Golf: Toms holds his nerve to win PGA title

By ANDY FARRELL

ATLANTA - David Toms, unheralded but as resilient a competitor as they come, bravely won the 83rd PGA Championship and delivered another shattering defeat to Phil Mickelson in the process.

Toms lifted the Wanamaker Trophy at the Atlanta Athletic Club when it was Mickelson, the world No 2, who was meant to rid himself of that tag of being one of the best players not to have won a major, as David Duval had done at the Open at Lytham.

Toms, a 34-year-old from Louisiana, also gained an automatic place on the American Ryder Cup team and will not have to wait to hear who captain Curtis Strange will pick as his wild cards this morning.

Mickelson, 31, has 19 wins on the US PGA Tour. Toms had gained his fifth earlier in the summer in New Orleans when he shot a final round of 64 to beat Mickelson by two.

That was the advantage Toms held over the left-hander at the start of the day and although Mickelson caught the leader three times, Toms, at 15 under, claimed a one-stroke victory with a 69 to Mickelson's 68.

Steve Lowery was third, three behind the winner.

It was Mickelson's stated aim to "win by a number", or have a lead going down the fearsome closing holes.

Instead, Toms led by one playing the last, but at 490 yards, the longest par-four in USPGA history, it was to be no formality. Toms's drive finished just in the first cut of rough and, after taking out a fairway wood, he elected to lay up short of the water.

Mickelson, after a fine drive, put his second on to the green but Toms pitched to 12 feet to keep the pressure on his opponent. Mickelson's birdie putt, from 25 feet, was downhill and turned from right-to-left but, although he got the line spot on, the ball came up two inches short. Toms then holed his par putt to avoid a play-off.

"I really didn't want to lay up," Toms said, "but it was the right thing to do and it worked out great. I could hear the crowd moan when I put away the wood, but I knew what I had to do."

He added: "This feels great. You just hope that one day all the hard work, all the experience, being out here for ten years, will pay off." Maybe it will one day for Mickelson, who was second to Payne Stewart in the 1999 US Open and was third for the third time in majors at the Masters in April.

"This is going to make for a tough off season," Mickelson said.

"I felt I played well but it wasn't good enough. Every time I caught David, I made a mistake. I am not going to beat myself up over this but it is very disappointing. The frustrating thing is that I am not trying to win a major, I'm trying to win a bunch of majors. I just can't get through the first one."

Mickelson first caught Toms at the fifth with his second birdie of the day. Toms parred the first eight holes but then hit his approach to six inches at the ninth for a birdie while Mickelson bogeyed to fall two behind again.

Inexplicably, Toms missed two tiny putts at the 10th, where he dropped a shot, and the par-five 12th, where Mickelson birdied to draw level. But rather than being disheartened, Toms responded again by making threes at the next two holes. The 15th provided another two-shot swing.

This was where Toms holed in one with a five-wood to jump into the lead on Saturday. This time he pulled his tee shot at the 237-yard par-three into the bunker on the right and left his recovery too far away to save par.

Mickelson, who had dropped a shot on Saturday after chipping too strong from the back fringe, this time chipped in from the same spot for a birdie, only the third of the day at the hole.

He was to give that shot back, however, at the next hole when he pushed his approach putt six feet past the hole and missed the one back to fall one behind for the last time.

Before the final twosome turned the event in to a private duel, Katayama briefly moved one behind Toms with his third birdie of the day at the 12th. It was another bizarre hole for the exciting Japanese player who has thrilled the gallery this week.

Going for his second shot over the water, his ball landed on the retaining wall in front of the green and skipped over the gallery on the right of the green. He chipped down to a foot and tapped in for the four but promptly bogeyed the next two holes.

At the last, his ball finally sank but he got up and down for a bogey to tie Mark Calcavecchia for fourth place at 10 under. Calcavecchia, who will be playing in the Ryder Cup for the first time since 1991, had a run of birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie at the start of the back nine and came home in 31 for a 65.

But it was a frustrating afternoon for Duval, who started five behind and was expected to challenge for a second consecutive major. But he bogeyed the second and the third and took a double at the 12th on the way to a 74. His playing partner, Davis Love, had an even worse day with a 77.

Tiger Woods, winner for the last two years, posted a 70 to finish tied for 29th place, equalling his worst ever result in 20 majors as a professional at the 1997 USPGA.

It was also the first time he has ever gone five successive US PGA Tour events without finishing in the top-10.

New Zealand's Grant Waite, who lead the field after the first round, finished at three-over the card for a share of 59th.

- INDEPENDENT