Lehman fades, Goosen

wins for seventh time

on United States Tour

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
South African Retief Goosen achieved the seventh US Tour victory of his career in Tampa Bay on Sunday.
The 40-year-old, pictured above, won the Transitions Championship by one from Charles Howell and Brett Quigley on the same Copperhead course at the Palm Beach, Florida Innisbrook Resort where he captured the 2003 Chrysler Championship.
Having chipped in for birdie at nine, a 17ft eagle putt on the 575yd 11th proved to be the decisive blow as two-time US Open champion Goosen ended four years without a victory in America.
From one behind, he went one ahead - and although Howell caught him with his third birdie in four holes at the 14th, the American followed that with back-to-back bogeys.
Goosen, whose last title came at the Africa Open in his home country in January, failed to get up and down from sand on the 16th and found dense rough by the 17th green.
However, he played a great chip to three feet and then holed from nearly five feet at the 18th to take the $972,000 first prize.
He was round in a closing 70 for an eight-under-par aggregate of 276.
Howell and Quigley both had birdie chances on the last but missed from 25 and 24 feet respectively.
Quigley was also a joint runner-up in Puerto Rico last week and has now played 342 PGA Tour events without a victory.
Fifty-year-old Tom Lehman, seeking his first victory for nine years, led overnight but three bogeys in an outward 39 dropped him into the pack, and he was unable to fight his way back into contention.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 284 (4 x 72)
276 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 69 68 69 70
277 Brett Quigley 73 68 68 68, Charles Howell III 71 66 71 69
278 Charlie Wi (Kor) 68 73 68 69, Steve Stricker 69 67 73 69, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 67 74 70 67
279 Steve Flesch 71 67 72 69
280 Kevin Na 70 72 71 67, Bo Van Pelt 71 72 71 66, Tom Lehman 68 69 68 75, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 70 67 71 72
281 Nick Watney 69 67 74 71, Rich Beem 71 67 71 72, Matt Kuchar 72 68 69 72, Jonathan Byrd 67 70 71 73, Mark Wilson 68 71 74 68
282 Kenny Perry 67 74 71 70, Jason Dufner 71 71 70 70
283 Charley Hoffman 74 68 69 72, Jeff Overton 69 70 73 71, Kevin Sutherland 69 71 75 68, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 68 70 70 75, Briny Baird 70 71 71 71, Troy Matteson 69 68 72 74, Ryan Moore 70 72 71 70, Stephen Ames (Can) 66 74 72 71
284 D.A. Points 73 69 70 72, Kirk Triplett 73 70 72 69, Aron Price (Aus) 74 69 72 69, Bill Lunde 70 71 73 70, John Mallinger 69 73 71 71, Rocco Mediate 72 71 74 67
285 Jeff Klauk 71 70 71 73, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 69 72 72 72, David Toms 68 73 68 76, Woody Austin 69 73 69 74, Heath Slocum 71 69 70 75
286 Billy Mayfair 72 70 73 71, Ken Duke 71 70 74 71, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 69 73 71 73, D.J. Trahan 68 72 72 74
287 Joe Durant 73 67 69 78, Joe Ogilvie 71 66 73 77, Steve Lowery 70 70 73 74, Tom Pernice Jnr. 70 72 71 74
288 Brendon De Jonge 68 75 72 73, Michael Letzig 69 73 74 72, J J Henry 69 68 76 75, Brian Gay 71 69 78 70, David Mathis 71 72 71 74, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 72 71 73 72
289 Spencer Levin 70 73 77 69, Jim Furyk 65 78 72 74, Cameron Beckman 69 72 74 74, John Huston 70 73 69 77, Boo Weekley 71 72 70 76, Matt Bettencourt 70 73 72 74, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 70 72 75 72
290 Tim Herron 70 70 72 78, Eric Axley 71 71 72 76, Chris Couch 70 73 72 75, Steve Elkington (Aus) 69 74 72 75
291 Jonathan Kaye 73 68 72 78, Ben Crane 68 74 73 76, Scott McCarron 69 69 77 76, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 71 72 76 72, Tommy Armour III 73 69 76 73
292 Brad Adamonis 71 71 77 73, Bart Bryant 72 70 74 76, Jason Bohn 74 68 76 74
293 Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 69 73 75 76
294 Will MacKenzie 70 71 75 78
304 Nathan Green (Aus) 68 74 83 79