Love Wins Again With a Fast Finish

Davis Love III chipped in on the final hole to force a playoff, then hit the flagstick with his approach on the fourth extra hole to defeat Woody Austin and win his fifth MCI Heritage at Hilton Head, S.C, on Sunday.

Trailing Austin by a stroke on the final hole, Love rolled in a wedge from 66 feet to tie for the lead at 13-under-par 271.

Then, after watching Austin miss makable putts for the victory on the second and third extra holes, Love hit a six-iron that bounced off the pin and settled about three feet away.

Love lined up the putt, took one practice swing and dropped it in.

“There were a lot of bad shots out there,” said Love, who earned his 17th PGA Tour victory and third this year. “It was a lot like my win at Pebble, I gutted it out.”

Austin had his chances to win. He missed a six-foot putt on the second playoff hole and a three-footer on the third extra hole, both of which would have given him the title. But he had no regrets about this week.

“It’s been a long time since I felt I was hitting it this good,” he said. “It’s fun to be back in the game.”

Love, who won the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and The Players Championship, joins Tiger Woods and Masters winner Mike Weir as three-time champions on tour this season.

Love began the final round three shots behind Stewart Cink and steadily moved up as others collapsed, particularly Ernie Els.

Els had four birdies and an eagle on the front nine to take a lead that looked unbeatable. But he drove it out of bounds on the 16th hole to start his downfall.

Hal Sutton (68), Chris Riley (67), Geoff Ogilvy (67) and David Gossett (66) were a stroke behind Love and Austin.

Els’ collapse was quick.

He had a two-shot lead over several competitors through 15 holes. But he pushed his drive out of bounds on the 16th, the ball bouncing off the cart path and through hundreds of fans.

Els re-teed and made double-bogey six to create an eight-way tie for first. He drove over the green on the par-three 17th and made bogey to lose the lead.

When he finished with a bogey on the 18th, he had dropped four shots in three holes.

“It’s the only shot I kind of missed all day, wasn’t it?” Els said of his drive on No. 16. “One bad break, and that’s the tournament.”

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Bob Gilder won the Champions Tour Emerald Coast Classic with a tournament record 17-under 193, finishing four strokes ahead of three others at Milton, Fla.

Gilder, who shared the second-round lead with Tom Watson, shot a seven-under 63 in the final round on the Scottish-style 6,832-yard, par-70 course at The Moors Golf Club.

His final score topped the record of 197, set by Gil Morgan in 2000.

The four-stroke victory margin also tied a tournament record that Morgan set in 2000.

Leonard Thompson, Larry Nelson and Vicente Fernandez tied for second place at 197, two strokes ahead of Tom Purtzer and Dana Quigley.