US Open champion Retief Goosen recovered from the shakiest of starts, opening bogey, double-bogey, to eventually cruise to a comfortable victory in the BellSouth Classic at the Sugarloaf course in Duluth, Georgia, yesterday.
The South African finished with a two-under-par round of 70 to finish on 16-under-par. It was enough to give him a four-shot victory from Sweden's Jesper Parnevik, who stormed up the leaderboard with a best-of-the-day seven-under 65.
Yet again Phil Mickelson showed a fragile temperament as he struggled to a 73 to finish in third place on 11 under. The left-hander had swept into the lead after Goosen's disastrous start, but just as the South African steadied the ship, Mickelson began to drop shots.
After a birdie at the first, he then bogeyed the fourth and the eighth to reach the turn one over. And while he was dropping that shot at the long fourth, his playing partner Goosen was recording a fine eagle three.
Goosen then birdied the sixth to get back the three shots dropped at the first two holes, and from there on in was never seriously challenged for the title.
Whatever chance Padraig Harrington might have had of launching a challenge for the title was extinguished almost immediately by opening with a bogey five at the first.
Harrington, who had been joint third with Goosen after opening rounds of 69 and 65, bunkered his approach in the blustery conditions. He then dropped further shots at the fifth, eighth and ninth to reach the turn in a dispiriting four-over-par 40.
The Dubliner staged a slight recovery on the back nine by birdieing the two par threes to finish the tournament tied for eighth on seven under par.
A beaming Parnevik, who on Friday holed-in-one with a five-iron and also sank a six-iron for an eagle two, said: "I hit probably the best five-wood I've ever hit onto the last green and then one of the best putts.
"Confidence-wise I'm a 10 out of 10 at the moment. I've been driving so poorly this year, but just as the sun went down last night I figured something on the range to start drawing the ball again."
That, of course, will be key at Augusta National this coming week as Parnevik tries to put right a record of never having finished higher than 20th in the Masters.
"I've been too aggressive in the past. You need to think your way round there and have an unbelievable short game," he added.
"It's just too bad that Tiger has both - and his focus is fantastic there too."
Asked if the new Swedish girlfriend - who used to be a nanny to Parnevik's children - in the world number one's life - might change that, Parnevik replied: "That was the original plan!"
Colin Montgomerie triple-bogeyed the 389-yard third as he fell back from 13th at the start of the day to 18th, and he finished two over for the round.
Lee Westwood had to birdie the last just for a 76 that put him deep in the pack at one-over.
LEADING FINAL-ROUND SCORES (US unless noted): 272 - Retief Goosen (Rsa) 68-66-68-70 276 - Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 66-69-76-65 277 - Phil Mickelson 65-68-71-73 278 - Scott McCarron 67-72-71-68 279 - John Rollins 66-70-72-71, Bob Tway 67-71-69-72 Dudley Hart 66-72-70-72 281 - K.J. Choi (Kor) 70-68-70-73, Steve Flesch 68-68-72-73, Phil Tataurangi (Nzl) 71-64-76-70, Padraig Harrington (Ire) 69-65-73-74 282 - David Toms 68-68-74-72, Glen Day 68-71-72-71, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 66-70-69-77, Skip Kendall 71-69-71-71, Dennis Paulson 71-68-70-73 283 - Zack Johnson 68-71-69-75 Mike Weir (Can) 67-70-69-77, Colin Montgomerie (Gbr) 69-70-70-74 284 - Glen Hnatiuk 69-72-69-74, Hidemichi Tanaka (Jpn) 69-68-74-73 287 - Luke Donald (Gbr) 73-68-71-75, Steve Elkington (Aus) 64-69-73-81, David Frost (Rsa) 72-67-75-73 289 - Peter Lonard (Aus) 67-75-74-73, Deane Pappas (Rsa) 71-73-72-73, Vijay Singh (Fij) 69-69-76-75, Lee Westwood (Gbr) 72-70-71-76, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 68-70-75-76, Frank Nobilo (Nzl) 66-74-73-76 291 - Edward Fryatt (Gbr) 68-75-74-74, Grant Waite (Nzl) 70-74-74-73, Craig Parry (Aus) 68-71-75-77 293 - Ian Leggatt (Can) 66-74-77-76 294 - Stephen Allan (Aus) 72-70-79-73 295 - Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa)71-72-73-79 298 - Richard Zokol (Can) 71-73-73-81.
TOMORROW: Philip Reid reports from Augusta as our three-page golf supplement returns for the season.
