GOLF : Sills Surprises Himself With Playoff Win Over Morgan

Tony Sills was thinking about everything but winning Sunday.

“I was thinking about making a good swing, making a solid hit, staying loose,” Sills said. “My thoughts weren’t about winning, just to play well. It was a shock.”

Sills, a former USC standout who started the day six shots off the pace, sank a 15-inch par putt on the first playoff hole to beat Gil Morgan for his first pro victory in a $1-million PGA tournament at The Woodlands, Tex.

“It was a three-round tournament and really no one made a move,” Sills said. “I was just fortunate that I made some good shots coming in.”

Sills birdied four of his last five holes and narrowly missed making it five in a row, finishing with a seven-under-par 65 for a 204 total.

Morgan started the day four shots behind the leaders and had a final-round 67, including key birdies on the 15th and 17th holes.

The playoff began at the par-four, 428-yard No. 10 hole, where Sills sank his short putt for the victory.

Morgan’s first putt went five feet past the hole and he missed the return shot for a bogey. Sills’ first putt for a birdie rolled past the hole, but he sank the par putt.

“I misread it and misjudged the speed,” Morgan said of his first putt. “I hit the second putt straight and it drifted again.”

Sills earned $180,000 and Morgan took home $108,000.

It was the fourth time in five years the tournament was decided in a playoff.

Sills had a birdie putt skim past the hole at No. 17 that would have given him five consecutive birdies. He hit a shot on No. 7 that jumped out of the water, allowing him to save par.

Seve Ballesteros was among a group of six players who finished in a tie for third at 205.

Ballesteros shot a final-round three-under-par 68 after missing a 20-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole that would have given him a spot in the playoff.

There were as many as six players tied for the lead at 11 under par at one point in the final nine holes before David Peoples, Morgan, Sills and Ballesteros made birdies to increase the lead to 12 under.

Peoples, trying to win his first tour event, dropped out of contention when he made bogeys on Nos. 11 and 12.