Campbell gains first PGA Tour title

Conventional wisdom holds that it's hard to follow up a really low round with another good round.

No one told Chad Campbell, though. He followed Saturday's sterling 61 with a hard-fought 68 that carried him to his first career victory at The Tour Championship.

Campbell shot a 31 on the front side to essentially seal the deal, then "tried not to do anything stupid" on the back, he said. No one had ever made The Tour Championship the first victory of his career.

The win was a testament to the promise that has attended the big Texan's still young career. The talented 29-year-old ran away from a field of the top 31 players on the PGA TOUR money list who had earned their way into the $6 million event.

The victory was worth $1.08 million to Campbell, who grew up in Andrews, Texas, and had a herd of Longhorns in his gallery. He finished at 16 under and won by three strokes.

Charles Howell III, who led after each of the first two rounds, birdied the 18th hole from six inches to slip into sole possession of second place. He shot a 70 on Sunday and was one stroke ahead of Retief Goosen, who won last week's Chrysler Championship.

Vijay Singh won the Arnold Palmer Award as the Tour leading money winner when he tied for fifth with Davis Love III at 8-under par. In doing so, Singh wrested the title from Tiger Woods, who had a hammerlock on it for the last four years.

Woods, who is locked in a Player of the Year battle with Singh, Love, Mike Weir and Jim Furyk, may have lost the money title but he set another record at Champions Golf Club this week. Woods, who finished 26th on Sunday, broke Byron Nelson's record that has stood since the 1940s with his 114th consecutive event in the money.

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