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Aug. 25, 2008
MONDAY ROUND-UP
For a while, it looked as though Steve Stricker might successfully defend his championship at The Barclays. After shooting a 7-under-par 64 Friday during the tournament’s second round, Stricker took a three-stroke lead over Hunter Mahan. And being four in front at 12 under after 10 holes on Saturday made his chances look even better.
But five birdies and a 7 on the par-4 12th on Saturday were enough to do in Stricker (68-64-77-71), and he finished the first tournament of the PGA Tour Playoffs in a tie for 19th place. Stricker is now 16th in the FedExCup rankings.
Madison's Jerry Kelly also tied for 19th (72-70-71-67).
Vijay Singh came away with the win, his fourth at The Barclays. He finished at 8-under-par 276, alongside Sergio Garcia and Kevin Sutherland. Singh beat Garcia in dramatic fashion on the second playoff hole, the 577-yard par-5 17th at Ridgewood CC in Paramus, N.J.
After topping Garcia's 27-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole with a 26-footer of his own, Singh made birdie on the next hole. Garcia hit his second shot in the right rough and got stymied behind a tree. But lucky for Garcia, a mole or gopher hole made finding his ball impossible, and he was able to take a drop. He put his approach about 30 feet from the hole and nearly holed his chip, but by then Singh had clinched the victory.
"I wasn't really concerned about him," Singh said in an interview later. "I just wanted to know why he got a drop, there was obviously a mole there and he was burrowing at that moment, you wold see him popping out. ... I was really focused on what I was doing."
Ben Curtis, Mathew Goggin and Kevin Streelman tied for fourth place at 7-under 277.
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