Trevor Immelman birdied the 18th hole and held off Tiger Woods and Matthew Goggin to win the Western Open on Sunday for his first US PGA Tour victory.
Immelman needed to par the 18th to win. Instead, he knocked in a 32-foot putt for a birdie, putting him at 13-under 271 for the tournament -- two strokes ahead of Woods (68) and Goggin (69).
"It's an incredible feeling," Immelman said. "Obviously, it hasn't quite sunk in yet."
Vijay Singh, the leader through three rounds, was 2 over for the day to fall out of contention. Singh and defending champion Jim Furyk finished at 9 under, along with Tim Clark, Stephen Leaney, Stewart Cink and Carl Pettersson.
Phil Mickelson shot 71 and finished 3 over in his first tournament since the US Open, where a double-bogey on the final hole cost him the championship.
Called the Western Open since 1899, the second-oldest tournament in the US will get a new name -- the BMW Championship -- and become part of the US PGA Tour's season-ending series next year. It will be played at Cog Hill in 2007, then rotate out of the Chicago area on alternate years.
Immelman birdied the 15th and 16th holes to go to 13 under. He let out a grin after hitting a 10-foot putt on 16.
The South African, who has four European tour victories, bogeyed 17 but made up for it on the 18th and finished at 4-under-par 67 for the day.
Immelman was expected to follow in the footsteps of fellow South Africans Gary Player and Ernie Els when he turned pro seven years ago.
He won the 1996 Junior US PGA Championship, the 1998 US Public Links, and was second at the 1997 US Junior Amateur. He also made the cut in the 1999 Masters, finishing 56th. He tied for fifth at Augusta last year, but missed four straight cuts at one point this year.
In May, he lost a playoff to Jim Furyk at the Wachovia Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, and placed second at the Byron Nelson Championship the following week in Irving, Texas.
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