ARKON // Vijay Singh spoke of his relief after surviving a battle of nerves and some wayward putting to win the Bridgestone Invitational on Sunday. Singh shot a two-under-par, final-round 68 to win by a shot from overnight co-leader Lee Westwood and Stuart Appleby. Phil Mickelson, who had started the day with a share of the lead, slipped back to a tie for fourth place with Retief Goosen after finishing with back-to-back bogeys at the Firestone Country Club.
It was the Fijian's first victory since winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March 2007, and 32nd on the PGA Tour, making him the most successful international player of all time after passing Englishman Harry Cooper. "I'm really relieved," Singh said. "I had a good finish there at the end but I kept hitting a lot of good shots, and my putting was not the best all day, although I made a lot of birdies on the front nine.
"I hit it pretty close but towards the back nine I started missing those four-footers and five-footers, and I tried to hit it as close as possible so that I didn't leave myself a putt." Westwood had also begun the day with a chance of breaking a 10-year winless streak in the US. Nerves were frayed with all three co-leaders, England's Westwood playing alongside Singh in the final pairing of the day, with the American Mickelson playing one group in front alongside Appleby.
The leading trio began their final rounds at eight under par, one stroke in front of Appleby with first-round leader Retief Goosen another two shots back on five under. Westwood began with a birdie at the opening hole and all three leaders birdied the second, for Singh the first of three in a row that sent him into the outright lead at 11-under. Westwood then had a bogey at the par-four fourth and a double bogey at the par-three seventh as he slipped to seven under, four shots adrift of Singh and three behind Mickelson.
Yet Westwood was not finished and at the next hole, he birdied as Singh bogeyed and the pattern was repeated at the 11th as the Englishman moved to nine under and the Fijian dropped to 10 under. Mickelson birdied 11, Singh rejoining him at 11 under with a birdie at the 12th, which Westwood parred. The 13th saw Westwood birdie and Singh bogey and when Mickelson dropped his first shot of the day at the 15th, all three were tied again at 10 under.
Mickelson found the trees to the right off the 18th tee leaving him out of the running. Singh began the last with a one-shot lead and he had a birdie putt to win 26ft but left it short by around four feet. That gave Westwood a chance to force a play-off from 16ft but he pulled his putt wide and Singh needed to hole out from just three-and-a-half feet for victory. For once the nerves held. * PA Sport
