes after consecutive birdies to open Sunday¡¯s round. Toms finally caught up at 13 under after Wi missed the green with his approach at the par-4 10th and two-putted for bogey. Then came the clincher rs gold on the Colonial¡¯s longest hole, the 635-yard 11th.
After laying up to a perfect spot short of the green, and with Wi¡¯s ball sitting in a front-side bunker, Toms bounced his wedge shot once. It landed just behind the pin and then rolled back into the cup. ¡°When something like that happens, it¡¯s like it¡¯s meant to be,¡± Toms said.
Wi blasted to 4 ? feet for a birdie putt that kept him a stroke behind. He then hit out of a fairway bunker twice at the par-4 12th hole after his errant drive. He managed a bogey runescape money after finally hitting out of the fairway to 7 feet, but Toms¡¯s 5-foot par stretched his lead to two strokes.
Toms became the first player on the PGA Tour to rebound from a playoff loss one week to winning the next since 2000, when Phil Mickelson won at the Colonial after losing in a playoff at the Byron Nelson Championship.
Bo Van Pelt (65) finished third at 10 under. Zach Johnson, the defending Colonial champion, also shot a closing 65 to finish at nine under in fourth place, and Robert Karlsson (67) and Chez Reavie (68) were eight under.
DONALD DENIED NO. 1 Ian Poulter kept his fellow Englishman Luke Donald out of the top spot in the world golf rankings by beating Donald, 2 and 1, in the final of the World Match Play Championship in Casares, Spain.
The second-ranked Donald, who cruised to a 5-and-3 victory over Martin Kaymer runescape items in a semifinal earlier in the day, led by 1 up three times, but Poulter¡¯s 45-foot putt won the 12th hole, and birdies on 14 and 16 sealed Poulter¡¯s first title of the year.
Donald could have supplanted his compatriot Lee Westwood in the top spot. Poulter defeated Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium on the first playoff hole in the other semifinal.