Mar 21, 2005 4 min read

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Vijay Singh launched a 7-iron into the air and over the water, then posed as it descended toward the flag on the 18th green Sunday in what looked like a fitting conclusion to his return as No. 1 in the world. All he wanted was the trophy at the Bay Hill Invitational.

Singh had to settle for the No. 1 ranking.

Kenny Perry emerged the winner in a dramatic finish at Arnold Palmer’s tournament, surviving a late charge by Singh that ended when his gutsy shot came up short, crashing against the rocks and into the lake for a double bogey.

“It looked like it was going to fly right next to the hole,” Perry said. “From my angle you’re thinking, ‘Man, that looks perfect.’ And then to see it … I was stunned.”

No longer needing to match Singh’s aggressive play, Perry hit safely to the middle of the green some 70 feet away, lagged to 2 feet and closed with a 2-under 70 for a two-shot victory over Singh (69) and Graeme McDowell (66).

The only consolation for Singh was the No. 1 ranking after loaning it to Tiger Woods for two weeks.

“Big deal,” he said. “I lost the tournament.”

It was the second straight week Singh blew a great chance to win. He missed a 30-inch par putt on the second playoff hole at the Honda Classic to lose to Padraig Harrington.

Perry, 44, became the oldest winner at Bay Hill and picked up his eighth career victory, worth $900,000. He finished at 12-under 276, the number he had in mind.

And it came down to the final three holes against Singh, which he expected all along.

Singh holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the 15th, nearly holed out a wedge on the par-5 16th for a tap-in birdie, then pulled into a share of the lead on the 17th when Perry’s 8-foot par putt lipped out.

And when Singh blistered his drive on the 18th, leaving him 174 yards away, he appeared to have a big advantage. The flag was all the way to the back right of a green shaped like a banana, with water all along the right side.

“I was trying to win the golf tournament,” Singh said. “If I had to do it again, I probably would have hit a different club, played safer a little bit and hopefully see if Kenny made a mistake. But that’s not the way I play. I play aggressive and I went for the flag. It just came up a little short.”

Perry was hardly a charity case.

He played the best golf all week, keeping it in the fairway and making everyone hit the bold shots. And even when his three-shot lead was gone in three holes, he didn’t panic.

“When he was making his charge at me, I just stayed steady and was able to make him have to do something,” Perry said. “You keep forcing guys to do something, every once in a while they make a mistake.”

Sorenstam wins playoff

SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN, Ariz. – Annika Sorenstam won her fourth straight LPGA Tour start, making up four strokes in the last three holes and then beating Lorena Ochoa on the first hole of a playoff in the Safeway International.

The victory – the 58th of Sorenstam’s LPGA Tour career – was her second in two events this year and sixth in her last eight tournaments.

Sorenstam finished with a 2-under 70 to match Ochoa (74) at 11-under 277.

Sorenstam, the four-time LPGA player of the year and scoring record-setter, won her season debut in Mexico City two weeks ago, dashing the 23-year-old Ochoa’s dream of a victory in her native land. It was more of the same this time, but with a twist.

Ochoa was 14 under to Sorenstam’s 10 under after birdieing the 15th hole.

But it was a train wreck after that for the rising Mexican star, who won twice last year and had 16 other top-10 finishes, winding up third on the money list behind Sorenstam and Grace Park.

Ochoa double-bogeyed the 16th hole for the second time in two days and two-putted from 7 feet for a bogey on the 17th.

Sorenstam reached the green on the par-5 18th in two, lofting what she called one of the best shots of her career within 22 feet and two-putted for the tap-in birdie that sent both players back to the 18th tee for the playoff.

The unnerved Ochoa put her tee shot in a long, narrow lake on the Prospector Course’s only water hole, and the conclusion never in doubt from there.