Nick Faldo won his first tournament in the United States since the 1990 Masters, shooting a 3-under-par 69 and surviving a drive into the water on the 18th hole Sunday to win the Doral Ryder Open by one stroke.
Faldo, playing the PGA Tour full-time this year for the first time since 1989, put his tee shot into the water on the final hole, but then reached the green with a 3-wood and two-putted for bogey. He finished at 15-under 273.Greg Norman, needing only a par to force a playoff, then hooked his second shot into the water on the 18th and had his third bogey of the day after playing the first three rounds without one. He closed with a 73 for a four-day total of 274.
Peter Jacobson had a chance to tie on the final green, but his 75-foot birdie try missed by about two inches. He also finished at 274 after a final-round 73.
Faldo, who began the day three shots back, took the lead for the first time with a birdie on the par-4 14th hole. A bogey by Norman on the same hole gave Faldo a two-shot lead.
Norman drove into a bunker on No. 16, but hit within 10 feet on his next shot from 75 yards out and made the birdie to draw within one. He just missed an 11-foot birdie try on No. 17, then put his tee shot into the heavy rough on the final hole.
From 180 yards away, his second shot hooked 40 feet left of the green and splashed in the water.
"I knew the shot was in the water as soon as I hit it. I felt the club twist in my hand," Norman said. "There was a big clump of grass right behind the ball. It was just sitting in the wrong place."
That left Jacobsen with the only chance to tie, and his birdie attempt just missed.
"Having that putt on the last hole is what you always dream about. You don't expect it to go in, but it would be a storybook finish," said Jacobsen, who was trying for his third victory of the season.
Justin Leonard , Steve Elkington and Davis Love III finished two shots back tied for fourth. Hale Irwin and Woody Austin finished three strokes back.
Faldo, who played the European Tour after leaving the PGA Tour, is using a new cross-handed putting style this season. He needed to make a 3-footer for bogey on No. 18, and it rattled in. He finished at 15-under 273.
The victory was worth $270,000 - $45,000 more than he took home for winning the Masters in 1990.
In his previous four tournaments this season, Faldo's best finish was a tie for ninth at Pebble Beach a month ago.