O’Hair takes advantage of Cink’s collapse

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Sean O’Hair took advantage of a stunning collapse by Stewart Cink to win the PODS Championship, closing with a 2-under 69 on Sunday to energize his young career and earn a trip to the Masters.

O’Hair hadn’t won since his rookie season in 2005 and felt as if he had been going nowhere over the last couple of seasons. But he turned it around on the back nine of Innisbrook with a 30-foot birdie and two par putts that were equally important, building such a margin that he could afford a bogey on 18 for a two-shot victory.

It was his first victory since the John Deere Classic as a 22-year-old rookie in 2005, which got him into the British Open at St. Andrews. This victory sends him to Augusta National next month, and he will move into the top 40 in the world to qualify for the World Golf Championship at Doral in two weeks.

Cink suffered a loss perhaps even more devastating than the Accenture Match Play Championship blowout against Tiger Woods. Cink had a four-shot lead after two holes Sunday, still had control on the back nine, then dropped four shots in a four-hole stretch along the back nine of the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook.

Cink lost the outright lead when his tee shot rolled up against a tree on the par-5 14th, leading to bogey. The only consolation was making a 50-foot birdie on the 17th hole and that allowed him to join a six-way tie for second.

John Senden closed with a 67 and was a runner-up for the second straight year, both times finishing about an hour before the leaders. He tied for second with Cink, Ryuji Imada (68), George McNeill (69), Troy Matteson (69) and Billy Mayfair (72).

Cink closed with a 74 and remains winless since the 2004 Bridgestone Invitational. This was the third time in five tournaments he has played in the final group.

O’Hair finished at 4-under 280, the highest score to win at Innisbrook after a week of whipping wind. He saved par with putts of 5 and 4 feet on consecutive holes, then buried Cink with a 30-foot putt on the 15th hole.

TOSHIBA CLASSIC: At Newport Beach, Calif., Bernhard Langer outlasted defending champion Jay Haas in the Toshiba Classic, birdieing the final hole of regulation to force a playoff and winning with a birdie when Haas missed a 3-footer on the seventh extra hole.

Langer, the 50-year-old German star who won the 1985 and 1993 Masters, has two victories in nine career Champions Tour starts. Last October, he won the Administaff Small Business Classic in Texas in his fourth event on the 50-and-over tour.

After bogeying the par-3 17th to drop a stroke behind, Langer made a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th to force the playoff at 14-under 199. Haas closed with a 6-under 65, while Langer had a 69 on the Newport Beach Country Club course.

The seven-hole playoff fell short of the tournament record of nine, set by Bob Murphy in a 1997 victory over Jay Sigel and matched in 2001 in Jose Maria Canizares’ victory over Gil Morgan. The Champions Tour record is 10, set in David Graham’ victory over Dave Stockton in the 1998 Royal Caribbean Classic.

Scott Simpson (65), Ben Crenshaw (67) and Gary McCord (67) tied for third at 11 under, and Curtis Strange (66) and first-round Tim Simpson (70) were 10 under.

MALAYSIAN OPEN: At Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Arjun Atwal, the Indian player involved in a fatal car accident last year, won the Malaysian Open, beating defending champion Peter Hedblom of Sweden with a par on the second hole of a playoff.

Atwal, also the 2003 winner at The Mines, birdied the 18th to force the playoff. He finished with an 8-under 64 to match Hedblom (71) at 18-under 270 on the Kota Permai course. Both players parred the first extra hole.

Atwal, a three-time European tour winner, hasn’t been charged in the March 10, 2007, accident in Orlando, Fla., that killed fellow motorist John Park. Witnesses have said Atwal and Park were street racing, with the Florida Highway Patrol estimating Atwal was going 80 mph in a 45 mph zone just before Park’s speeding car flipped.