Atwal finishes tied 56th

Arjun Atwal fired his only sub-par round of the week on the final day to move up the ladder and finish joined 56th at the USD six million Wachovia Golf Championships at the Quail Hollow Club.

Atwal's minor movement up was, however, hardly noticed as Fiji's Vijay Singh ran down Sergio Garcia then outlasted Garcia and Jim Furyk in a three-way playoff to win the title on the fourth hole of sudden death at Charolette, North Carolina.

Garcia allowed a six-stroke lead to disappear in thin air and ended in a three-man play-off. Furyk, too, lost out after a great catch-up effort of 66 in the final round to finish in a three-way tie at 12-under 276.

Singh, six behind Garcia at the start, shot a six-under 66, the same as Furyk as the duo played some spectacular golf.

In the end it was a sort of an anti-climax, as Singh needed only a par on the fourth play-off as Furyk went into the creek but then saw his fourth shot hit the flag and hurry onto the rough.

Garcia, 72 on the final day, threw away his lead in 12 holes but then slotted consecutive birdies to surge ahead again.

However, he again slipped into a tie when he went into the water while trying for the pin on the par-3 signature hole, the 17th with a peninsula green.

He finished with a bogey and then blundered again at the first play-off hole, when he three-putted from 45 feet.

Atwal seemed to be heading for a good final round, as he started with two birdies on the first and second and then added a third on seventh.

At three-under after seventh hole, things looked bright for Atwal.

Then he bogeyed the eighth but soon made up with a birdie on 10th.

Thereafter he just managed a bogey on 13th and managed to par the rest for a two-under 70 and a total of five-over 293 with rounds of 75, 73, 75 and 70.

Despite slightly better putting, as he needed 28 for the round, Atwal continued to have problems off the tee, as he found only 36 per cent of the fairways.

The tied 56th place gave him USD 13,260 and carried his total earnings to USD 636,508 for a 48th place on Money List in the US Tour.

The Indian has made cuts in each of his six starts and finished in top five twice and in top 25 three times.

Only Ernie Els has more money in six starts than Atwal.

The loss after a six-shot lead by Garcia brought back memories of Greg Norman squandering a similar lead to Nick Faldo at the 1996 Augusta National, when he shot a 78 and lost by five shots.

"Sometimes it's harder to play with a big lead. You don't want to lose the tournament. If the guys are catching up, you start to get a little nervous. But we (Furyk and himself) played well," said Vijay Singh.

Tiger Woods made a valiant attempt to get into the top 10, but a two-shot penalty saw him end tied 11th.

Masters runner-up Chris DiMarco closed with a 66 for fourth which was his third straight top five finish and Phil Mickelson who was nine-under after 15 holes, dropped three strokes over last two holes and his 66 saw him tie for seventh.