The Hindu : Sport / Golf : First title for Ames

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 06, 2004

Sport

Sport - Golf

First title for Ames

LEMONT (USA), JULY 5. Trinidad and Tobago's Stephen Ames won his first career PGA Tour victory at the Western Open on Sunday, shooting a 70 to finish at 10-under 274 and beat Steve Lowery by two strokes.

As fans gave the beaming Ames a standing ovation, his two young sons stood patiently at the edge of the 18th green. After hugging his caddie and shaking hands with his playing partners, Ames crouched down and the boys ran into his arms.

Northwestern University alumnus and local favourite Luke Donald (67) and Mark Hensby (73) were three strokes back. Stuart Appleby (72) and Geoff Ogilvy (73) were four shots behind Ames in fifth.

It has been a long wait for Ames, the first touring pro from Trinidad. He turned pro in 1987 and joined the American golf tour in 1996, but the closest he came to victory was a second-place finish at The Players Championship in 2002.

But Ames is having one of the best, most consistent years of anyone on the tour. He had eight top-10 finishes in 16 events, including six of his last seven starts. He could never quite make the run he needed for his first career victory, with his best finish this year a third at the Colonial.

On Sunday, everything fell into place. Ames fell behind early with a two-putt bogey on the par-4 No. 3. But he climbed back into the lead on the par-3 12th, putting his tee shot within 6 feet of the pin and making the putt for a birdie to get back to 9 under.

Lowery made a double-bogey on the par-4 13th to fall two strokes off the lead, and all Ames had to do was close it out. He widened his lead on the par-5 15th, two-putting from 48 feet for a birdie that took him to 10 under. He sealed the victory with a par save on 16. — AP

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport