Love rolls to International win

CASTLE ROCK, Colo. -- Davis Love III took all of the suspense out of The International on Sunday, birdieing three of the first four holes and cruising to his fourth victory of the season.

Love led wire-to-wire for his 18th career title. He also vaulted from fourth to first on the PGA Tour's money list with $5.1 million heading into next week's PGA Championship.

"Obviously, the first two rounds set the tournament up for me," said Love, who compiled a tournament-record 36 points after 36 holes. "All I had to do was play good on the weekend and not make any big mistakes.

"I basically won it with my putter the first two days."

Love, who began the final round with 41 points and a 10-point lead, added 5 points under the modified Stableford scoring system used in this event. His lead never dipped below 10 points Sunday, and beat Vijay Singh and Retief Goosen by a tournament-record 12.

Chris DiMarco was another point back at 33, and John Rollins had 31. Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson each had 26. Els had the day's best round, 13 points.

The scoring system gives players 8 points for double eagle, 5 for eagle, 2 for birdie, zero for par, minus-1 for bogey and minus-3 for double bogey or worse. Rich Beem won last year with a four-round total of 44 points.

Love became the first player other than Tiger Woods to go over $5 million for a season. Woods did it the previous four years; he's at $4.8 million so far this year.

An emotional Love dedicated the victory to his wife Robin. In a press conference on Wednesday, he denied that he and his wife were having marital problems.

The field, cut after 36 holes, was trimmed again Saturday to the low 36 players and ties for Sunday's final round.

Goosen said demanding pin placements on Sunday helped Love maintain his lead.

"We knew the flags were going to be tough today," Goosen said. "Every pin was in the toughest position you could get on the greens. I think the rest of field was sort of feeling they were playing for second place after Davis' big lead."

Love got off to a quick start, sinking a 25-foot birdie putt on the first hole. After three-putting No. 2 for bogey, he rebounded with two more birdies, making putts of 15 and 4 feet.

That boosted his lead to 15 points over Rollins, who made four straight pars.

"I knew I had to get off to a real good start today," Love said. "That was the challenge for me. I made nice putts at 1 and 3 and then hit a good shot into 4."

Love's lead went to 16 points after Rollins bogeyed No. 7.

Love saved par at the par-5 eighth hole. His second shot settled at the base of a tree, and he had to punch out. He then pitched to 4 feet, however, and made the par putt.

Singh then made a move. After birdies at the seventh and eighth holes, he made an improbable birdie at No. 10 to get to 33 points and cut Love's lead to 13. Facing a 170-yard shot from behind a tree, Singh hooked an iron around the tree and over water to 6 feet, then made the birdie putt.

Rollins had seven makeable birdie putts on the front nine, but made none of them.

Love saved par after missing the green at Nos. 13 and 14, but his string of pars -- 11 in a row -- came to an end at the par-3 16th, where deposited his iron in a deep bunker and couldn't get up and down, taking bogey.

That dropped him to 45 points and reduced his lead to 12.

Goosen had the lone eagle among the leaders on Sunday at No. 17, reaching the par-5 green in two and sinking a 6-foot putt to raise his point total to 34. Moments later, Singh birdied the 17th for 35 points, and Love's lead was at 10.

Love ended whatever drama remained with a two-putt birdie at 17. He then bogeyed No. 18.

Champions Tour

BLAINE, Minn. -- Wayne Levi sank a 4-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to win the 3M Championship, notching his first career Champions Tour victory and earning $262,500.

Levi, who joined the Champions Tour in 2002, finished with an 11-under 205 to edge Morris Hatalsky and Gil Morgan, who both finished at 10 under. Levi shot 68, 68 and 69 in his three rounds.

Levi, who last won at the 1990 Canadian Open, was the 20th winner in 21 official tournaments this year on the Champions Tour.

Ben Crenshaw, who finished tied for fourth with Bob Murphy and Graham Marsh at 9 under, nearly had an eagle when his shot from the rough narrowly missed.

That set up the winning shot for Levi, who dropped his second shot onto the edge of the rough before chipping it back onto the green. He calmly tapped in his winning putt.

LPGA Tour

DUBLIN, Ohio -- Hee-Won Han, the runner-up a year ago, made a 25-foot birdie putt on the third hole of sudden death to beat Wendy Ward and win the Wendy's Championship for Children.

The clutch putt came on the 17th hole, where a short time before, Han lost a two-stroke lead.

Han, who finished a shot behind Mi Hyun Kim a year ago, ended up at 17-under-par 199 to collect $165,000 for her second win of the year and her career. She held off Meg Mallon last month to win the Big Apple Classic.

Han closed with a 66, falling into the playoff when she bogeyed the par-3 17th hole just moments after Ward had birdied it. Both players parred the closing hole, just missing lengthy birdie putts.

Ward, who shot a 63 Sunday, could have closed it out on the first playoff hole but missed a 7-foot birdie putt after Han overshot the green.

European Tour

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Ian Poulter shot a 6-under-par 66 for a one-stroke victory over Colin Montgomerie at the inaugural Nordic Open.

Montgomerie, playing his first event since pulling out of the British Open because of a hand injury last month, missed a 15-foot birdie putt at the last hole in a bid to force a playoff.

U.S. Women's Amateur

GLADWYNE, Pa. -- Virada Nirapathpangporn beat Jane Park 2 and 1 in a 36-hole final to capture the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship at Philadelphia Country Club.

Nirapathpangporn, a quarterfinalist in the tournament the last two years, built a two-hole lead after 18 holes in the morning. She watched Park pull even in the afternoon before playing bogey-free golf over the final 13 holes for the victory.

-- From wire reports