The Masters 2008 prize money

Trevor Immelman -8 (68-68-69-75=280) +3(75) $1,350,000

Tiger Woods -5 (72-71-68-72=283) E(72) $810,000

Stewart Cink -4 (72-69-71-72=284) E(72) $435,000

Brandt Snedeker -4 (69-68-70-77=284) +5(77) $435,000

Steve Flesch -2 (72-67-69-78=286) +6(78) $273,750

Phil Mickelson -2 (71-68-75-72=286) E(72) $273,750

Harrington -2 (74-71-69-72=286) E(72) $273,750

The Masters – Immelman hangs on for Masters win

Trevor Immelman survived a double-bogey at the 16th hole to become the first South African to win the Masters in 30 years with a three-shot victory on Sunday.

Maintaining his composure in swirling winds at Augusta National, the dapper 28-year-old golfer got up and down from a greenside bunker to par 17 before parring the last to seal his first major title.

Two ahead of the chasing pack overnight, Immelman followed in the footsteps of his childhood hero Gary Player to secure the prized green jacket with a three-over-par 75.

He also became the fifth wire-to-wire champion at the Masters, and the first since American Raymond Floyd in 1976, with an eight-under total of 280.

“It was just so tough and I was trying to be tough,” a beaming Immelman said after being presented with his green jacket by last year’s champion, American Zach Johnson.

“That’s all I kept saying to myself, just hang in there and play one shot at a time. There’s a disaster around every corner, as I showed on 16. I just tried to hang in there and I can’t believe I did it.”

Immelman said he had gained a major boost from Player after Saturday’s third round when the 72-year-old told him on the telephone he was confident the young South African would win.

“It meant an awful lot,” he added. “I played it to my whole family on speaker phone. Mr Player has been at me the whole week, since Tuesday when we played together, telling me to believe in myself, telling me I’m good enough to do it.”

World number one Tiger Woods, four-times champion at Augusta and overwhelming favourite at the start of the week, had to settle for second place after closing with a 72.

Six strokes off the pace going into the final round, Woods struggled to make headway in his bid for a 14th major title.

He offset three birdies with three bogeys to finish at five-under 283, dashing his bid for a unique calendar grand slam of the four professional majors.

“I didn’t putt well all week,” Woods said. “Some weeks are like that. You have bad weeks and you have good weeks, and certainly this week was not one of my best.”

Immelman, who four months ago had emergency surgery to remove a non-cancerous tumour on his diaphragm, was briefly caught by American playing partner Brandt Snedeker after two holes.

Both players bogeyed the par-four first after failing to reach the green in two before the mop-haired Snedeker rolled in a 40-footer to eagle the par-five second.

Immelman, aiming to become the first South African to win the Masters since Player in 1978, parred the hole after failing to get up and down from the right greenside bunker for birdie.

Although Immelman birdied the par-four fifth after hitting a superb approach to four feet, he squandered an opportunity to forge five ahead when he narrowly missed a three-foot birdie putt at the seventh.

The South African dropped another shot at the par-five eighth where he was bunkered off the tee before three-putting from long range, but did well to save par at the ninth with an up-and-down from the left greenside bunker.

Out in one-over-par 37, he offset a bogey at the treacherous 12th with his birdie at the 13th to stay well ahead of his challengers.

Although he pulled his tee shot into the pond guarding the left of the 16th green on his way to a double-bogey six, he held his nerve over the closing stretch to win the biggest title of his career.

Snedeker and fellow American Stewart Cink finished tied third, a shot behind Woods, with world number two Phil Mickelson, Open champion Padraig Harrington of Ireland and American Steve Flesch a further two strokes adrift.

Masters Sunday halfway: scores

Pos	Name		Status	Hole	To Par	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1		T. Immelman	In progress	6	-11	68	68	69	-	205
2		B. Snedeker	In progress	5	-9	69	68	70	-	207
3		S. Flesch	In progress	6	-8	72	67	69	-	208
4		T. Woods	In progress	7	-5	72	71	68	-	211
-		S. Cink	In progress	7	-5	72	69	71	-	212
6		P. Casey	In progress	6	-4	71	69	69	-	209
-		P. Harrington	In progress	8	-4	74	71	69	-	214
8		P. Mickelson	In progress	11	-2	71	68	75	-	214
-		A. Romero	In progress	8	-2	72	72	70	-	214
10		Z. Johnson	In progress	8	-1	70	76	68	-	214
-		M. Jimenez	Finished	18	-1	77	70	72	68	287
-		B. Weekley	In progress	8	-1	72	74	68	-	214
13		S. Appleby	In progress	17	Par	76	70	72	-	218
-		L. Westwood	In progress	12	Par	69	73	73	-	215
-		R. Karlsson	In progress	9	Par	70	73	71	-	214
-		N. Watney	In progress	14	Par	75	70	72	-	217
17		S. O’Hair	In progress	9	+1	72	71	71	-	214
-		R. Goosen	In progress	10	+1	71	71	72	-	214
-		M. Weir	In progress	14	+1	73	68	75	-	216
-		V. Singh	In progress	11	+1	72	71	72	-	215

The Masters: after round three

Golf – The Masters – Rankings – 2008 – Men – Round 3

Pos	Player	Result
1	Tiger Woods (USA – 32)	68
1	Zach Johnson (USA – 32)	68
1	Boo Weekley (USA – 34)	68
4	Steve Flesch (USA – 40)	69
4	Padraig Harrington (IRL – 36)	69
4	Trevor Immelman (RSA – 28)	69
4	Paul Casey (ENG – 30)	69
8	Adam Scott (AUS – 27)	70
8	Andrés Romero (ARG – 26)	70
8	Brandt Snedeker (USA – 27)	70
11	Robert Karlsson (SWE – 38)	71
11	Sean O’Hair (USA – 25)	71
11	Stewart Cink (USA – 34)	71
14	Retief Goosen (RSA – 39)	72
14	Justin Leonard (USA – 35)	72
14	Vijay Singh (FIJ – 45)	72
14	Miguel Ángel Jiménez (ESP – 44)	72
14	David Toms (USA – 41)	72
14	Brian Bateman (USA – 35)	72
14	Stuart Appleby (AUS – 36)	72
14	Robert Allenby (AUS – 36)	72
14	Henrik Stenson (SWE – 32)	72
14	Nick Watney (USA – 26)	72
14	Jeev Milkha Singh (IND – 36)	72
25	Ángel Cabrera (ARG – 38)	73
25	Bubba Watson (USA – 29)	73
25	Justin Rose (ENG – 27)	73
25	Lee Westwood (ENG – 34)	73
25	Jim Furyk (USA – 37)	73
25	J.B. Holmes (USA – 25)	73
25	Richard Sterne (RSA – 26)	73
32	Nick Dougherty (ENG – 25)	74
32	Arron Oberholser (USA – 33)	74
32	Johnson Wagner (USA – 28)	74
35	Mike Weir (CAN – 37)	75
35	Ian Poulter (ENG – 32)	75
35	Todd Hamilton (USA – 42)	75
35	Phil Mickelson (USA – 37)	75
39	Geoff Ogilvy (AUS – 30)	76
39	Ian Woosnam (WAL – 50)	76
39	Niclas Fasth (SWE – 35)	76
42	Stephen Ames (CAN – 43)	77
42	Heath Slocum (USA – 34)	77
44	Sandy Lyle (SCO – 50)	78
44	K.J. Choi (KOR – 37)	78

Masters Leaderbord

Pos	Name		Status	Hole	To Par	R1	R2	Total
1		T. Immelman	Finished	18	-8	68	68	136
2		B. Snedeker	Finished	18	-7	69	68	137
3		I. Poulter	Finished	18	-5	70	69	139
-		P. Mickelson	Finished	18	-5	71	68	139
-		S. Flesch	Finished	18	-5	72	67	139
6		P. Casey	Finished	18	-4	71	69	140
-		S. Ames	Finished	18	-4	70	70	140
8		A. Oberholser	Finished	18	-3	71	70	141
-		M. Weir	Finished	18	-3	73	68	141
-		S. Cink	Finished	18	-3	72	69	141
11		L. Westwood	Finished	18	-2	69	73	142
-		R. Goosen	Finished	18	-2	71	71	142
13		S. O’Hair	Finished	18	-1	72	71	143
-		T. Woods	Finished	18	-1	72	71	143
-		R. Karlsson	Finished	18	-1	70	73	143
-		V. Singh	Finished	18	-1	72	71	143
-		J. Furyk	Finished	18	-1	70	73	143
-		J. Holmes	Finished	18	-1	73	70	143
-		N. Dougherty	Finished	18	-1	74	69	143
20		A. Romero	Finished	18	Par	72	72	144

The Masters – Unlikely lads in front at the Masters

South African Trevor Immelman, finding his form after recovering from health problems last year, birdied the last two holes for a 68 to grab a one-stroke lead in the second round of the Masters.

Immelman, overnight co-leader with Briton Justin Rose, matched his first-round score by posting three birdies on the back nine to reach eight-under-par 136 as he got hot with his putter on a warm, breezy day at Augusta National.

American Brandt Snedeker was alone in second place after he mirrored Immelman’s rousing finish with birdies at 17 and 18 to complete a 68 for 137, two shots better than compatriots Phil Mickelson and Steve Flesch, and Briton Ian Poulter.

However, Tiger Woods has an awful lot to do if he is to win his fifth green jacket, he struggled to get anything going throughout the day and finished with a one-under 71 to leave himself seven shots back.

Immelman, 28, had a benign tumour the size of a golf ball removed from behind his rib cage four months ago and had previously lost more than 20 pounds due to an intestinal parasite.

Second on the leaderboard at seven-under-par was American Snedeker, who mirrored Immelman’s rousing finish with birdies at 17 and 18 to complete a 68 for 137, two shots better than Phil Mickelson, Steve Flesch and Briton Ian Poulter.

Twice winner Mickelson made three birdies on the front side and capped his bogey-free round with a 30-foot birdie at 17 for a 68, while left-handed Flesch had the tournament’s low round by going five-under on the par-fives in a bogey-free 67.

Poulter, who registered an electrifying ace at 16 in the opening round, made three back-nine birdies for a 69.

Rose, in the last grouping, slipped back to two-under-par by the turn, and four times champion Tiger Woods was even par for the day and the tournament through nine holes as swirling winds made conditions tougher as the day wore on.

At four-under-par 140 were Briton Paul Casey, after a 69, and Canadian Stephen Ames, who shot his second successive 70.

Flesch birdied par-fives number two, eight and 15, and had an eagle at the 13th where his three-iron from 234 yards finished a couple of feet from the hole.

Flesch, a relatively short hitter off the tee, who twice laid up to hit wedges in and twice went for greens in two.

Snedeker, 27, drew a huge roar from the gallery at number six with an imaginative chip from the green to carry a mound, landing it at a 90-degree angle from the cup and watching it trickle down a slope and into the hole.

At the other end of the leaderboard, Rose, playing in the last group, endured a torrid round, which was summed up by an eight on the par five 15th.

The Englishman was two over playing the last and is set for a late start on Sunday.

Fred Couples’ streak of consecutive Masters cuts was projected to end at 23, he finished 148 (four over) just one off the cut-line as play was coming to an end.

Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, Luke Donald and Jose Maria Olazabal were among the other big name casualties set to miss out on the weekend’s action.

The Masters: Leaderbord: Justin Rose leads

Pos	Name		Status	Hole	To Par	R1	Total
1		J. Rose	Finished	18	-4	68	68
-		T. Immelman	Finished	18	-4	68	68
3		B. Snedeker	Finished	18	-3	69	69
-		B. Bateman	Finished	18	-3	69	69
-		L. Westwood	Finished	18	-3	69	69
6		J. Furyk	Finished	18	-2	70	70
-		R. Karlsson	Finished	18	-2	70	70
-		S. Ames	Finished	18	-2	70	70
-		I. Poulter	Finished	18	-2	70	70
-		Z. Johnson	Finished	18	-2	70	70
11		P. Casey	Finished	18	-1	71	71
-		A. Oberholser	Finished	18	-1	71	71
-		J. Singh	Finished	18	-1	71	71
-		H. Slocum	Finished	18	-1	71	71
-		P. Lonard	Finished	18	-1	71	71
-		R. Goosen	Finished	18	-1	71	71
-		M. O’Meara	Finished	18	-1	71	71
-		P. Mickelson	Finished	18	-1	71	71
19		J. Leonard	Finished	18	Par	72	72
-		R. Allenby	Finished	18	Par	72	72

The Masters – Masters Countdown: Expert picks

Augusta Chronicle golf writer Scott Michaux says that Justin Rose, Lee Westwood and Padraig Harrington will all finish in the top 10 in Georgia. With the Masters set to begin later today in Augusta we bring you the leaderboard predictions of our local experts on the ground.

Yahoo! golf editor Michael Arkush:

1. Vijay Singh: He is hitting the ball better than anyone this year – well, almost anyone. Seems a bit under the radar, which works to his advantage.

2. Tiger Woods: So much for the talk of the Grand Slam – this year, that is.

3. Phil Mickelson: He is always extremely focused for this tournament, and this year is no exception.

4. Geoff Ogilvy: We forgot about him, until he resurfaced with great play over the last month. He won’t be intimidated by Woods.

5. Fred Couples: Did you see what he did last week in Houston? Of course, he must putt better than he did in 2006.

6. Ernie Els: The Big Easy could do what he did last month in Florida. Then again, he could easily miss the cut.

7. Steve Stricker: He missed the cut last year and has only one Top 10 here in seven starts. In other words, he’s due.

8. Hunter Mahan: On the minus side, he’s played here only once. On the plus side, he can go low – real low.

9. Rory Sabbatini: We haven’t heard much from him in recent weeks, but isn’t he one of the other guys who finished second last year?

10. Jose Maria Olazabal: It would be just like him, after missing another huge chunk of time, to make a run at his third green jacket.

Yahoo! contributor Steve Eubanks:

1. Tiger Woods: As of Tuesday morning, the Las Vegas line was 11-10, which is ridiculous. Secretariat wasn’t that sure a bet. That said, Tiger could win by 31 lengths.

2. Vijay Singh: Continues to be the best ball striker in the game. His weakness, of course, has been putting. But on greens where experience matters, he will be there Sunday.

3. Retief Goosen: The swing changes have worked, and the putter is back. A T-2 at the last WGC event, followed by a solid final round in New Orleans, should give him confidence.

4. K.J. Choi: One win, two more top-10s and a solid three rounds in Houston for a T-11, Choi is the best bet to make the Masters his first major. Also, don’t underestimate his drive to become the first male Korean major champion.

5. Jim Furyk: Furyk is the consummate grinder, and someone who wants to break into the multiple-major-winner club.

6. Geoff Ogilvy: He couldn’t find a fairway early in the season, but after four missed cuts he has had a top-10, a T-14, a win and a tie for second last week in Houston.

7. Padraig Harrington: In five U.S. starts, his worst finish had been a T-26 in Houston, where one bad round cost him.

8. Adam Scott: They have been fleeting, but the signs of brilliance are there. He shot 63 last week with the flu, and already has a 61 in the books this year.

9. Phil Mickelson: Yes, he is a two-time winner and higher than ninth on almost every expert’s list. But he is currently 178th in driving accuracy.

10. Ernie Els: Injuries aside, Ernie has a lot more on his mind than golf. He is still the most talented player in the field without a green jacket.

The Masters – Els dumps swing coach of 20 years

Ernie Els has dumped swing coach David Leadbetter in favour of Butch Harmon, the South African said following a practice round at the U.S. Masters.

Els’s split with Leadbetter, his mentor for nearly 20 years, is the latest step in a career makeover that includes a switch to new equipment, a revised schedule and a move to Florida.

While the South African’s overhaul has been under way for some time, his parting with Leadbetter came as a shock, the world number three having recently notched his first PGA Tour win in nearly four years at last month’s Honda Classic.

Els started working with Harmon, Tiger Woods’s former swing guru, three weeks later at the World Golf Championship at Doral.

“David Leadbetter is a very good friend of mine, he’s been a mentor of mine for a very long time,” Els said.

“I’ve been with him close to 20 years for our friendship and working relationship.

“I just wanted to go get some different — get a different feel, get different words coming towards me, and just find a bit more about how Butch is teaching.

“He’s obviously had a lot of success with a lot of players, and I love the way he changes people’s games.”

How the coaching change will impact Els when the year’s first major starts on Thursday remains unclear.

Since his victory in Florida, Els, a three-times major winner, has struggled with indifferent form and illness, missing the cut in Tampa and withdrawing from the Arnold Palmer event and Houston Open.

The Masters has been on top of Els’s “to-do” list for a long time. He has come agonisingly close to adding the title to his collection, posting five consecutive top-10 results from 2000, including runner-up finishes in 2000 and 2004.

But his last three visits to Augusta National have not gone as well, with 27th and 47th-place finishes before missing his first Masters cut since 1995 last year.

“It could go either way,” said Els. “When I do those moves and I get it in the right slot, I’m hitting really wonderful golf shots.

“To do that around Augusta, knowing with all of the hazards and trouble around this place, that’s another story.

“Emotionally, hopefully I can be right on Thursday and really trust the swing and trust my different moves.”

Reuters

The Masters – Masters Countdown: Top five moments

Check out the most memorable moments in Masters history.

1. 1986 Masters: Jack Nicklaus (12,942 votes)

The most memorable part of the 1986 Masters wasn’t the shot-making itself; it was the Sunday roars reverberating through Augusta National every time Jack Nicklaus sank another birdie or eagle putt. Other golfers could only pause between shots waiting for the din to die down. Nicklaus, 46, kept plodding along, feeding off the cheers and shooting an astonishing back-nine 30 for a 65 to win by one and claim a record sixth Masters title.

“That was special for me and special I suppose for the golfing world in so many ways because they just didn’t expect that to happen,” Nicklaus said.

There wasn’t one shot that won it for the Golden Bear there were several, and not all of his own doing.

There was his eagle at 15 after hitting 4-iron to 15 feet; the short birdie putt at 16 after nearly holing his tee shot; the double-breaking birdie putt he drained at 17 to take the lead; and the long lag putt at 18 that left him a tap-in for par.

Playing behind Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros had led by two going to 15 before chunking his approach into the water for the first of two late bogeys. At 18, Tom Kite, down one, hit a 6-iron that released nicely to within 12 feet of the hole. But his birdie putt to tie lost speed and slid past the cup’s left edge.

The last to challenge Jack was third-round leader Greg Norman, who birdied 14, 15, 16 and 17 to catch Nicklaus at nine under, only to fall apart at 18. The Shark inexplicably blocked his second shot well right into the crowd, then was unable to get up and down for a par that would have forced a playoff for the ages.

“The reality of it all was that going into the back nine, Jack was not even a factor in most of our minds,” Kite says. “The competition was between Seve, Greg and myself, and I’m pretty sure we all thought the winner would come from those three.”

They thought wrong.

2. 1997: Tiger Woods (10,174 votes)

Tiger Woods’ first Masters as a professional appeared a disaster in the making from the start. In Thursday’s first round, he went out in 40, hinting he might have trouble breaking 80. Silly us: He went on to break tournament records.

At 21, Woods gave a clinic in first-class world beating, shooting 30 on Thursday’s back nine, taking a three-shot lead with a 66 on Friday, then blowing away the field with weekend rounds of 65 and 69. That gave him a tournament-record 270 total and a record 12-shot margin of victory over, if anybody noticed, Tom Kite.

Over the last 63 holes, Woods was 22 under par.

Equally amazing was the murderer’s row of golfers, one by one, who fizzled each day while paired with Woods. Three-time Masters winner Nick Faldo stumbled to an opening 75 before eventually missing the cut with a second-round 81. Friday’s victim was Paul Azinger, who followed a 69 with a Tiger-accompanied 73 on Friday.

“He never had a mental lapse out there,” Azinger said of Woods. “I just got out-concentrated.”

Ditto the Tiger treatment on Saturday for Colin Montgomerie (74 – and an 81 a day later) and, finally, European Ryder Cup hero Costantino Rocca (75) on Sunday, when Woods brought out the trademark bulletproof red shirt.

The only final-round suspense came when Woods, needing a par at 18 to break the Masters scoring record of 271, yanked his drive far left. No problem: He recovered with an approach to 20 feet and a two-putt par.

“Of course he was in the zone,” says Kite, who would never win a Masters although he was runner-up in the two most memorable. “I heard he went the entire week and never had a three-putt. That is almost unheard-of.”

3. 2005: Tiger Woods (6,937 votes)

Start with that preposterous chip-in at 16 in Sunday’s fourth round. You remember, the one which Tiger Woods skipped well past the hole before the ball took a right turn and reversed course, trickled back down the slope and paused teasingly on the lip before tumbling into the cup for a birdie. How can you forget? It remains the Masters TV highlight that won’t go away.

But this was no one-shot tournament. Another look at the big picture recalls the drama that unfolded over the last 37 holes after Chris DiMarco had bolted to a Normanian six-shot lead through 36 holes with a pair of 67s.

In a third round that started late Saturday and spilled over into Sunday, Woods mounted his expected charge, shooting a 65 that included a string of seven straight birdies. Meanwhile, DiMarco performed the obligatory Woods-induced pratfall, posting an ugly 74 that left him three back.

Only, DiMarco didn’t go away. In the fourth round on Sunday, he gradually climbed back to within one of the lead before Woods pulled the string on that improbable chip-in birdie at 16.

“You expect the unexpected, and, unfortunately, it’s not unexpected when he’s doing it,” said DiMarco, who still wasn’t done.

Up two, Woods pulled off another unexpected stunt. He gagged. He bogeyed 17 and 18, giving DiMarco one more opening. DiMarco’s birdie chip to win at 18 grazed the hole’s edge before he made the six-foot par putt to force a playoff. No one else was closer than seven shots.

On the first hole of the playoff, at 18, Woods closed out DiMarco with a 15-foot birdie putt for his fourth green jacket and first without his dad Earl, who was at home battling cancer, on hand.

“This is for Dad,” a crying Woods said at the green jacket ceremony. “Every year I’ve been lucky enough to win this tournament, my dad has been there to give me a hug. I can’t wait to get back to the house and give him a big bear hug.”

4. 1996: Nick Faldo (5,081 votes)

For a half-century, the Masters Tournament has thrived as must-see TV. Golfing entertainment fit for the entire family. In 1996, it got its first PG rating: Poor Greg. It was a train wreck in slow motion. It was Greg Norman shooting an opening 63 to tie his buddy Nick Price’s tournament low-round record and eventually building a six-shot lead, before frittering it away on Sunday in an almost unbearable-to-watch meltdown.

Let’s not shortchange Nick Faldo, though. His brilliant five-under 67 was Sunday’s low round and gave him his third green jacket. In winning three times at Augusta, the relentless Faldo had overcome final-round deficits of three, five and, now, six shots. Six shots. That’s the supposedly insurmountable lead Norman clutched going into his expected Sunday coronation. Cue the locomotive. A hooked drive at No. 1 led to one bogey.

Subsequent bogeys at 4 and 9 followed. At the ninth, the Shark hit the green six feet short of the flag before his ball retreated off the green and down the hill, back into the fairway.

Worse yet was the stretch at 10-12 in which the obviously shaken Norman lost four more strokes to par, leaving him two shots arrears of the devastatingly methodical Faldo. At one point Price, watching this funeral march on TV, bolted the clubhouse and headed to his car, saying, “I can’t stand to watch.”

Few could. By day’s end, Norman had carved out a 78, his unwitting contribution to an 11-shot swing that gave Faldo the five-stroke win.

After both had putted out at 18, Faldo gave Norman a conciliatory hug. Both men had tears in their eyes as Faldo told his rival, “I don’t know what to say. I just want to give you a hug. I feel horrible about what happened. I’m so sorry.”

5. 1995: Ben Crenshaw (4,528 votes)

Ben Crenshaw winning the Masters is no big surprise. He always has been a good fit for Augusta. Start with his magical putter for those undulating greens, the absence of rough for when shots go awry, and his scholarly reverence for traditional courses and the game’s rich history. In fact, he had already won there in 1984. The down side for Crenshaw in 1995 was that he hadn’t broken 70 in two months, had missed three of the last four cuts and, unfathomable for him, was ranked 69th on tour in putting. And, oh yeah, his longtime mentor and confidant Harvey Penick, 90, had just passed away.

On Tuesday, Crenshaw received a putting-epiphany tip from caddie Carl Edwards. On Wednesday, he flew in a downpour to Austin, Texas, for Penick’s funeral and then flew right back, arriving in Augusta Wednesday evening emotionally spent and drained of energy.

On Thursday, Crenshaw arose a changed man, about to embark on a four-day stroll to destiny unlike any before.

“I just had this strong feeling the whole week,” Crenshaw said. “I never had a week like this, where I really enjoyed playing golf the whole week.”

Rounds of 70, 67 and 69 put Crenshaw in a tie for the lead with Brian Henninger at 10 under going into Sunday. Still, a bunch of big guns lurked within three shots of the lead, including Fred Couples, Curtis Strange, Phil Mickelson, Jay Haas, Steve Elkington, Scott Hoch, Greg Norman and Davis Love III.

With Penick apparently lighting the way, Crenshaw persevered while others stumbled. On his way to a closing 68, Crenshaw birdied 16 and 17 for a two-shot cushion, then went ultra-conservative with a careful bogey at 18 for a one-shot win over Love.

As soon as his winning putt dropped, Crenshaw bent over at the waist, put his face in his hands and sobbed while Jackson consoled him.

“I believe in fate,” Crenshaw said. “I don’t know how it happened. I don’t.”