Appleby Ends Up in a Familiar Place

With his left leg in pain and his wife expecting their first child, Stuart Appleby almost didn’t return to the Mercedes Championships to defend his title.

Then he shot 74 in the first round, another reason to have stayed home in Australia.

But there were no regrets Sunday, except from the players trying to catch him.

Appleby drove the green on the 398-yard sixth hole to make eagle, came up with two tough birdies on the back nine and closed with a six-under-par 67 to become the first back-to-back winner in 22 years at the PGA Tour’s season-opening tournament.

“I just ran hard across the line and tried to get my nose in front,” he said.

Appleby won by about that much, helped along by some surprisingly bad shots by some of the best players.

Vijay Singh was tied for the lead until hooking his tee shots into the weeds and making triple bogey on No. 13.

Tiger Woods missed 12 putts inside 10 feet on the Plantation Course at Kapalua this week, two of them on the back nine in the final round that ultimately cost him a chance to win.

Ernie Els needed a birdie on the par-five 18th to force a playoff, but his tee shot sailed to the right and hit a cart path, landing in the shrubs for a two-shot penalty.

The last chance came from Jonathan Kaye, who needed to get up and down for birdie in front of the 18th green, couldn’t decide how to play the shot and wound up leaving it about 30 feet short.

“I had a decision to either fly it to the hole or run it up there,” Kaye said. “I guess I chose the wrong one.”

Appleby finished at 21-under 271 for a one-shot victory over Kaye, becoming the first player to win the Mercedes with a round over par since it moved to Kapalua in 1999.

Except for the opening round, Appleby did little wrong. He played the final 55 holes without a bogey en route to $1.06 million and his sixth career victory.

Appleby discovered a nerve problem in his left hip and upper thigh, and couldn’t hit balls without pain just days before he was supposed to leave for Hawaii. Some stretching exercises alleviated the pain, so he decided to give it a crack.

Rounds of 64-66 that followed his opening day left him only four shots behind, and Appleby used a horse racing analogy to size up his chances late Saturday afternoon.

“I tripped out of the gates, I’m galloping along to catch up, and now it’s a sprint to the finish,” he said.

The sprint started early, when Appleby hit a driver on No. 6, which played downwind and has a huge hill toward the green the last 100 yards. His tee shot trickled onto the green and stopped 12 feet away for an eagle that shot him up the leaderboard.

Els cost himself a victory twice -- first with his putter, then with his driver. He wound up with a 71 and tied for third, two shots behind.

“Got a bad break,” Els said.

Singh made the kind of mistake with the driver -- left -- that he had worked so hard to eliminate from his otherwise flawless game. He closed with a 74 and tied for fifth.

“I lost the tournament right there,” he said of his tee shot on No. 13. “You can’t win them all.”

Stewart Cink (71) also squandered a chance with two bogeys on the last three holes and finished three shots behind with Singh and Adam Scott (65).

Woods was never a serious factor, but his 68 left him tied for third, two strokes behind.

“I probably had more opportunities within 15 feet than I’ve had in a long time,” Woods said. “I don’t feel like I got anything out of my rounds.”

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* Event: Sony Open, Thursday-Sunday.

* Where: Waialae CC, Honolulu.

* Purse: $4.8 million.

* TV: ESPN.

* Defending champ: Ernie Els.