Final round: Playoffs get started with a bang
PARAMUS, N.J. (AP) -- Vijay Singh ended up beating Sergio Garcia on a gopher hole. Yes, a gopher. Or maybe a mole.
Singh won The Barclays for a record fourth time Sunday, matching Garcia's long birdie putt on the first hole of a playoff and finishing off his Spanish friend on the second extra hole after Garcia got a lucky break from the furry critter.
After Singh topped Garcia's 27-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole -- the 472-yard 18th -- with a 26-footer, things got a little weird on the 577-yard, par-5 17th.
First, Garcia uncharacteristically hooked his drive into the left rough. Then, with Singh in the fairway, Garcia hit his second shot behind a huge tree in the right rough. Singh then hit a 267-yard approach onto the green, about 20 feet long and right.
"I got stymied behind the tree, and I got lucky because I got a drop because of some gopher holes or whatever it was,'' Garcia said. "It wasn't where my ball was, but like about 5 or 6 feet left. It was actually moving. You could see the grass going up and down. It was actually there and we were trying to find it, but we couldn't.''
Able to get a clear path to the green, Garcia advanced the ball near the front of the green about 30 feet from the hole and nearly holed his chip. Singh then rolled his 20-foot eagle putt within inches for a tap-in birdie.
"I wasn't really concerned about him,'' Singh said. "I just wanted to know why he got a drop, there was obviously a mole there and he was burrowing at that moment, you could see him popping out. ... I was really focused on what I was doing.''
The 45-year-old Fijian closed with a 1-under 70 to match Garcia (70) and Kevin Sutherland (68) at 8-under 276 on the sun-baked Ridgewood Country Club course, the first-time site after 41 seasons at Westchester Country Club.
"It's a great golf course,'' said Singh, the 1993, 1995 and 2006 winner at Westchester. "Westchester was a good golf course. This tops Westchester. Every single player out there absolutely enjoyed this golf course.''
The World Golf Championships - Bridgestone Invitational winner three weeks ago at Firestone, Singh earned 11,000 FedExCup points in the playoff opener to take the lead with 109,500 points -- 5,125 ahead of second-place Garcia. Singh also earned $1.26 million for his 33rd PGA TOUR victory.
Singh and Garcia, a two-time Westchester champion who won THE PLAYERS Championship in May in a playoff with Paul Goydos, had the large crowd around the 18th green roaring with the birdie exchange on the first extra hole.
"I think he was surprised to make his,'' Singh said. "I was surprised to see it go in, and he was even more surprised to see mine go in.''
Singh and Garcia high-fived each other after Singh holed his putt.
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| Sunday's Best |
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The par-4, 291-yard 5th was the easiest with a Sunday scoring average of 3.806.
The par-4, 475-yard 12th was toughest with a Sunday scoring average of 4.278.
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A pair known for troublesome putting, Vijay Singh and Sergio Garcia share the shot of the day for their clutch birdie putts on the first playoff hole. 
Big bomber J.B. Holmes earned top honors for the best final round. He shot a bogey-free, 5-under 66 with a loaded back nine; four birdies from 11 to 17. | TRIVIA QUESTION | ||
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DESPITE HOT PUTTER, GARCIA FALLS JUST SHORT IN PLAYOFF
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
PARAMUS, N.J. -- The Barclays had it all.
A tournament that appeared to be anybody's ball game for most of a sunny, warm and humid afternoon in the Garden State fittingly turned into a three-way playoff. Two heart-stopping putts extended the festivities to a second extra hole. There was even a Caddyshack moment.
As luck would have it, Sergio Garcia didn't win The Barclays for the third time in his career. But he approached that playoff with Kevin Sutherland and the eventual champ, Vijay Singh, with the mixture of determination and gracious good humor that marked his youth and endeared the Spaniard to fans worldwide.
Garcia had accepted the loss to Padraig Harrington at the PGA Championship two weeks ago with similar maturity. He's clearly focused more on his own abilities now than any percieved slights from the golf gods, and the man who won THE PLAYERS Championship earlier this year has finished runner-up in each of his last two starts.
"What can you do?" Garcia asked rhetorically. "You can't take it the wrong way. I think the most important thing about it is that I keep putting myself in a good position, and unfortunately, somebody just seems to be able to come up with some spectacular playing when I'm out there on top.
"I feel like I played solid all week. I got a couple bad breaks here and there that maybe would have made the difference, and a couple good ones here and there, too. At the end of the day, I had a shot. That's what you ask yourself for, and Vijay came out with the goods, and you've just got to give hats off to him."
When Garcia made a 25-footer for birdie on the first extra hole, he pumped both fists in the air, turned toward the CBS broadcast tower, tapped his chest over his heart and blew a kiss to his European Ryder Cup Captain Nick Faldo. And when Singh answered with his own birdie putt from 24, Garcia grinned, saluted by raising his fist and then high-fived the big Fijian.
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| What the top finishers said... | ||||||||||||||||
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'I'M ALL RIGHT, DON'T NOBODY WORRY 'BOUT ME'
Call it the Caddyshack moment of The Barclays. As in gophers digging under the course.
| 5 | Number of strokes over par that Hunter Mahan, who shot 62 in the first round, played his final two rounds |
| 6 | Number of positions The Barclays winner Vijay singh moved up the FedExCup points standings |
| 120 | Number of players who will compete in the next Playoffs event, the Deutsche Bank Championship |
After Sergio Garcia hit his second shot behind a tree on the second playoff hole -- the par-5 17th -- he sought and received relief for what Garcia called "gopher holes." Or more to the point, gopher tunnels.
"It was not where my ball was, but like about five or six feet left, (the ground) was actually moving," Garcia said. "You could see the grass going up and down."
Because the unstable ground threatened to impact Garcia's shot, he was allowed to drop one club length away, per rule 25-1 for abnormal ground condition that interferes with a player's stance or the area of his intended swing.
Meanwhile, Vijay Singh had to wait after hitting a superb second shot that left him 20 feet for an eagle putt (and eventual two-putt for the birdie and the win).
"I wasn't really concerned about him," Singh said. "I just wanted to know why he got a drop. There was obviously a mole there, and he was burrowing at the moment -- you could see him popping out."
The only thing missing in this scene, evidently, was Carl Spackler.
STICKS AND STONES MAY BREAK BONES, BUT WORDS CAN ... ENCOURAGE?
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
Speaking out of turn? Or speaking the truth?
When Paul Casey addressed his birdie putt at the 18th hole Sunday, European Ryder Cup Captain Nick Faldo, who is calling the action from the 18th hole for CBS, said, "If he makes this, he's on the team."
Casey, who is one of those being considered as a Captain's Pick by Faldo, drained it.
Faldo's reaction? "Oh, maybe I shouldn't have said that."
He was quick to say he would be naming the team in a few weeks, but ... CBS stablemate Peter Kostis is Casey's instructor, and he definitely heard it.
Afterward, when asked about Faldo's comments, Casey said, "Oh, we've got it on tape; lawyers would have a field day with that one."
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INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK
Sirius XM Radio announcer Fred Albers offers these observations from Sunday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.
Beware of the injured. All week long, Vijay Singh wore a wrap on his left arm but would not discuss it. Finally, on Sunday -- before his final round -- Singh told The PGA TOUR Network's Mark Carnevale that he is suffering from tendonitis, and the wrap relieves the stress. It wasn't a stress-free final round, but Vijay won the Barclays with birdies on both playoff holes.
You barely notice the blue bracelet on Kenny's Perry's wrist, but it's always there to remind him of Eric Baumgartner. Perry was part of "Make-A-Wish," playing golf with Eric, who suffered from cystic fibrosis. Eric passed away not long after their round of golf, and wearing the bracelet reminds Perry of his good fortune and the responsibility to share with others.
It's Playoffs time, and Mike Weir knows all about playoffs. The lefty from Canada grew up watching hockey, where players don't shave during Stanley Cup competition. Weir is growing a beard during the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.
STATS AND FACTS: AUG. 24, 2008
Compiled by Elias Sports Bureau, Inc.
• Vijay Singh won The Barclays in a playoff coming back from an eight-shot deficit after the first round. Singh shot a first-round 70, putting him eight strokes back of Hunter Mahan, the first round leader, who shot a 62. This ties the largest comeback for Singh in his career. In the 2004 Shell Houston Open, Singh was 2 over, eight shots back of the first round leader Rod Pampling. Singh later came back to win.
• Mathew Goggin finished the final two rounds at The Barclays with a streak of 36 consecutive holes at par or better. This is the longest such streak of his career and helped him finish one stroke out of the playoff and begin the Playoffs with a tie for fourth.
• Singh's win comes after shooting a final round of 70. This was his third round of 70 in the tournament. This is the second time in his career that he has won a tournament in which he had three or more rounds of 70 or higher. In the 2005 Shell Houston Open, Vijay shot scores of 64, 71, 70 and 70 and emerged victorious in a playoff round.
• Vijay Singh won The Barclays with birdies on the 73rd and 74th holes of the tournament. His last birdie on a playoff hole was at the 2004 Bell Canadian Open when he birdied the par-5 18th.
• The Barclays became the fifth tournament of the year in which the first-round leader had a lower score relative to par than the eventual winner did for the entire tournament. The other tournaments are the U.S. Open Championship, Stanford St. Jude Championship, British Open Championship and PODS Championship.
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