Winning Is Second Nature for Kaye

Jonathan Kaye carried one of the lightest resumes among the contenders at the FBR Open in Scottsdale, Ariz., and still got to hoist the heaviest hardware.

Kaye, who earned his first PGA Tour title last year in Harrison, N.Y., after 194 starts without a victory, shot a four-under-par 67 on Sunday and won by two strokes over Chris DiMarco.

This time, Kaye went only 12 tournaments between wins. His 18-under 266 was worth $936,000 -- more than he had earned in all but three of his nine previous years on tour.

He handled the pressure of playing alongside previous Phoenix winners Phil Mickelson and DiMarco, getting a firsthand view of his partners’ struggles.

DiMarco bogeyed the 16th and 17th holes, and Mickelson bogeyed his last three, leaving Kaye smiling as he approached the 18th green.

He parred out, easily rolling a 28-foot first putt within tap-in distance.

DiMarco, the 2002 winner, finished with a 69.

Steve Flesch and defending champion Vijay Singh each shot a 66 to tie for third.

It was Singh’s 11th consecutive top-10 finish, the longest run since Greg Norman had six straight in 1993 and five more starting 1994. Jack Nicklaus set the PGA record with 14 in 1977.

Duffy Waldorf (65) and Masters champion Mike Weir (69) finished at 271, with first-round leader Scott Verplank and Mickelson at 272.

Mickelson, who won the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic last week and led this event after 36 holes, had a two-shot lead at 15 under after a birdie on the fifth hole. But he bogeyed the par-three seventh when he drove into the rough on the right side of the green, chipped on and two-putted from four feet.

The left-hander got his last solo lead with another birdie on No. 10. But DiMarco caught up with the first three of his six straight birdies on the back nine, and, when Kaye birdied No. 12, the three were tied at 15 under.

All three birdied the 13th hole to go 16 under. Then Kaye and DiMarco kept up the pressure as Mickelson faltered.

Each birdied No. 14, and Mickelson fell two shots back with a bogey.

On the par-five 15th hole, Kaye laid up short of the water for an 85-yard wedge to the island green, then sank the last of his five birdies by two-putting from 10 feet. DiMarco also laid up and birdied by two-putting from 11 feet.

That’s when DiMarco’s game faltered. On No. 16, a par three, he pulled his tee shot into a bunker on the left side, blasted out and saw the ball run to the far side of the green 32 feet from the cup, and two-putted for bogey.

DiMarco nearly drove the green on the 17th hole, a 332-yard par four, but his chip from the rough on the right side again failed to hold and rolled onto the back fringe.

After another chip, he missed a seven-foot putt to save par and could only watch Kaye par out.

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Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez won the Johnnie Walker Classic at Bangkok, Thailand, closing with a four-under-par 68 to beat Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn and India’s Jyoti Randhawa by two strokes.

Jimenez birdied five holes on the front nine and had two birdies and three bogeys on the back to finish at 17-under 271 for his eighth European title.

Bjorn, who had led for three days, made bogey on the par-five 14th and on No. 17, and closed with a 68.

Randhawa had the day’s best round of 64. He surged to second from 26th place.