DULUTH, Ga. — Ryuji Imada stood atop the ridge that overlooks the 18th green at TPC Sugarloaf, wondering about all that commotion down below.
Could it be?
Yep, someone else was in the water.
One year after losing a playoff at the AT&T Classic when he knocked a shot in the pond, Imada won the same tournament Sunday under nearly identical circumstances for his first PGA Tour victory. This time, Kenny Perry came up wet on the 73rd hole.
“I never really believed in destiny,” Imada said. “But I’m starting to believe it.”
The two finished regulation at 15-under 273, but Perry’s ball wound up in the water on the first playoff hole even though his second shot easily cleared the pond in front of the green.
Unfortunately for Perry, he struck a pine tree behind the green about 10 feet up the trunk. The ball ricocheted straight back across the putting surface and didn’t stop rolling until it was in the water, the gallery groaning in disbelief.
“I couldn’t really tell what happened,” said Imada, who was standing alongside his ball after driving in the rough. “I asked a couple of people and one of them said it was close and another said it was in the water. That’s why it took me so long to make the decision to lay up.”
Imada played it safe with an iron on the par-5 hole and wound up two-putting for the winning par.
After taking a drop, Perry nearly spun back his wedge into the cup, then missed a 14-footer that would have forced another extra hole. The 31-year-old Imada stepped up and calmly knocked his ball straight in from 4 feet for the victory.
“I left myself a tester,” he said. “I’m glad it went in.
Imada has been a runner-up three times on the PGA Tour, including twice already this season. A year ago, he got into a playoff with Zach Johnson at the suburban Atlanta tournament, only to lose when he knocked his second shot into the same pond that claimed Perry’s ball.
A native of Japan, Imada had plenty of fans cheering him on; he attended the nearby University of Georgia. As he walked off the green after his winning putt, a few fans woofed it up. In the interview room, someone yelled, “Go Dogs!”
Imada was already pondering what his win means for 2009 — an extra trip to Georgia. To be more specific, Augusta National.
“I know I get invited to the Masters now,” he said, breaking into a big smile. “I always dreamed of playing there since I was a kid. I can’t wait to see what it’s like.”
Imada needed a birdie on the 72nd hole just to get in the playoff. Trailing Perry by a stroke, he was right of the green with a 3-wood, but chipped up to 4 feet and made the putt for a 5-under 67.
Camilo Villegas shot a 66 but missed an eagle putt at the 72nd hole that would have gotten him in the playoff. He wound up one shot back. Jonathan Byrd was two strokes behind in fourth, but no one outside of Perry was kicking himself as much as Parker McLachlin, who bogeyed three of the last five holes to finish three shots out of the playoff.
LPGA: Lorena Ochoa found a new way to win, grinding it out instead of running away from the field.
A day after leaving the retiring Annika Sorenstam in her wake, Ochoa overcame a balky putter to shoot a 1-under 71 and post a one-stroke victory over five players Sunday for her third straight victory in the rain-shortened Sybase Classic.
“It was a tough day, but I did it,” Ochoa said. “I think that was what was important. It doesn’t matter how you do it sometimes; you play really good, other players struggle, sometimes you just keep yourself in a good position. Today it was different; it was a different win, but I enjoyed it a lot.”
The victory was the 22nd for Ochoa since April 2006, and the $300,000 prize pushed her career earnings past the $12 million mark, making her the fastest player on the LPGA Tour to reach that plateau.
Ochoa accomplished it in just over five years, more than four years faster than the old mark set by Sorenstam, who played herself out of contention with a second-round 73.
The win ended the 26-year-old Mexican’s two-tournament victory drought.
CHAMPIONS: Andy Bean hasn’t forgotten how to pull off a dramatic victory.
Bean managed to save par on No. 18 after hooking his drive left and bogeying the previous hole, holding on for a 2-under 70 and a one-stroke victory over Loren Roberts on Sunday in the Champions Tour’s Regions Charity Classic.
It was only the second win in 5½ years on the 50-and-over tour for Bean and his first since the Greater Hickory Classic on Oct. 1, 2006. That one capped a 20-year drought since his 11th PGA Tour victory.
Bean, who had held or shared the lead after the first two rounds, pulled himself out of trouble on the final hole when his drive nearly hit a hospitality tent some 230 yards from the hole with a bunker in the way. He landed his second shot 21 feet from the hole, though, and two-putted for par and the $255,000 winner’s check at Ross Bridge on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.
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