Toms beats Weir in playoff

Two days after back pain almost caused him to pull out of the Michelob Championship, David Toms was pain free today and thanking Paul Azinger for a medicinal tip that paid off.

Azinger suggested Toms seek relief from over-the-counter pain medication Friday, and Toms did. He completed his comeback today by sinking a 5-foot putt for par on the first playoff hole to beat Mike Weir.

``I was two over for the round, one under for the tournament'' when he talked to Azinger, Toms said. ``I shot three under to make the cut.''

After that, he kept feeling better, shooting a 4-under-par 67 Saturday and a 66 today to make it into the first playoff for either player.

He won by calmly knocking his putt into the center after seeing Weir's 10-foot effort slide by the left side of the hole moments earlier.

``All I had to do was hit a good putt,'' he said. ``At that point, you know, you just want to keep your head down and stroke it and hope you don't hear the crowd go `Ooooh.' You want to hear them start clapping.''

It was Toms' fourth career victory, and first this season.

Weir, a left-handed Canadian who cost himself a chance at victory here last year with a bogey on the final hole, appeared to have overcome that when he calmly rolled in a 15-footer to finish 13 under par at 271.

Toms, in a twosome four holes behind, retook the lead almost immediately with a birdie at the par-5 15th, but gave the stroke back a hole later and parred in to force the first career playoff for both.

There, Weir's drive at No. 18 stopped on a steep downward slope, causing him to leave his approach short. He chipped to within 10 feet of the cup, but then read a slight break in a putt that didn't turn.

``I played it right to the left edge thinking it was only going to break just a little bit,'' Weir said. ``I don't know if it hit something or just didn't break, but it just kind of hung out there to the left.''

Toms, who split the fairway with his drive and hit his approach onto the front of the green, was about 45 feet away, but hit it onto the back tier 5 feet away, then coolly followed Weir's miss with the winner.

He earned $540,000 and moved into the top 20 on the money list.

Toms wound up the sole survivor of a final-round battle that went much like the first three rounds. Proven winners and non-winners alike challenged for and shared the lead, only to stumble and fall back.

Weir, playing for the first time in a month, made the move of the day with a 7-under 64. But even that included a bogey at No. 2. He made up for it with a 5-under 30 on the backside to match his best final round.

``I'm disappointed, obviously. I wanted to win the tournament. That's what I was here to do,'' he said. ``I thought I hit a good drive on 18 and it didn't turn out. I thought I hit a good putt and it didn't turn out.

``That's the way the game is.''

Toms, who started the round two shots behind, trimmed four strokes from par on his first eight holes to take the lead. Then he gave a shot back but rallied again before his second bogey cost him a chance to win in regulation. He also missed a long putt to win it on the 72nd hole and finished regulation play with a 66.

Frank Lickliter shot a 69 to finish alone in third, and Tom Scherrer rallied for a 67 for fourth. Third-round leader Bradley Hughes, who closed with a 72, and three others shared fifth at 275.

For Weir, the closing birdie was a bit of a triumph in itself. Last year, he led throughout the final round until he drove into the rough on the finishing hole, had to chip back into play and two-putted for bogey.

Missing that 15-footer cost him a spot in a playoff between Tom Byrum and Notah Begay III. Begay won with a par on the second hole.

``Standing up there, I just wanted to hit a good tee shot,'' Weir said after he finished his round.

He said he saw that Toms had gone to 13 under as he approached the 18th green and knew he had to make his putt.

Others never even got that close.

David Duval, the top-ranked player in the field, a two-time winner here and a victor last week in the Buick Challenge, gained a share of the lead at 10-under on the second hole. But he struggled throughout his round, finishing with five consecutive bogeys and tied for 19th at 279.

Lickliter, a non-winner who was paired with Duval, three times got to 11 under and shared the lead for a time. But he had three bogeys and parred the last seven holes after reaching 11 under for the final time.

Sean Murphy, who shot a 68; Stephen Ames, who had a 67, and Mike Reid, who carded a 69, finished tied with the Australian Hughes for fifth.

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