THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.—Although trailing young gun Anthony Kim at the beginning of the last day, Vijay Singh drew upon his recent string of victories to take possession of the 2008 Chevron World Challenge championship.
In spite of all the pre-tournament talk of the new wave of superstars invited to Sherwood Country Club, seasoned veterans finished in the top two positions. Nonetheless, the trio of Anthony Kim, 23, Camilo Villegas, 26, and Hunter Mahan, 26, brought some youthful vibrancy to Tiger Woods’s end of the year hosted tournament.
Singh, the 45-year-old native of Fiji, shot a final-round 67 and finished with an 11-under total of 277 to claim the $1.35 million winner’s check. Steve Stricker, 41, finished second, scoring a 68 for 278.
Overnight leader Anthony Kim and Hunter Mahan finished four strokes back at 281.
Singh and Stricker started the day at six-under, two shots behind Kim and one behind Jim Furyk.
Kim and Furyk struggled on the back nine, while Singh and Stricker finished strong with under par 32s on the final nine holes.
The drama was heavy as Stricker and Singh were tied going into the final hole, but Singh fired a 6-iron to within eight feet and dropped the birdie putt for the victory and to the exploding cheers of the crowd.
Prior to this tournament’s winnings, Singh won $6.6 million in the regular season, in addition to the $10 million bonus for winning the FedEx Cup.
Singh finished 2008 as the leading money winner on the PGA tour and currently ranks fifth in the official world golf rankings.
This event is his fourth victory of the season and 58th of his career, 34 of which have been on the PGA Tour.
“I had a new driver, so it's always a risky thing to do when you're starting a tournament. But I played really well. I hit the ball very good off the tee, and I think the key for this golf course is keeping the ball in play,” said Singh. “It was so wet out there, a lot of mud balls. You've got to now how to control the mud balls. I think everybody was complaining about it, all the players. You just had to manage yourself around the golf course. I think that's what I did very well, and made key putts.”
Tournament officials announced that Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points will be offered to players at the 2009 Chevron World Challenge presented by Bank of America. This is the first time ever that OWGR points will be extended to an unofficial PGA Tour event.
Tiger Woods Foundation
The Chevron Corporation donated $250,000 to the Tiger Woods Foundation to help fund research in determining how the Foundation will further grow the Tiger Woods Learning Center and how it could best be expanded in different areas around the country.
Tiger Woods is a four-time winner of the tournament that benefits his Tiger Woods Foundation.
