Singh Stere win

Vijay Singh made three straight birdies early on the back nine to clinch Tiger Woods’ Chevron World Challenge at the weekend – and cap off an $18 million season.

His 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole saw him close with a 5-under 67 for a one-shot victory over Steve Stricker.

“When I show up and I know I can’t win the golf tournament, I’m going to quit,” Singh said. “But as long as I show up and know that I can win, I’m going to keep playing.”

Stricker came up short of the 18th green and had to scramble for par, closing with a 68 to earn $840,000, his biggest check this year.

Singh virtually vanished after capturing the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus on Sept. 28 at the Tour Championship. He went an entire month without hitting balls to rest a left arm wracked with tendinitis – “I haven’t done that in forever,” he said.

Making it even more challenging, Singh showed up at Sherwood Country Club with a new driver. But he kept the ball in play on the weekend, the key around this course, and played the par 5s in 9 under during his 67-67 weekend.

Singh won $1.35 million and pushed his earnings for the year to over $18 million. That includes the $10 million bonus from the FedEx Cup, along with $6.6 million on the PGA Tour to win the money title for the third time in six years.

“Very unexpected,” said Singh, who finished at 11-under 277 to win Woods’ charity event for the first time. “I was just hanging in there. I figured if I shot 67 or 68, I would be right there with a chance.”

Richard Sterne won the South African Open on Sunday after defeating Gareth Maybin of Northern Ireland on the first playoff hole.

The pair were tied at 14-under 274 after 72 holes at Pearl Valley Golf Estates, and Sterne (66) birdied the playoff hole after Maybin (70) pushed his tee shot into a fairway bunker and was only able to make par.

Sterne hit what he described as the best bunker shot of his life on his final regulation hole after pulling his approach left to land in the sand with very little green to aim for.

“I don’t even remember hitting that bunker shot,” Sterne said. “I was trying to hit it to 15 feet, to be honest, to give myself a chance there, and it just came out perfect. It came out to 3 feet, way better than I could have hoped.”