US TOUR: Fiji's Vijay Singh finally earned his Tour Championship title yesterday, carding a three-under-par 67 for a two-stroke victory over Charles Howell.
Singh led by at least two shots all day at overcast East Lake Golf Club and built some breathing room with consecutive birdies from the ninth.
He added a birdie at the 15th hole en route to a 72-hole total of 12-under 268.
Of the three Tour Championships held at East Lake, Singh held the 54-hole lead each time. But he lost a play-off to Hal Sutton in 1998 and finished third in 2000.
With the $900,000 top prize, Singh finished third on the money list with a career-best $3.75 million. He also won the $500,000 bonus for finishing top of the the standings in the PGA Tour's "Fall Finish".
Singh recorded his first two-win season since 1998, having claimed the Houston Open in March.
The two-time major winner earned his 11th PGA Tour title and fifth with Tiger Woods in the field, which is one off the tour best.
Howell was within a stroke when Singh bogeyed the first hole, but he didn't sink his first birdie until the 12th.
A five-under 30 on the back nine gave the 2001 Rookie of the Year a 66 and a second-place finish at 10-under 270.
Woods and Phil Mickelson - the top-ranked players in the world - were in the penultimate pairing but never threatened.
Woods posted a 70 and tied for seventh at 276, while Mickelson shot a 69 and tied for fifth at 275.
Woods tied Tom Watson's record by winning his fourth straight money title, finishing with more than $6.8 million.
He also ended the year with a tour-best five titles, including two of his eight career major victories. n WOMEN'S TOUR: South Korean Grace Park birdied the fourth extra hole to edge out Japan's Midori Yoneyama in the LPGA World Matchplay Championship final and win her first title of the year in Tokyo yesterday.
The 23-year-old Park, who beat Sweden's Carin Koch 5 and 4 in the semi-finals earlier in the day, was two down to Yoneyama after the fifth hole of regulation play but struck back on the ninth and 13th to square the final at Narita Golf Club.
Park then sank a 14-foot birdie putt in fading light on the 22nd hole to clinch her third professional career title and the first prize of $153,000.
Yoneyama had missed a golden chance for victory when she missed a two-foot putt for par, following a bogey from Park, on the second extra hole.
Defending champion Annika Sorenstam of Sweden and South Korean Pak Se-ri had both crashed out in Thursday's first round.
Sorenstam, a nine-time winner on the LPGA tour this year, lost 2 and 1 to Chieko Amanuma, while Pak, coming off a fifth title of the season in her native South Korea, was beaten one up by another Japanese player, Takayo Bando.
US TOUR: England's Luke Donald was forced to wait an extra 24 hours to resume his attempt to achieve a first victory on the US Tour.
The 24-year-old former Walker Cup star from near London led the State Farm Bureau Classic in Mississippi after the third round, but bad weather forced an early suspension to play yesterday.
Donald, 15 under par and one ahead of South African Deane Pappas, had not even teed off when the decision to stop for the day was taken.
With the circuit's top 30 money-winners all competing at the Tour Championship in Atlanta, it was a golden opportunity for Donald to bring his rookie season to the best possible conclusion.
He has already secured his card for next year with winnings of just over $620,000 - he is 106th on the money list.
Donald, with a best finish so far of 13th at the Sony Open in Hawaii back in January, is chasing a first prize of $468,000.
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