Steve Lowery pips Singh for Pebble Beach title

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

PEBBLE BEACH, California (Reuters) - American Steve Lowery clinched his first PGA Tour title in eight years by edging out 2004 champion Vijay Singh in a playoff for the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Sunday.

Lowery, 47, birdied the first extra hole on the Pebble Beach Golf Links, the par-five 18th, to earn the winner's cheque for $1.08 million and his third Tour victory.

Three strokes off the pace overnight, Lowery fired a four-under-par 68 on another sun-soaked day on the picturesque Monterey Peninsula to finish the 72 regulation holes level with Singh at 10-under-par 278.

Fijian Singh had briefly led by three strokes before making three consecutive bogeys from the 14th but birdied the last for a 71 to force the playoff.

"This is the most meaningful of all my wins," a beaming Lowery told reporters after ending a PGA Tour victory drought dating back to the 2000 Southern Farm Bureau Classic and becoming the oldest champion at Pebble Beach.

"After eight years and winning on this course against Vijay, that really means a lot. This is very special.

"I played solid all day and I couldn't have given it any more in 18 holes. I'd been focusing all week."

Lowery, whose 2007 campaign was severely hampered by an injury to his left wrist, charged into contention with a blistering outward nine of five-under 31.