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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida (Ticker) -- With a title on the line, Stephen Ames showed much more poise this time around.
Ames collected his first title in more than year and a half by shooting
a 4-under-par 68 in the final round of the $4.6 million Children's
Miracle Network Classic on Sunday.
The Canadian came away with his first title since the Players
Championship in March 2006 by clinging to a one-shot advantage
following three straight birdies beginning at No. 13.
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In all, Ames finished with five birdies and a bogey en route to
completing the event at 17-under 271, one shot clear of South Africa's
Tim Clark.
"Obviously it's nice to be back in the victory circle," Ames said. "It
was tough. It wasn't quite as easy as the TPC win, but it's a win."
Clark fired a final-round 66 that included all six of his birdies in an
eight-hole span starting at the ninth. It was the third runner-up
finish this season for Clark.
Ames' ability to come up with shots despite the charge by Clark was
nothing like the end of Saturday's round, when the 43-year-old had a
pair of late bogeys to fall into a tie for the lead with Scott Verplank.
On Saturday, Ames bogeyed the 16th and 18th holes to drop into a tie
for first with Verplank. In the final round, Ames followed up his run
of three birdies with three consecutive pars.
"If you stood on the first hole, and somebody told you that you had to
make three pars on the last day to win the event, you would go, 'Yeah,
that's going to be a tough feat just in itself,' and it was," Ames
said. "I had three perfect drives and I had two good second shots. The
golf course itself, with the new tee lengths and everything else, it
was a good test of golf finishing there."
It was a test Ames passed thanks to a revamped swing that also held up
to the stress of pressure golf with a tournament on the line.
Ames already was considering this season a success. He changed his
swing to help alleviate a nagging back injury and he was in the running
twice at majors. He held a share of the lead on Sunday at the U.S. Open
and was in the final group with Tiger Woods at the PGA Championship.
Now Ames heads home to Calgary a winner having fully answered the question of whether his new swing is good enough.
"It was a grind coming down to the end there and it was nice to be in
that situation because I wanted to see how my golf swing held up," Ames
said. " Parts of it held up and parts of it didn't, so at this stage
you always look for things to work on. I know I have a few things to
work on for next year."
Verplank had a 1-under 71 on Sunday to finish in a three-way tie for third place with Tag Ridings (70) and Robert Gomez (68).
Also a winner at the Western Open in 2004, Ames collected $828,000 with his latest triumph.
"I felt like I was in the same zone, had the same mental attitude that
I had when I won the TPC, which is a good thing," Ames said. "I felt
that situation a few times this year, but was never able to capitalize
on it. This week, I figured out where I needed to go to play the golf
I'm capable of playing, and it was nice."
While Ames won the tournament, Kevin Stadler and Matthias Gronberg were winners in a way as well.
Stadler tied for 15th to move into the top 125 on the money list and
keep his tour card for next year. Stadler moved up to No. 124 and
Gronberg tied for 37th on Sunday to move into 125th.
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