Vijay Singh Takes the Ally Challenge Title for His 4th Career Win in Grand Blanc
By Tom Lang
Vijay Singh thought he needed a birdie on the 18th hole in the final round at Warwick Hills to force a tie and a playoff.
Instead, he walked off the green with a par and looked up at the scoreboard to see that he was going to win the 6th annual Ally Challenge presented by McLaren Health.
Playing one group behind Singh, journeyman Paul Goydos was 15-under par and one stroke ahead of Singh’s 14-under. But Goydos crashed and burned on the 17th green with 5 putts and a triple bogey to drop to 12-under and hand the win over to Singh, who earned $330,000 for the effort. Goydos finished T3 with Tim Petrovic and Stephen Ames. Jeff Maggert was runner up at 13-under par.
“I left the 18th and I looked up at the scoreboard and I said, wow, what happened?” Singh said after the round. “He dumped a shot on 17, but then his name wasn't on at 14 or 13 under, I was surprised. I said something must have happened there. Once I got into the clubhouse, they said he had a disaster on 17.
“You don't want to see anyone having a three-putt or a five-putt. I don't know how he did it, but unfortunate.”
The win was Singh’s fourth career victory at Warwick Hills after winning the former Buick Open three times. He began the Ally final round one stroke back, and scored a 4-under par 68.
“I love coming here, I love the golf course,” he said. “For some reason I come here and I drive the ball very well, so that's a key for this golf course. If you drive the ball on the fairway, you have a lot of chances for birdies, and that's what I did this week.”
Bernhard Langer turned 66 years old on final-round Sunday. The German machine finished at 10-under and T8 with defending champion Steve Stricker and David Toms, who threw out the first pitch earlier in the week at the Detroit Tigers game vs the Chicago Cubs.
Rain doused the golf course and the Flint area during the week, so much so that the first round on Friday was washed out, so the pros had to play 36 holes on Saturday in order to fit in the full tournament. The Warwick Hills grounds crew and their volunteers from other golf courses did a wonderful job allowing that to happen.
The majority of players rode carts for the first and second rounds. It’s legal on the Champions Tour at all times, but virtually all players did so for the 36-hole day, and that’s more unusual. They also were allowed to lift, clean and place their golf balls due to the severe rains that hampered playing conditions.
“This year's been pretty good to me,” Singh said. “I had a bad foot for the last two, three years and riding a cart really helped a lot. So I'm really happy with this win and I look forward to the next events. I think my game's coming around and this was the start of it.”
