Justin Leonard tuned up for the US Open in fine style with victory at the Stanford St Jude Championship, beating Trevor Immelman and Robert Allenby in a play-off.
He did it the hard way, squandering a one-stroke lead with two holes remaining, failing to get one last roll of a putt on the 72nd green and, finally, getting the break he needed on the second extra hole.
Leonard was one foot short on the first play-off hole of the PGA Tour event but took the title on the par-three 11th when Immelman failed with a birdie attempt. The former British Open champion said in an AP article:
“I don’t think that ball would’ve rolled another half-inch. It just barely got there the greens are so dry and fast.â€
It was a heavy-hitting top six in the final leaderboard. With Leonard, Allenby and US Masters champion Immelman finishing on four-under 276, tied for fourth and also fancying their chances at the US Open at Torrey Pines were Spain’s Sergio Garcia, British Open champion Padraig Harrington, Boo Weekley and Germany’s Alex Cejka.
Leonard closed with a two-under 68 as Allenby joined him at the top of the leaderboard with a four-under-par 65. Immelman, meanwhile, shot a final-round of one-under 69.
Overnight leader Tim Clark, who was two ahead of the pack at the start of Sunday, opened his round with a triple bogey and slumped to 78 for a tie of 18th place.
The victory pushed Leonard to fifth on the United States’ Ryder Cup standings and he is hoping to qualify for the team for the first time since 1999.
That was when his famous 45-foot putt at Brookline helped the Americans clinch one of the greatest comebacks in Ryder Cup history.
On the European Tour, India’s Jeev Milkha Singh benefited from bad weather and a shortened tournament to win the Austria Open in Vienna.
Jeev scored 18 consecutive birdies for his par round of 71 on the final day for a three-round total of 15-under 198 and a one-stroke victory over England’s Simon Wakefield. It was his third victory on the tour and moved him up to ninth on the Order of Merit.
In doing so, he matched Nick Faldo’s all-par effort at the 1987 British Open, although the Indian was doing his best to pick up birdies and protect his overnight four-shot lead. He said in Tour article:
“I feel very fortunate to win with 18 pars. I had no idea about matching Nick Faldo. I was trying to make birdies but they just weren’t going in. When you have a lead you don’t want to be too aggressive or too defensive, you just play ‘mediocre’ golf and hit fairways and greens.â€
There was major glory on the LPGA Tour for Taiwanese rookie Tseng Ya-ni, who emerged from a four-hole sudden-death play-off with Maria Hjorth to win the McDonald’s LPGA Championship at Havre de Grace, Maryland.
The 19-year-old became the first Taiwanese to win a major, scoring 68 on the final round for a four-round total of 12-under-par 276. Hjorth closed with 71, as did world number one Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam, who tied for third place one stroke behind on 277.
Tseng eventually took the title after a grueling play-off when she stroked home a five-foot birdie. She said in an LPGA article that she was delighted to share the spotlight with Ochoa, the dominant player so far this season.
“I feel very excited. I couldn’t believe it, I just won a major. I’m a rookie and everything just came so fast. Before I just heard ‘Lorena, Lorena’, And today it’s ‘Yani, Yani’. So it’s very exciting.â€
Tseng became the fourth rookie to take a major as her first LPGA Tour victory. The last golfer to do that was Pak Se-ri at the 1998 LPGA Championship.
It’s been nice to see Leonard rise from the ashes after his game and ranking plummeted in recent years. I was also very impressed with Immelman’s rally to get into the playoff. I wondered if Trevor would be competitive again any time soon after the life-altering experience of winning the Masters.