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Toms clinches title with
closing 64
David Toms shot a 7-under-par 64 on Sunday and won the St. Jude Classic by
three strokes for his second victory in eight weeks.
Toms, who won the Wachovia Championship in May, picked up his ninth PGA Tour victory
in a town where his swing teacher lives and he visits for duck hunting.
He couldn't have looked much more comfortable in a final round that had five
players tied atop the leaderboard early.
He started a stroke behind Sweden's Richard Johnson, a tour rookie, but Johnson
couldn't keep pace as everyone attacked the TPC at Southwind course by going low
in nearly perfect conditions.
Toms separated himself from the pack with an eagle, eight birdies and three
bogeys for a 264 total and the $810,000 prize.
Nick Price tied his career-low round with a 62 to finish second at 267. Bob
Estes, who won here in 2001, shot a 65 and was tied with Fredrik Jacobson (67)
and Johnson (69) at 268. Lee Janzen, who was tied atop the leaderboard with five
holes left, finished with a 68 and tied for sixth with Bob Crane (67) at 269.
Toms stumbled with a bogey on his first hole but birdied his next four for
a share of the lead at 16 under. He birdied the par-3 8th to take the lead to
himself at 17 under. But Janzen and Price, a two-time winner here, wouldn't go
away.
Janzen birdied Nos. 10 and 11 to drop to 18 under along with Toms atop the
leaderboard, while Price, who teed off 80 minutes earlier, birdied three of his
final holes to go to 18 under. Toms birdied No. 12, then bogeyed the par-4, 430-yard
No. 13 when he pushed a par putt just right.
The toughest hole on the course helped Toms take control.
Janzen, who has not won since the 1998 U.S. Open, three-putted for bogey after
putting his tee shot on the left edge of the wide green and dropped to 17 under.
Toms put his tee shot in almost the same area and then rolled in a 50-footer across
a ridge in the green for birdie and a two-stroke lead at 19 under. It was only
the fifth birdie on that hole Sunday.
Toms sealed the victory with his only eagle on the par-5, 528-yard 16th. He
put an iron 15 feet from the hole on his second shot and rolled the putt in for
eagle and a four-stroke cushion over Price, who then left the course.
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