Tiger Woods overcame PGA Championship winner Vijay Singh of Fiji to win PGA Memorial title in Dublin, Ohio, yesterday with a three-under-par 69 final round and an impressive parsaving chip.
Woods finished on 273, 15under par for the four rounds and two strokes ahead of Singh, who also fired a 69 but could not close the gap on Woods over the final five holes. When long drives led to inaccurate results, Woods relied upon his short irons and wedges to win. Woods (23) won $459,000 to move into second place on the PGA money list with $1,899,198 million, nearly one million less than David Duval, who shared third at 279 with Paraguay's Carlos Franco and American Olin Browne.
A key moment came at the 14th hole, when Woods, in trouble, chipped his fourth shot and watched it curl into the cup, sparking one of his famed pumps of the right arm as the gallery cheered.
Juli Inkster smashed the US Women's Open tournament record on her way to a five-stroke victory at West Point, Mississippi, giving the American her first major LPGA title in a decade.
Inkster fired a one-under par 71 to finish at 16-under par 272 for the $1.75 million event, keeping runner-up Sherri Turner and third-placed Kelli Kuehne at bay to capture the $315,000 top prize.
"This is the best," Inkster said. "I didn't sleep a wink last night. I felt like I was pregnant. The food would not stay down."
The former US Women's Open record was 10-under par 278 by Britain's Alison Nicholas in 1997 and the record for 72 holes over a par-72 course was nine-under by Pat Bradley in 1981.
Both marks fell easily as Inkster won her fourth career major and became one of only seven women to capture the US Amateur and US Women's Open titles. Her three titles this year are one more than her past six seasons combined. She never let her rivals get within three strokes yesterday. Kuehne, second when the day began, stumbled to a 74 to fall off the pace.
Turner has had no win this decade but the 42-year-old picked up her first top-three finish in any tournament since the 1995 Dinah Shore with a 71.
Canada's Lorie Kane was fourth at 280, followed by Meg Mallon and Carin Koch of Sweden. Karrie Webb of Australia was seventh at 282 while Catriona Matthew of Scotland, Maria Hjorth of Sweden and Helen Dobson of Britain tied for eighth with Korean born amateur Grace Park.
