Allenby takes Price in playoff, wins Western Open
Last Updated: Sunday, July 9, 2000 | 6:55 PM ET
CBC Sports
The Australian won the Western Open for his second PGA Tour title Sunday, tapping in a two-foot par putt to beat Nick Price on the first extra hole. Allenby beat Craig Stadler on the fourth hole of a playoff in the Houston Open in April.
It was the second time a playoff has cost Price a Western Open title. Tom Kite won the 1986 tournament on the first extra hole of a playoff with Price, Fred Couples and David Frost.
Allenby and Price finished regulation at 14-under 274 and went back to the par-4 18th to begin the playoff. Price made things tough on himself right away, putting his tee shot into a bunker on the right side of the fairway.
With a cluster of trees blocking his way to the hole, Price played it safe and punched out to the fairway. But with Allenby on the green in two, Price needed to put his next shot close to the pin. Instead, it hit the green and rolled off, finally stopping in the rough about 18 feet from the hole.
Allenby missed an 18-foot birdie putt but tapped in for par, forcing Price to hole his chip shot to force a second playoff hole. The two-time Western Open winner came within a few inches, but his ball rolled right on by to make Allenby the champion.
He won $540,000 with the victory in the tournament.
Greg Kraft, Shigeki Maruyama and Jim Furyk tied for third at 12-under 276. Tiger Woods, playing his first tournament since his amazing 15-stroke victory in the U.S. Open, never got his putter going and finished seven strokes back at 7-under 281.
It was his worst finish since a tie for 37th in the Sprint Invitational last August. Coincidentally, that finish came a week after he won the PGA Championship, his second major.
"I just didn't make any putts. When that happens, you're not going to go very low," he said. "Overall, I hit the ball beautifully, hit a lot of good, solid shots, held the ball in the wind. I drove it great this week. I just didn't make any of those 10- or 15-footers to get the momentum going."
Stephen Ames of Calgary finished the weekend 9-under 279, leaving him in a tie for sixth place. Mike Weir of Bright's Grove, Ont., and David Morland IV or Aurora, Ont., ended in a tie for 51st at 3-under 285.
Allenby appeared to have the title wrapped up with a birdie on the par-5 15th that moved him to 16 under, two strokes ahead of Price. But the Australian duffed a chip shot just off the green on the next hole, hitting the lip of a bunker. The ball dropped into the bunker, and Allenby settled for bogey.
After Price missed birdie putts on 16 and 17, all Allenby had to do was par the 18th -- something he'd done the first three days -- for a victory. But it wasn't that easy.
His second shot landed on the back, right side of the green, uphill from the pin that was tucked in the bottom, left corner.
Using an iron, Allenby gently tapped the ball. The ball picked up speed and rolled about 10 feet past the hole. He still had a chance for par, but his putt curled away from the hole and missed by about a foot.
