David Toms closed with a 67 to win the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial by a shot from Charlie Wi.
American makes up for Sawgrass play-off defeat with victory in Texas
A dramatic eagle at 11 helped David Toms capture the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Country Club and win for the first time on the PGA Tour since 2006.
Toms, a play-off loser in the Players Championship at Sawgrass last week, had blazed into a seven-shot lead at halfway after back-to-back 62s on the famous Texas layout.
But, in an amazing Saturday turnaround, he finished the third round one behind Charlie Wi after carding a four-over 74 to the Korean's four-under 66.
However, Toms found his groove again on Sunday and, after taking the lead when holing out from the fairway with a wedge at the par five 11th, he kept Wi at bay and ran out a narrow one-shot winner after closing with a 67 for a final total of 15-under.
Bo Van Pelt birdied the final two holes to grab third place on 10-under while defending champion Zach Johnson also closed with a five-under par round to leap from tied 29th at start of play to finish fourth at -9.
Wi, chasing a first PGA Tour win, had strengthened his grip by starting the final round with back-to-back birdies to move three shots clear. But a bogey at six and a Toms birdie at seven cut the Korean's lead to just a stroke with nine to play.
When Wi bogeyed 10, it was tied at the top and at the next - the par five 11th - Toms made a dramatic move by spinning a wedge back into the hole for a stunning eagle.
Wi's birdie limited Toms' lead to just one, but he bogeyed the 12th to fall two behind.
The 12th was also the start of Stuart Appleby's demise. The Aussie had made four front nine birdies to pull to within a shot of the lead but a bogey at 12, another at 13 and a disastrous treble bogey at 14 wrecked his hopes. He came home in 43 and slipped from third to tied 16th.
Two-horse race
Now a two-horse race, Toms extended his lead to three with another birdie at 14 but saw his lead cut to just a shot after Wi had birdied 16 and Toms had failed to get up and down from sand at 17.
Wi's play-off hopes faded at the last after a modest approach and although he gave his 44-foot birdie putt a run it came up short. That meant Toms needed just a routine two-putt to close out victory which he duly did to secure his first PGA Tour win since the 2006 Sony Open in Hawaii.
Toms said: "It just took a lot of guts. That's what I got by on today. I played a great round of golf and that's what I had to do. It's a crazy game and I'm just glad to be part of it.
As for his eagle on 11, he reflected: "When stuff like that happens, it's like it's meant to be. I've wanted this tournament for a long time, it's a great course for me. Just glad to have one of those Plaid jackets."
Sweden's Robert Karlsson (67) finished top European as he tied for fifth with American Chez Reavie.
Scotland's Martin Laird and Spain's Sergio Garcia both closed with level par 70s to finish tied 11th and tied 17th respectively.
Jim Furyk produced the shot of the day with a hole-in-one at the eighth.
