Singh wins PGA Championship

Fiji’s Vijay Singh took another step towards being hailed as one of the all-time golfing greats by winning his third major title tonight.

But the 41-year-old needed a play-off after one of his worst rounds ever on such a big stage.

Singh did not have a single birdie in a closing 76 in the United States PGA Championship at Whistling Straits and it will go down as the highest winning round in a major since Reg Whitcombe in the 1938 Open.

He was given a reprieve when Justin Leonard, needing to win to leap into America’s Ryder Cup team, bogeyed the final hole and dropped back alongside not only Singh, but also Chris DiMarco on the eight-under-par mark of 280.

Leonard, Open champion at Troon in 1997, had himself managed only a 75, while DiMarco, chasing his first major, produced a one-under 71.

One month after Todd Hamilton and Ernie Els played four extra holes at Troon the trio went into a three-hole play-off and Singh struck straightaway, pitching to five feet on the 361-yard 10th and this time making it for his first birdie of the day.

He had a chance to go further in front, but missed from similar range at the short 17th after a brilliant tee shot.

Leonard and DiMarco, whose last-day charge gave him a Ryder Cup debut, parred both holes to keep their hopes alive, but unlike Singh they could not find the green at the last and Singh’s two putts from 40 feet gave him the trophy again.

He won at Sahalee in Seattle in 1998.

The victory, his fifth of the season, put Leonard out of an automatic Ryder Cup place and put Chris Riley in instead.

Riley feared a missed five-footer on the last had cost him, but with Leonard not winning his joint fourth place with Ernie Els was good enough.

The players to be bumped off and left needing wild cards were Steve Flesch and 50-year-old Jay Haas.

Dubliner Paul McGinley leapt into a share of sixth place with a closing 69 - one of the low rounds of the day with the Wisconsin course playing much faster and tougher.

It was a huge boost to his own Ryder Cup hopes, but there are still two weeks left in the European race.

Darren Clarke, joint third overnight, fell back to 13th with a 76 and was alongside Brian Davis (74).

Luke Donald and Padraig Harrington, both five under overnight and still in with an outside chance, were only 24th and 45th after rounds of 75 and 78 respectively.

Leonard was involved in a win-or-bust effort five years on from winning the match in Boston amid controversial scenes when team-mates celebrated prematurely after he sank a 45-foot putt on the 17th green at Brookline against Jose Maria Olazabal.

He came into this the final week of their race – Europe’s players have two more to go – 30th in the standings, but he was handed the lead when the Fijian double-bogeyed the 493-yard par-four fourth after hitting a wild second into sand and then finding another bunker.

Singh dropped back to 10 under par and found himself two behind as Leonard had rolled in a 14-foot birdie putt at the short third.

Leonard then escaped from the long fifth with a par despite having to take a penalty drop from a hazard by the green, but was then caught by DiMarco making three birdies in four holes around the turn.

However, DiMarco then bogeyed the difficult 15th and Leonard rolled in a 14-foot birdie putt at the 13th.

Tiger Woods, meanwhile, had presented Els with a chance to end his five-year reign as world number one by finishing with a 73 for 24th spot. But Els had to finish second.

It was decision day for American Ryder Cup captain Hal Sutton.

While Bernhard Langer still has two more weeks to make up his mind on who to pick – he insists there are no guarantees for anybody, including Colin Montgomerie, yet – Sutton’s two wild cards were being given the good news at the conclusion of the USPGA Championship.

The official announcement comes tomorrow, but the 46-year-old spent the final round waiting to see who made it into the top 10 of what for the United States has been a three-year race for automatic places.

In the European battle, Montgomerie did his hopes of climbing into the top 10 from his current 21st little or no good with a nine over aggregate – the worst of his PGA career – and David Howell and Ian Poulter, currently eighth and ninth, finished one over and level par.

The problem for those two – and Davis – is that they are not in next week’s NEC World Championship, the penultimate counting event and one of the richest.

Singh said: ``Justin was so unlucky and it is sad to see somebody win it the way I did.

“I didn’t think I played badly, but my putter fell asleep on me. I played really well in the play-off, though.”

Final round scores

(USA unless stated, par 72):

280 Vijay Singh (Fij) 67 68 69 76, Chris DiMarco 68 70 71 71, Justin Leonard 66 69 70 75 (Singh won three-hole play-off).

281 Ernie Els (Rsa) 66 70 72 73, Chris Riley 69 70 69 73

282 Paul McGinley (Ir) 69 74 70 69, KJ Choi (Kor) 68 71 73 70, Phil Mickelson 69 72 67 74

283 Robert Allenby (Aus) 71 70 72 70, Ben Crane 70 74 69 70, Adam Scott (Aus) 71 71 69 72, Stephen Ames (Can) 68 71 69 75

284 Arron Oberholser 73 71 70 70, Brad Faxon 71 71 70 72, Brian Davis (Gbr) 70 71 69 74, Darren Clarke (Irl) 65 71 72 76

285 Stuart Appleby (Aus) 68 75 72 70, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 72 71 70 72, Stewart Cink 73 70 70 72, David Toms 72 72 69 72, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 72 70 70 73, Matt Gogel 71 71 69 74, Loren Roberts 68 72 70 75

286 Tom Byrum 72 73 71 70, Shaun Micheel 77 68 70 71, Chad Campbell 73 70 71 72, JL Lewis 73 69 72 72, Tiger Woods 75 69 69 73, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 68 73 71 74, Luke Donald (Gbr) 67 73 71 75

287 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 76 65 75 71, Chip Sullivan 72 71 73 71, Carlos Franco (Par) 69 75 72 71, Bo Van Pelt 74 71 70 72, Charles Howell 70 71 72 74, Nick O’Hern (Aus) 73 71 68 75

288 Todd Hamilton 72 73 75 68, Brett Quigley 74 69 73 72, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 75 69 72 72, Ian Poulter (Gbr) 73 72 70 73, Zach Johnson 75 70 69 74, Briny Baird 67 69 75 77, Steve Flesch 73 72 67 76, Jay Haas 68 72 71 77

289 Tommy Armour 72 71 74 72, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 74 70 73 72, David Howell (Gbr) 72 72 70 75, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 68 71 72 78

290 Pat Sheehan 70 71 75 74, Nick Faldo (Gbr) 72 70 74 74, Joe Ogilvie 75 68 70 77, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 71 73 69 77, Duffy Waldorf 69 72 70 79

291 Carl Pettersson (Swe) 71 71 76 73

292 Paul Azinger 74 71 74 73, SK Ho (S Kor) 72 73 73 74, Craig Parry (Aus) 70 75 71 76, Bob Tway 71 70 74 77, Eduardo Romero (Arg) 72 73 70 77, Hidemichi Tanaka (Jpn) 72 71 71 78, Rod Pampling (Aus) 73 69 70 80

293 Jeff Sluman 72 72 79 70, Scott Verplank 67 76 77 73, Shingo Katayama (Jpn) 74 70 76 73, Woody Austin 74 71 74 74