Associated Press
Sunday, August 13

GRAND BLANC, Mich. -- The record crowds that turned out to see Tiger Woods saw quite a show on Sunday -- by Rocco Mediate.

	Chris Perry took a lead to the 72nd hole in search of his second win.

Mediate, who never led the entire tournament and trailed by one stroke going to the last hole, made a 12-foot birdie putt and won the Buick Open when Chris Perry missed a 10-foot putt for his first bogey in 29 holes.

Mediate birdied two of the last three holes and closed with a 6-under 66 to win for the fourth time in his career. He finished at 20-under 268 and earned $486,000.

"I knew if I made birdie, I might get in a playoff," Mediate said. "I didn't expect this."

Only six players with the 54-hole lead alone have gone on to win the Buick Open. Perry figured to be an exception until he drove into the left rough on the 18th, played short of the green and then ran a pitch about 10 feet past the hole.

"We both played great," Perry said. "He just made one more putt."

Hal Sutton, the only other player who had a serious chance of winning, played the back nine in even par and wound up with a 68, three strokes behind.

The only thing Woods provided was a scare when he tried to hit a ball that was directly behind a tree root on the par-5 13th. Woods gave it a lash and dropped the club, flexing his left hand that was jolted by the impact.

"It actually hurt quite a bit for a while, then I shook it off," Woods said. "I was trying to hit the ball on the upswing, so I just chipped the top of the root. If I had been trying to swing down on it, I would have really been in trouble."

Woods never made a move on the front nine -- critical since he started six strokes back -- and finished with a 68, seven strokes behind Mediate.

A birdie by Joe Ozaki on the 18th knocked Woods out of the top 10 for only the third time in his last 25 PGA Tour events. All three came in his first tournament after winning a major championship.

Next up for Woods is the PGA Championship, which starts Thursday. Woods will try to become the first player since Ben Hogan to win three majors in one year.

On a drizzling day at Warwick Hills, Perry and Mediate quickly turned the final round into a duel and were tied at 19-under through 11 holes.

Perry holed a 20-foot birdie putt on No. 12 and extended his lead to two strokes when Mediate missed a 3-footer for par on the 15th.

While the 18th was the decisive hole, the tournament might have turned on the par-5 16th. Desperate for a birdie or better, Mediate hit a driver from the fairway with a perfect fade that allowed the ball to run up to the green 30 feet away.

Perry decided to hit a 3-wood, but pulled it badly in an awkward spot left of a bunker that guarded the flag. He had to make a 5-footer just to save par, while Mediate two-putted for his birdie to cut the lead to one.

"I thought that was the turning point," Perry said. "I felt like if I could birdie 16, the tournament would be over. He pulled off a great shot, and then I hit a really solid shot that just didn't cut."

While 17 players began the final round within six shots of the lead, not many of them could make a run at Perry -- or their bid simply started too late.

Such was the case of Woods, who made the turn in 35 as the guys he was chasing were making all the birdies. The world's No. 1 player almost compounded matters by trying to go for the par-5 13th green despite the root in front of his ball.

It was reminiscent of the Tour Championship last year, when Woods hit through a baseball-sized rock to get at his ball. This time, however, the consequences were greater since the PGA Championship is next week in Louisville.

Alas, Woods once again survived. The best player in the world is also one of the strongest -- and the most stubborn.

"It's the only way I could get it close to the flag," Woods said.

Phil Mickelson was four behind at the start of the round and hopeful of duplicating his comeback victory in the Colonial. But he, too, was stuck in neutral. By the time he got it together with a birdie-eagle-birdie stretch on the back nine, he was too far back.

Mickelson wound up with a 68 and tied for fourth with first- and second-round leader Woody Austin at 273.

Sutton was the first one to put pressure on Perry, and sensed everything going his way when he walked after a 70-foot putt that dropped for eagle on the par-5 7th, pulling him within one of the lead.

But that was as close as he got. He missed a 6-foot birdie putt on No. 9, chopped up the 10th for his first bogey of the day, failed to birdie the two short par-4s on the back and dropped another shot on 15.