we had to weather the storm." It t

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BETHESDA, Md. . -- Justin Rose has won enough times on the strongest golf courses to appreciate how one mistake can make a difference. He got away with one Sunday at Congressional to win the Quicken Loans National. Shawn Stefani did not. With the poise and the putting touch of a U.S. Open champion, Rose atoned for a 4-iron he hit into the water on the 18th hole to make a 15-foot bogey putt that got him into a playoff and gave him new life. On the 18th hole in the playoff, Stefani hit the same type of shot that rolled into the same pond left of the green. There are no second chances in a sudden-death playoff. Rose won with a par on the first extra hole for his first victory since the U.S. Open last summer at Merion. This one required about as much work, with Congressional far more difficult and unrelenting than when it hosted a soggy U.S. Open three years ago. "Congressional got its reputation back after the U.S. Open," Rose said. "I really enjoy this type of golf and this type of test. I think it tested all of us. Im delighted." The Englishman was far from delighted after thinking he had thrown this one away. Tied for the lead as he played the 18th, Rose tried to squeeze a 4-iron through a tiny gap in the trees from 209 yards away, playing toward the right side of the green for a chance at par. Instead, he turned it over and realized when he jogged toward the fairway that it was headed for the water. His caddie, Mark Fulcher, told Rose that Stefani had just made bogey behind them on the 17th. "Everything else was forgotten at that point," Rose said. "I wiped the slate clean and just focused on my putt on 18. An amazing feeling in any sort of championship when you make a putt like that. That means something. Thats special. "And then the playoff, it was just up to me to not do what I did the first time around." He left that to Stefani, who had drilled his tee shot in regulation and narrowly missed a 20-foot birdie putt for his first PGA Tour victory. In the playoff, Stefani pulled his tee shot in the trees and got relief from grandstands blocking his view of the green. He chose a 6-iron to punch it around the trees. "The grass closed the club down," Stefani said, "and it went left into the water. I was trying to play it down the right side and have a chance at a putt, two putts for a par. Thats the way it goes. It was great to have a chance to win." Both closed with a 1-under 70 and finished at 4-under 280 on a course that looked like a U.S. Open, and played like one the way so many contenders -- seven players had at least a share of the lead at one point -- tumbled down the leaderboard. Only six players broke par in the final round. And it was only the second time this year that the winning score was higher than the 36-hole lead (6 under). That also happened at Torrey Pines, which like Congressional, previously hosted a U.S. Open. No one crashed harder than Patrick Reed, who had a two-shot lead to start the final round, still had a two-shot lead at the turn and didnt even finish in the top 10. He made back-to-back double bogeys, shot 41 on the back and closed with a 77 to tie for 11th. "This definitely burns and definitely gets me more fired up for more events coming up," Reed said. Even though he got a reprieve with the clutch bogey putt, Rose looked like a U.S. Open champion the way he put himself into position. He hit 5-iron to 5 feet for one of only four birdies on the 11th hole Sunday. Staring at potential bogey from deep rough on the 14th, he boldly hit 3-wood up the hill and between the deep bunkers to the middle of the green. It was a par, but Rose called the 3-wood his "shot of the day." And before his blunder on the 18th, he holed an 8-foot sliding par putt on the 17th. "I felt like all aspects of my game were tested this week, and its really nice to win in that fashion," Rose said. Stefani, whose only major experience was at Merion last year, plodded along like a U.S. Open veteran with one par after another. He joined Rose in the lead with a 15-foot birdie putt on the 16th. So many others fell back. Brendon Todd was tied for the lead until a double bogey in the water on the 10th. Marc Leishman three-putted for bogey on No. 7 and made bogey on the easiest par 4 at Congressional. Brendan Steele made a late rally, only to take on too much from the rough on the 18th and find the water for double bogey. This was the first British Open qualifier on the PGA Tour -- the leading four players not already exempt from the top 12 at Congressional get into Royal Liverpool next month. Stefani earned one spot as the runner-up. Charley Hoffman (69) and Ben Martin (71) each birdied two of the last three holes to tie for third. Steele got the last spot with a 71 that put him in a three-way tie for third with Andres Romero and Todd, who already is exempt. Steele earned the spot over Romero because he has a higher world ranking. Romero closed with a 68, the low score in a final round when the scoring average was 73.7. . Henderson (20-3) received winning scores of 48-47 and 49-46, and the other judge scored it 48-47 for Thomson (20-6). The announcement drew boos from the United Center crowd. "Train this hard for this long, its such a long camp and I see my title shot disappear," said Thomson, who fought most of the fight with a broken right hand. .C. -- North Carolina State coach Mark Gottfried said his team had a "golden" opportunity to help its NCAA tournament chances. . Hicham Khalouas late goal improved Almerias chances of avoiding relegation in a match dominated by contentious calls, including three penalties. One day after Barcelonas 4-3 win at Real Madrid featured three penalties, referees again dominated a wide-open game that saw Almeria ultimately move out of the relegation zone and one point ahead of Getafe which took its place.CHICAGO -- Toronto Marlies goalie Drew MacIntyre knew a 3-0 lead wouldnt hold against the increasingly desperate Chicago Wolves on Saturday. But MacIntyre and defenders in front of him withstood a late Wolves push to claim a 4-2 victory and 2-0 advantage in the Western Conference semifinal series. "They were buzzing, they were more desperate after (our) 3-0 lead and really dominated us at times," said MacIntyre, who was provided with a three-goal first period cushion. "I think we sat back and let them come a We have to be better when were having that lead and still play like its a 0-0 game." Still, the club heads home with a chance to clinch the American Hockey League series on home ice with three scheduled games at Ricoh Coliseum. "You come into these series and hope to find a way to get into overtime one night and steal a game and to come out with two is great," Marlies coach Steve Spott said. "I give Chicago a lot of credit. They threw everything they had at us and we had to weather the storm." It took just 64 seconds for Torontos first strike. Centre Peter Holland picked up a loose puck following a Wolves turnover behind their net and dumped a shot past Chicago goalie Jake Alllen for a 1-0 lead. Toronto made it 2-0 at 7:38 mark when Brandon Kozun lined up for a shot on goal but found cenntre Trevor Smith open to Allens right. . . Kozun instead send a feed and Smith had an easy tap-in. Three minutes later, right winger Kenny Ryan swept towards Allen, who moved to block an opening. Ryan then spun and slipped a feed to winger Josh Leivo, who sent a shot over Allens shoulder for a 3-0 lead at 14:46. The Wolves finally scored as right winger Shane Harper broke MacIntyres shutout at 1:46 of the third. Chicago narrowed the margin to 3-2 on left winger Dmitrij Jaskins power-play goal at 17:21, but Marlies left winger Jerry DAmigo secured the win with an empty netter with 57 seconds to play. "We became a harder hockey club, a more seasoned hockey club," Spott said. "Its really the first time we had to deal with big-time adversity, so its nice that we dealt with it." MacIntyre made 22 saves for the win while Allen turned away 18 shots in defeat. "Theyre goalie played good and he blocked a lot of our shots but you cant make four or five horrendous errors early in the game to get down like that," said Wolves coach John Anderson. "Other than that we came along, we regrouped and had a pretty decent game after that. But 3-0 against a team like that is pretty tough." The series shifts to Toronto for games on Wednesday and Friday and, if necessary, next Saturday. ' ' '

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