Sabbatini wins 3-man playoff at Colonial

Fort Woth, Texas:

Rory Sabbatini had to settle for beating the No 3 player in the world and a two-time Masters champion. As usual, Tiger Woods wasn't at Colonial.

Sabbatini made a 15-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole at the Crowne Plaza Invitational to beat Jim Furyk and Bernhard Langer, then jokingly referred to an earlier verbal spat with the top-ranked player.

Asked about the large skull and wings belt buckle he wore Sunday, Sabbatini said it was the same one he had on during the final round at Wachovia.

"I got all the jinx off that week," said Sabbatini, who had a one-shot lead last month before closing with a 74 playing in the final group with Woods.

Colonial was the fourth career PGA Tour victory for Sabbatini, the 31-year-old South African who won the Nissan Open last year and earlier this season had consecutive top-three finishes at the Masters, EDS Byron Nelson Championship and Wachovia.

Sabbatini had said last month that he wanted to be in the final pairing with Woods to prove his victory last year - when Woods withdrew with the flu - wasn't a fluke.

Then at The Players Championship, Sabbatini said Woods looked "as beatable as ever."

But Sabbatini still doesn't understand all the fuss, saying that he only meant that he wanted to compete with the No 1 player in the world.

After beginning the final round at Colonial tied at 11 under, Sabbatini, Furyk and the 49-year-old Langer closed with matching 3-under 67s to finish at 14 under.

All three hit their playoff drives into the fairway on the 433-yard 18th. Their approach shots all landed safely on the green.

Furyk, the only of the top 12 players in the world ranking at Colonial, missed his 34-foot putt. Sabbatini then made his putt before Langer, with the shortest putt and a chance to force another hole, pushed an 8-footer to the right.

It was the first three-man playoff ever at the Colonial, which hadn't needed extra holes since 1994 before Tim Herron won a two-hole playoff last year with Richard S Johnson.

Woods had won the last three-man playoff on the PGA Tour, beating Nathan Green and Jose Maria Olazabal at the Buick Invitational in January 2006.