Appleby wins it ... with a 59
Stuart Appleby felt opportunity, not nerves, as he started running out of real estate in the chase for golf's magic number 59.
The Australian birdied the final three holes with putts of 15 feet or less Sunday to become the fifth PGA Tour player to reach the low-round record and win the Greenbrier Classic by a shot at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.
He also broke a four-year winless drought, when third-round leader Jeff Overton narrowly missed a long birdie try on the par-3 18th that would have forced a playoff.
"I was quite comfortable," Appleby said. "It's not a nerve-racking thing to be involved in. I had a lot of opportunities and I made them. It was great to do that to win the tournament."
Appleby's 11-under round on the Old White course put him at 22 under. Overton, playing three groups behind Appleby, shot 67 to finish at 21 under.
"I did the math. I was chasing Jeff, who was heading toward the finish line," Appleby said. "At the same time I was playing well and I thought if I could keep making birdies - I knew I was going to run out of holes. There was plenty of (birdie chances) coming in."
Appleby's round came less than a month after Paul Goydos shot a 59 at the John Deere Classic.
The others to shoot 59 were Al Geiberger at the 1977 Memphis Classic, Chip Beck at the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational and David Duval at the 1999 Bob Hope Classic.
Appleby had 9 birdies and an eagle in his round to earn the $1.08 million winner's check.
He saw playing partner D.A. Points flirt with a 59 on Saturday before settling for a 61.
On Sunday, it was Appleby's turn.
"It was nice to be on the receiving end," Appleby said.
Appleby won for the first time since the 2006 Houston Open. His previous career low was 62 in the 2003 Las Vegas Invitational.
U.S. Senior Open: Bernhard Langer shot a final round 3-under 67 and took advantage of Fred Couples' critical mistake to complete a daunting trans-Atlantic double and win the U.S. Senior Open championship at Sammamish, Wash.
Coming off a victory at the Senior British Open last week at Carnoustie, Langer finished at 8 under for the tournament, fighting off jet lag and a partisan hometown crowd hoping Couples could pull out victory just 20 miles east of where he grew up.
Tied with Langer starting the day, Couples birdied the opening hole before he made triple bogey on the par-5 second, the easiest hole on the course.
Women's British Open: Yani Tseng of Taiwan made a 6-foot putt on the 18th hole to win the Women's British Open at Southport, England, by 1 stroke over Katherine Hull of Australia.
Irish Open: Ross Fisher won the Irish Open by two strokes over Padraig Harrington after shooting a 6-under 65 in the final round at Killarney, Ireland.