Fiji's Vijay Singh fired a final-round 67 to win the 5.75 million-dollar Chevron World Challenge hosted by Tiger Woods.

Singh finished with an 11-under total of 211 yesterday to claim 1.35 million dollars from the 5.75 million-dollar purse. Steve Stricker finished second, carding a 68 for 278.

Overnight leader Anthony Kim and Hunter Mahan were four strokes back on seven-under 281, Kim falling back with 73 and Mahan shooting a 68.

Singh and Stricker both started the day at 6-under, two shots behind Kim and one behind Jim Furyk.

But both Kim and Furyk struggled on the back nine, while Singh and Stricker shot matching 32s on the final nine holes.

Stricker and Singh were tied going into the final hole, where Singh converted a 10-foot birdie putt for the victory.

“It was very unexpected,” said Singh, who claimed the richest prize of golf's “Silly Season” to go with his 10 million-dollar bonus for winning the US PGA Tour's FedEx Cup playoffs.

“Jim and Anthony were playing so well. My thought was if I shot 68 or 67 I would have a chance.”

Singh said one of the holes on the front nine was the key to his day.

“I had bogeyed the sixth hole all week,” Singh said. “I birdied it today and that fired me up.”

After his successful season and post-season, Singh said he'd still be at work on Christmas Day.

“It's the best time to hit balls,” Singh said. “There's nobody on the golf course. You'd be surprised.”

AFP

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.