Doyle wins Senior Open
Allen Doyle outdueled playing partner and gallery favorite Tom Watson with a steady 2-under 68 Sunday to win his second straight U.S. Senior Open.
Watson had a two-stroke lead over Doyle heading into the final round in Hutchinson Kan. But Watson, the popular Kansas City native whom many in the crowd hoped would win, three-putted for bogey on two of the first three holes and never recovered. His 2-over 72 gave him a four-day total of 274, two shots behind Doyle, who finished at 8 under for the tournament.
“You know, being the underdog is not a bad thing,” Doyle said. “It allows you to come into town and take care of business. That’s fine with me. It will happen again next year. It will happen again next week.”
Doyle, whose quick, choppy swing makes it look as if his clubs are too short, is the first back-to-back U.S. Senior Open winner since Gary Player in 1987-88. A year ago, the 57-year-old Doyle came out of nowhere with a closing-round 63 in Kettering, Ohio, to win his first U.S. Senior Open.
After Watson made a great recovery shot out of the thick rough to within 2 feet of the cup on No. 17, Doyle made a tough, curling 15-foot birdie putt to maintain a two-stroke lead with one to play.
Several others spent the day charging into contention and then dropping out on the short-but-narrow Prairie Dunes layout.
D. A. Weibring finished one stroke behind Doyle, took the lead with seven birdies on his first 12 holes to get to 7 under for the day and the tournament.
But he collapsed on the back nine with bogies on 13 and 14 and a double-bogey on the par-4 16th after driving into the rough. He finished with a 68 to finish the tournament at 2 under.
Bruce Lietzke had a 66 Sunday and was tied for third with Peter Jacobsen (69) at 5 under.
Loren Roberts, whose 8-under-62 on Saturday broke the USGA Open championship record and brought him within three strokes of the lead, had a 68 Sunday and wound up at 278 along with Weibring and Jay Haas.
Scott Simpson and Andy Bean were at 4-under 276 while Bob Gilder was at 3-under 277.
PGA Western Open
Trevor Immelman birdied the 18th hole and held off Tiger Woods and Matthew Goggin to win the Western Open in Lemont, Ill. for his first PGA Tour victory.
Immelman needed to par the 18th to win. Instead, he knocked in a 32-foot putt for a birdie, putting him at 13-under 271 for the tournament – two strokes ahead of Woods and Goggin.
“To have guys like that who have been the best players in the world for the last 10 or 15 years, and to throw my name in the mix there, it’s a pretty fun time for me,” he said.
Vijay Singh, the leader through three rounds, was 2 over for the day to fall out of contention. Singh and defending champion Jim Furyk finished at 9 under, along with Tim Clark, Stephen Leaney, Stewart Cink and Carl Pettersson.
Phil Mickelson shot 71 and finished 3 over in his first tournament since the U.S. Open, where a double-bogey on the final hole cost him the championship.
Called the Western Open since 1899, the second-oldest tournament in the U.S. will get a new name – the BMW Championship – and become part of the PGA Tour’s season-ending series next year. It will be played at Cog Hill in 2007, then rotate out of the Chicago area on alternate years.
LPGA Match Play
Brittany Lincicome spoiled Michelle Wie’s bid for her first professional victory – and took most of the drama out of the finale, too.
The long-hitting Lincicome won the HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship in Gladstone, N.J. for her first LPGA Tour victory, beating Juli Inkster 3 and 2 in the final after edging Lorena Ochoa on the first extra hole in the morning semifinals.
The 20-year-old Lincicome, a 4-and-3 winner over Wie in the quarterfinals Saturday, had a 5-up lead after eight holes against the 46-year-old Inkster and ended the match with a conceded par on the par-4 16th.
In the morning semifinals, Lincicome edged Ochoa with a 20-foot birdie putt on the 19th hole, and Inkster beat Solheim Cup teammate Paula Creamer 5 and 4.