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Romero Claims U.S. Senior Open

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The Associated Press

Published: August 4, 2008

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The 29th U.S. Senior Open will be remembered for the black bears that menaced The Broadmoor's East Course - and the one cat who conquered it.

Eduardo "El Gato" Romero on Sunday became the second Argentine golfer to hoist the silver cup, 28 years after Roberto De Vicenzo won the trophy at Winged Foot.

The 54-year-old Romero shot a final-round 3-over 73 but was never seriously challenged by Fred Funk (75), who finished four strokes back.

Romero was 6-under 274 for the tournament.

Funk, who began the day two shots back, predicted Saturday he'd have to make his move on the front nine and then just hold on.

He did neither, failing to cut into the deficit and then watching his quest to become the fifth straight come-from-behind winner die with a triple bogey on the par-4 13th.
Mark McNulty (68) finished in third, five shots back. Greg Norman shot a 70 and finished in fourth, his third straight top-5 finish.

But Norman, the 53-year-old Australian who held the 54-hole lead at the British Open two weeks ago, is skipping the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills next week. His honeymoon with tennis great Chris Evert over, he said he needs to return to work as CEO of Great White Shark Enterprises.

Romero, one of the big hitters on the Champions Tour who regularly hits driver-wedge into the par-4s, is the first international winner at the U.S. Senior Open since Australia's Graham Marsh in 1997 and the first to hold the 54-hole lead and the trophy since Bruce Lietzke in 2003.

There weren't any more sightings of black bears like the one that interrupted the tournament Friday. Volunteers did arrive at dawn to discover a bear had visited the concession stand at the seventh hole overnight and helped itself to a smorgasbord of candy bars, bananas, hot dogs and bread.

Singh Wins First World Golf Championship Title

AKRON, Ohio - Vijay Singh nearly threw away the Bridgestone Invitational by missing three putts inside 8 feet on the back nine at Firestone. He won his first World Golf Championship by making the last one, which was all that mattered.

Singh ended an 0-for-34 drought on the PGA Tour by swirling in a 3 1/2 -foot par putt on the final hole to close with a 2-under 68 for a one-shot victory against Lee Westwood (69) and Stuart Appleby (68).

As shaky as Singh looked down the stretch, Phil Mickelson was even worse.

Mickelson played bogey-free through the first 14 holes to build a one-shot lead, then threw it away by making three bogeys from the bunker on the final four holes to finish with a 70, two shots behind.

According to tour statistics, Singh was nine of 19 on putts from 4 to 8 feet during the tournament, and the last thing he wanted was to face another attempt. But he left his 30-foot birdie putt well short of the hole, and was relieved to see gravity pull it into the hole.

"I didn't want to have a 4-footer," he said. "I was kind of sweating it. But I'm glad it went in."

Singh finished at 10-under 270 and earned $1.35 million for his first WGC title. Mickelson and Retief Goosen (67) tied for fourth at 272.

PGA: Parker McLachlin shot a 2-over 74 and still hung on to claim his first PGA Tour victory by seven strokes at the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open.

McLachlin recovered from trouble time after time to card 14 pars, three bogeys and a birdie on the 18th to finish the tourney at 18-under 270.

The 29-year-old UCLA product tied the course record with a 10-under 62 on Friday and set a 54-hole record at 20 under. Brian Davis and John Rollins tied for second at 11-under 277.

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