Appleby Discovers His Treasure Island

Stuart Appleby had every reason to be concerned.

Five shots ahead with five holes to play Sunday in the Mercedes Championships, Appleby started playing it safe as Vijay Singh began pouring in birdies. Momentum was on the side of the tall Fijian, but Appleby never flinched.

“I really felt like it was up to Vijay to catch me,” Appleby said. “I wasn’t going to let him have anything for free. I didn’t make any mistakes. And unfortunately -- to the benefit of me -- he ran out of holes.”

The Australian closed with a two-under-par 71 and withstood a dynamic charge by Singh to win the season-opening Mercedes Championships by one stroke on the Plantation course. Appleby’s total of 270 was 22 shots under par.

Singh, who missed several good birdie chances all week, made three consecutive birdies to close the deficit to two shots with two holes left.

His 15-foot putt on No. 17 barely missed, and a 100-foot eagle putt on No. 18 turned away.

“The putter took a lot away from me this week,” said Singh, who closed with a 70. “I’m not disappointed in finishing second. I’m just disappointed in not winning.”

Singh has nine consecutive finishes in the top six, a streak not even Tiger Woods has assembled.

Darren Clarke had a 70 and finished five shots behind in his Mercedes Championships debut.

Woods closed with two birdies in a row for a 71 and tied for fourth place with Retief Goosen (73). Woods earned $275,000 to top $40 million for his career.

“That’s not too bad,” Woods said. “I love inflation.”

It was an impressive performance by Appleby, although it got tighter than he would have preferred at the end.

He began the final round with a two-shot lead and tripled it by the time he had completed seven holes.

It came in handy at the end.

“I knew Vijay was never going to go away,” Appleby said.

Woods was never a factor. He started the final round seven shots behind, and although he has made up that kind of deficit in the last 18 holes before, he needed to make up a lot of ground in a hurry.

Instead, his chances were swallowed up on three holes.

His second shot was just short of the green, leaving him about 30 feet for eagle. His putt turned at the cup, then caught the grain, slope and wind as it trickled 10 feet away. He had to settle for par.

On the 398-yard sixth hole, where marshals made players wait until the green was clear before teeing off, Woods’ drive got hung up in the right rough, and his chip caught another slope and rolled about 50 feet away.

Woods overshot the seventh green for bogey, falling nine strokes behind.

“I had my chance to really do some damage early, and it just didn’t happen,” Woods said.

No one played more consistently than Appleby.

Singh had another erratic performance with his putter. He three-putted twice on the front nine and didn’t make a birdie until the par-five ninth.

Appleby hit his approach just above the hole on No. 4 for a birdie and played an aggressive second shot on No. 5, a three-wood into the stiff Kona winds that carried a gorge and landed in the middle of the green. That left him an uphill putt and a simple birdie.

When he rolled in a 25-foot birdie putt on No. 7, he was at 23 under and led Singh by six strokes.

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Mercedes Championships

At Kapalua, Hawaii

Par 73, Final 72-hole scores

*--* Finish Player Total To par 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Money 1 Stuart 270 -22 66 67 66 71 $1,060,000 Appleby 2 Vijay Singh 271 -21 68 64 69 70 $600,000 3 Darren 275 -17 67 69 69 70 $400,000 Clarke T4 Tiger Woods 277 -15 71 70 65 71 $275,000 T4 Retief 277 -15 70 70 64 73 $275,000 Goosen 6 Kirk 278 -14 68 69 71 70 $204,000 Triplett 7 Adam Scott 279 -13 69 74 68 68 $180,000 8 Scott Hoch 280 -12 68 71 69 72 $170,000 T9 Ben Crane 281 -11 71 74 66 70 $155,000 T9 Davis Love 281 -11 69 71 69 72 $155,000 III 11 Jim Furyk 283 -9 70 71 68 74 $140,000 12 Jonathan 284 -8 74 70 66 74 $130,000 Kaye T13 Justin 285 -7 68 73 71 73 $115,000 Leonard T13 Shaun 285 -7 70 71 69 75 $115,000 Micheel T15 Tommy 287 -5 73 71 73 70 $89,166 Armour III T15 Steve 287 -5 73 72 72 70 $89,166 Flesch T15 Peter 287 -5 70 71 73 73 $89,166 Jacobsen T15 Shigeki 287 -5 69 72 72 74 $89,166 Maruyama T15 Chad 287 -5 71 76 65 75 $89,166 Campbell T15 Kenny Perry 287 -5 73 71 68 75 $89,166 T21 Ernie Els 288 -4 73 70 73 72 $79,000 T21 Fred 288 -4 69 72 72 75 $79,000 Couples T21 J.L. Lewis 288 -4 70 71 69 78 $79,000 24 Mike Weir 289 -3 71 70 73 75 $75,000 25 Rory 291 -1 73 74 74 70 $73,000 Sabbatini T26 Frank 293 1 73 76 70 74 $70,000 Lickliter II T26 John Huston 293 1 69 72 71 81 $70,000 T28 Bob Tway 294 2 76 74 72 72 $67,500 T28 Craig 294 2 73 78 68 75 $67,500 Stadler 30 Ben Curtis 297 5 73 80 70 74 $66,000 This Week’s PGA Tournament

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* What: Sony Open in Hawaii.

* Where: Waialae Country Club, Honolulu.

* Last year’s winner: Ernie Els.