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Singh defeats Garcia in playoff to lift Barclays Classic

25/08/2008

Vijay Singh came through a three-player playoff to win the Barclays Classic and boost his standing in the FedEx Cup series.

The Barclays is the first round of the FedEx Cup series which sees the field whittled down to the best 30 players when the Tour Championship begins in late September.

Singh was tied for second place at the start of the final round and managed to card a round of one-under to finish on eight-under-par for the tournament.

His birdie on the 17th allowed him to join clubhouse leader Kevin Sutherland who had risen up the leaderboard on the final day thanks to a round of 68.

Garcia also carded a round of 70 and, like Singh, a birdie on the 17th allowed him to finish the tournament on eight-under.

On the first playoff hole Sutherland found the trees with his drive and could not recover while Singh and Garcia both sank putts of more than 25ft for birdies.

At the par-five second hole it was Garcia who hit his drive off the fairway. His second shot went into the trees and although he received a free drop Singh completed victory with two putts.

Afterwards the Fijian said: "It was a tough day. It wasn't easy to get close to the hole, so birdie was difficult to come by. It was drying out a lot and you've got to play conservative on some holes.

"It was a tough day, but it was a great playoff - I enjoyed that."

England's Paul Casey had been in contention overnight but carded a final round of one-over-par to finish on six-under.