DULUTH, Ga. — Former LSU All-American David Toms held on to a one-stroke lead through three rounds of the PGA Championship by shooting a 1-under-par 69 to beat out Phil Mickelson by one stroke and win $936,000 on Sunday at the Atlanta Athletic Club.
Equally as impressive was the 300 points Toms earned to move into the Top 10 of the Ryder Cup standings and guarantee himself a position in the most celebrated international golf matches in the world. Toms entered the PGA Championships in 14th place in the standings with 455 points and moved into fifth place with 755 points.
“Instead of going to the LSU-Tennessee football game, I’m going to the Ryder Cup,” Toms told the Associated Press on Sunday.
USA Ryder Cup captain Curtis Strange will announce the 12-man Team USA for the 34th Ryder Cup Matches on Monday morning. The biennial matches will be played from Sept. 28-30 at The Belfry in Sutton Coldfield, England.
Team USA won the 33rd Ryder Cup Matches over the European team, 14 1/2 to 13 1/2, when American Justin Leonard sank a 45-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass.
Toms, 34, held a two-stoke lead over Phil Mickelson heading to the back nine of the fourth and final major tournament of the season before Mickelson caught him at 14-under with a birdie at the par-5 12th. However, the former Tiger birdied the par-4 13th and the par-4 14th to regain a two-stroke lead over Mickelson heading to the most dreaded four holes on the course.
Once again, the “Best Player Without a Major Title,” Mickelson, birdied the 15th with a 30-foot chip from the fringe while Toms bogeyed the hardest hole on the course to knot the championships at 15-under. A bogey-5 by Mickelson and a par-4 by Toms on the 16th gave him the lead by one. Both players pared the par-3 17th.
On the 490-yard par-4 final hole, Toms chose to lay up rather than hit over the water, while Mickelson reached the green in regulation. Mickelson then missed a 50-foot putt by three inches that would have put him in a tie for the lead. Toms then sank his par putt from 12 feet to win his second tournament of the 2001 season and the sixth of his career. He shot 66-65-65-69 over the four rounds.
Entering the 2001 tournament, Toms’ best finish at the PGA Championship was 41st in 2000. He missed the cut in his three previous attempts.
After sharing the lead after the first and second rounds of the championships, Toms took control of the tournament and the third-round lead with a hole-in-one on the hardest hole on the course, the 243-yard par-3. His sixth career ace resulted in a three-stoke swing after Mickelson bogeyed the 15th on Saturday.
The PGA Championship is one of four of golf’s major tournaments, along with The Masters, The U.S. Open and The Open Championship (British Open).
Earlier this year, Toms beat out Mickelson by shooting eight shots better than the lefty in the final round to win the Compaq Classic at English Turn in New Orleans by two stokes.
Toms will have the opportunity to defend his PGA Championship title at the 2002 championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., from Aug. 15-18, 2002.
The 1999 and 2000 PGA Championships winner, Tiger Woods, finished the 2001 championship in 29th place at 1-under par.
Toms became the first LSU men’s golfer to win a major title since Jay Hebert — who played at LSU in the late 40’s — won the PGA Championship in 1960. Hebert’s brother, Lionel, also attended LSU and won the PGA Championship in 1957, but did not play golf competitively at the University.
A First-Team All-American in both 1988 and 1989 and a Honorable Mention All-American in 1987, Toms was a four-year letterwinner at LSU from 1985-89. He was the last Tiger to win a Southeastern Conference Championships title (1987) and was named All-SEC after all four seasons, including the SEC Freshman of the Year in 1986. Toms’ best finish in an NCAA Championship was fifth place in 1988.
Toms holds the school record for single-season scoring average (71.27 in 1989), career Top 10 finishes (29) and career tournament victories (six). He stands in a tie for third for the lowest score in school history with a 65 at the 1987 SEC Championships.
While at LSU, his teammates included Bob Friend, Emlyn Aubrey, Perry Moss and Greg Lesher, each of whom is or was PGA Tour member.
2001 Ryder Cup Standings (Team USA)
Top 10 receive automatic bids
| Name | Points | |
| 1. | Tiger Woods | 2,447.500 |
| 2. | Phil Mickelson | 1,710.625 |
| 3. | David Duval | 1,016.333 |
| 4. | Mark Calcavecchia | 765.375 |
| 5. | David Toms | 755.000 |
| 6. | Davis Love III | 749.500 |
| 7. | Scott Hoch | 657.000 |
| 8. | Jim Furyk | 647.875 |
| 9. | Hal Sutton | 613.000 |
| 10. | Stewart Cink | 586.625 |
| 11. | Tom Lehman | 543.750 |
| 12. | Chris DiMarco | 534.000 |
| 13. | Joe Durant | 505.000 |
| 14. | Brad Faxon | 496.500 |