Pernice hangs on to win

Tom Pernice celebrates his victory with his daughters

Tom Pernice held on to win The International after a nervy back nine which included back-to-back bogeys.

The win, only Pernice's second PGA Tour win in ten years on the circuit, was achieved against a hugely competitive international field

The tournament differs from standard PGA events, with scores accumulated by a modified Stableford system, which awards points for performance at each hole.

Pernice, the second- and third-round leader, added just a point to his total in the final round, finishing with 34 points for a one-point victory.

Chris Riley birdied three holes on the back nine to finish at 33, but could not find a bit more magic to snatch the title.

DiMarco woe

Vijay Singh tied with Chris DiMarco and defending champion Ernie Els at 32.

DiMarco's day could have been different. He had built a six-point lead, with 39 points compared to Pernice's 33.

But he gave most of it back with two double bogeys and three bogeys on his next eight holes.

Three back nine birdies gave Riley second place

Singh also had a chance to win, trailing Pernice by just a point before driving into the creek on No. 17 and taking bogey.

Brett Quigley finished with a flourish, with two birdies and an eagle on his last three holes to vault from 21 to 30 points. Brad Faxon also had 30.

Pernice, 41, whose only previous win in 10 full seasons on the tour was the 1999 Buick Open, took the lead for good with a birdie at the par-five 14th.

After bogeys on the next two holes, he parred the final two, including two-putting from 40 feet on the 18th.

Leading scores after the final round of the $4 million International tournament played on the 7,559-yard, par-72 Castle Pines course under the modified Stableford scoring system (US unless noted):

Scoring format awards eight points for albatross, five for eagle, two for birdie, zero for par, minus one for bogey, minus three for double bogey or worse.

34 points - Tom Pernice 12 12 9 1
33 - Chris Riley 16 5 8 4
32 - Ernie Els (South Africa) 9 7 10 6, Chris DiMarco 7 13 8 4, Vijay Singh (Fiji) 9 9 12 2
30 - Brett Quigley 9 6 2 13, Brad Faxon 8 10 4 8
28 - Woody Austin 11 8 8 1
27 - Mark O'Meara 12 3 4 8, Ed Fryatt (Britain) 9 11 2 5
26 - Kenny Perry 0 10 11 5, Sergio Garcia (Spain) 7 12 7 0, Charles Howell 11 8 8 -1
25 - Tim Herron 9 11 2 3
24 - Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain) 12 5 0 7, Bob May 3 8 6 7, Kirk Triplett 10 7 3 4
23 - Jay Don Blake 7 1 10 5, Steve Flesch 6 8 6 3
22 - Scott McCarron 13 3 0 6, Steve Jones 6 2 10 4, Duffy Waldorf 13 0 5 4, Justin Leonard 7 12 3 0

Additional international scores

20 - Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 14 0 5 1
19 - Jean Van de Velde (France) 8 2 10 -1, Stuart Appleby (Australia) 2 12 9 -4
16 - Stephen Ames (Trinidad) 3 7 7 -1
11 - Paul Gow (Australia) 7 8 1 -5