Steve Lowery revealed an aggressive approach to his final round helped the 47-year-old claim the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Lowery carded a 68 and clawed back a three-shot deficit to Vijay Singh with four holes remaining to force a play-off, before sinking a seven-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole to beat the Fijian.
"I just kind of told my caddie, I've got nothing to lose," he said. "Just go out and play aggressive. I guess if anything, it kind of freed me up a little bit. I just felt like I didn't have anything to lose."
Lowery finished on 10 under par and took a one-shot lead into the clubhouse after nearly clinching the title on the last with a 40-foot birdie putt that hit the cup but stayed out.
Singh then hit a three wood into the wind on the par-five 18th that left him 45 yards to the pin before striking his third shot to five feet, making his birdie for a one-under-par 71 that forced the play-off.
Back on the 18th tee, Singh hit his drive into a fairway bunker after Lowery had found the fairway. A poor shot out of the bunker left Singh almost 200 yards from the green and he found sand again near the green but was able to blast out to eight feet and convert for par. Lowery laid up and hit a solid third shot, spinning the ball back from past the flag to seven feet before converting the birdie for the third win of his career. "I knew Vijay was probably going to make that putt. I was trying to commit myself to 'I've got to make this putt to win' and was able to roll it in there," Lowery added.
It was also Lowry's first victory since the Southern Farm Bureau Classic in 2000.
Lowery had just one birdie coming in, a 19-footer at the 17th that gave him the lead thanks to some help from the man he was chasing. Singh fell apart down the back nine before recovering to force a play-off, recording three consecutive bogeys from the 14th. "I'm very disappointed. I let this one slip away," said Singh. "I didn't think I was going to lose this . . . but on the middle of the back nine I let some get away. The shot on 14 wasn't a bad shot. It just spun off the green and all of a sudden I made a bogey there. I hit a poor chip on 15 and a bad tee shot on 16. One bad shot after another in three holes in succession."
British Open champion Padraig Harrington tied for 14th. The 36-year-old said he had paid the price for mental mistakes after closing with a 72. "I am feeling my way back," Harrington said after posting a four-under total of 284. "It was an okay week but I made lots of mental errors."
FINAL TOTALS(USA unless stated, par 72): 278 - Steve Lowery 69 71 70 68 (Steve Lowery won play-off at one hole ), Vijay Singh (Fij) 70 70 67 71 279 - Dudley Hart 69 70 68 72, Corey Pavin 73 69 71 66, John Mallinger 67 74 73 65 280 - Jason Day (Aus) 69 70 71 70 282 - Dustin Johnson 73 68 68 73, Nicholas Thompson 69 69 74 70 283 - Y E Yang (Kor) 69 73 68 73, Joe Ogilvie 74 69 70 70, Tag Ridings 73 71 68 71, Brent Geiberger 69 73 71 70, Jason Gore 70 74 69 70 284 - Daisuke Maruyama (Jpn) 71 72 71 70, Michael Allen 68 70 71 75, Parker McLachlin 70 70 74 70, James Driscoll 72 68 72 72, D.A. Points 68 73 70 73, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 73 67 70 74, Jim Furyk 71 75 67 71, Mike Weir (Can) 75 69 71 69, Shane Bertsch 77 70 68 69, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 72 70 70 72.
