GOLF : TOURNAMENT PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP : Zoeller Fizzles; Elkington Gets Biggest Title

Steve Elkington made his birdie putt on the 18th hole and Fuzzy Zoeller didn’t. That was the difference Sunday as the Australian won the Players Championship for the biggest victory of his five-year career.

“I feel very fortunate,” Elkington said after Zoeller’s putt broke away from the hole.

“With Fuzzy coming up there, I couldn’t pull against him, but I’m glad it turned out the way it did.”

Elkington, a University of Houston graduate whose only previous PGA victory came last year at the Greater Greensboro Open, shot a four-under-par 68 on the windblown TPC at Sawgrass. That gave him a four-round total of 276.

The 33-year-old Australian three-putted for a bogey on the 17th, then hit a four-iron approach to within 15 feet of the flag on No. 18. When he birdied the hole, he went one stroke ahead of Zoeller, who was playing behind him.

Zoeller, 39, hit his approach to within 15 feet. Elkington was watching as Zoeller approached the green and was greeted by a chant of “Fuzzy! Fuzzy! Fuzzy!”

But Zoeller, a former Masters and U.S. Open champion who hasn’t won since 1986, missed the putt. Elkington won $288,000 and a 10-year exemption from all PGA Tour events.

“The putt tricked me,” Zoeller said. “But that happened a lot today.”

He missed birdie putts of about the same distance on the 16th and 17th greens. Either one would have put him in a playoff.

“The ball just didn’t want to go in. You have to accept the fact,” said Zoeller, who finished with a 72 for a 277 total.

“I hit a lot of good putts, but it was just one of those days.”

Paul Azinger, who led through the second and third rounds of the tournament billed as the annual championship of golf’s touring professionals, shot a 74 and dropped into a tie for third.

“I’m very disappointed,” said Azinger, a winner earlier this year and the victim of a highly publicized disqualification four weeks ago in Miami.

“I couldn’t get a putt in. I felt good over every single putt, but they wouldn’t fall. I just didn’t make it happen.”

He was tied at 278 with Phil Blackmar and John Cook, who moved up with a 65 that included a course-record 30 over the back nine.

Blackmar was tied for the lead until he hit into water on the 17th, took a double bogey and finished with a 70.

Curtis Strange, like the other Americans in good position going into the final round, couldn’t make anything happen. He shot 71 and was tied at 280 with Bruce Lietzke and Bernhard Langer of Germany.

Langer, who led a European contingent that had skipped this tournament for a couple of years, had a closing 69, as did Lietzke.

Ian Woosnam of Wales, a winner last week at New Orleans, shot a 72 and finished at 283. Masters and British Open champion Nick Faldo shot a 74 for a 289 total and Seve Ballesteros of Spain also shot a 74, finishing at 291.

Tom Watson, only three strokes off the pace going into the final round, had a 77, including 40 over the back nine, and was at 284.

Elkington got into the chase with a 15-foot putt on the 10th hole and a chip to within inches of the hole at the 11th.

A 20-footer on the 15th put him in a tie with Blackmar for the lead, but Elkington three-putted on the 17th.