MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Lee Westwood has played golf long enough to be philosophical despite all the times he has come up short when so very close to victory.
The Englishman — who finished second at the Masters, lost a playoff in Dubai and finished tied for fourth at The Players Championship this year — won the St. Jude Classic on Sunday for his second career PGA Tour victory and first since 1998. He defeated Robert Karlsson of Sweden on the fourth hole of a sudden- death playoff.
“You try to do the right thing all the time,” said Westwood, who finished regulation at 10-under-par 270. “It doesn’t always work for you.”
He became the first European to win the tour’s third-longest event only after Robert Garrigus blew a three-stroke lead on the final hole of regulation with a triple bogey. He bogeyed the first playoff hole.
Garrigus said he thought he had a two-stroke lead on the 72nd hole instead of three and called it just stupidity.
“It’s little things to win. I’ve got to learn that, and next time I’m in that position I’m going to do it,” Garrigus said.
Westwood and Karlsson went par-par-bogey until they returned to No. 18 once again. Westwood stuck his approach 6 feet from the pin on No. 18. Karlsson left his birdie putt from 43 feet away to extend the playoff about a foot short.
Then Westwood, who went 17 straight holes between birdies, rolled in the 6-footer for his first PGA win since New Orleans to go with 20 career European Tour victories.
“It’s amazing how things pan out,” Westwood said.
Footnotes.
The final round of the weather-plagued LPGA State Farm Classic at Panther Creek Country Club in Springfield, Ill., was pushed back until today because of rain.
Cristie Kerr and Anna Nordqvist held the tournament lead at 20-under.
• In the European tour, Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn won the Estoril Open after shooting a 4-under 68 in his final round in Estoril, Portugal.
• Playing at the Essex County Club in Manchester-By- The-Sea, Mass., the home course of the two women who donated the trophy that began the Curtis Cup in 1932, the U.S. handily defeated Great Britain and Ireland 12.5-7.5 in the 36th biennial competition between teams of female amateur golfers.
