Playoff birdie brings Stallings first PGA title

Rookie Scott Stallings sank a seven-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to beat fellow Americans Bob Estes and Bill Haas and win the PGA Greenbrier Classic. The 26-year-old newcomer who turned professional in 2009 captured the $1.08 million top prize and claimed a berth in next year's Masters, an event he saw for a day in 2009 and vowed he would not attend again until he played in it. "It's a dream come true," Stallings said. Estes, Haas and Stallings each finished 72 holes on 10-under par 270. Estes fired a final round 64 while Haas shot 67 and Stallings carded a 69, needing a five-foot birdie on his 72nd hole to stay in the championship hunt. The playoff began on the Old White course's ar-3 18th hole with Stallings putting his tee shot closest to the pin while Haas was 22 feet away and Estes was half that distance. Haas left his birdie putt inches short while Estes went two feet past to the right of the cup, leaving Stallings to curl his putt home and celebrate. Stallings endured a roller coaster final round. He made four bogeys on the front nine, birdied four of the first five holes on the back nine and wedged a bogey at the par-5 17th between birdies at the par-4 16th and par-3 18th. "I felt really good going into 17," Stallings said. "I hit a bad shot and got a bad break, hit the tree and went into the water. Then to birdie 18 like I did was incredible. "I've wanted to do this since I was a little kid," Stallings added. "I was that little boy running around chasing autographs and yelling at guys because they wouldn't stop and sign my golf balls." Estes, ranked 479th in the world after a wrist injury, made six birdies in a bogey-free final round, including back-to-back birdies on 17 and 18, the latter from 15 feet, to reach 10-under. Haas opened and closed the front nine with birdies and birdied the 10th as well, then answered his lone bogey at the par-3 15th with a birdie at 17. Estes had to wait more than an hour between the end of his round and the playoff. He had something to eat, then went to the practice range to warm up. "I felt like I did everything exactly right," Estes said. "I just didn't make the birdie putt on 18." Zimbabwe's Brendon de Jonge, Argentina's Andres Romero and Americans Jimmy Walker, Gary Woodland and Cameron Tringale shared fourth on 271.