Woods had full control of his game and never let anyone get closer
than three shots until he had locked up his 17th World Golf Championship
title. With a conservative bogey that didn't matter on the final hole,
he closed with a 1-under 71.
Woods moves to No. 2, behind Brandt Snedeker, in the PGA TOUR's
FedExCup standings. For the first time in five years, he has two wins
before the Masters.
And both of them were dominant.
"That's how I know I can play," Woods said. "That's the thing. To be
able to bring it out a couple times so far this year -- and then be able
to close and get the Ws on top of that -- that's nice. Any time I can
win prior to Augusta, it always feels good."
And to think it was one year ago Sunday that Woods withdrew after 11
holes in the final round at Doral because of tightness in his left
Achilles tendon, the same injury that had cost him to sit out most of
the previous summer. It created uncertainty about his health and whether
he could ever get his game back.
False alarm.
Woods now has five wins in the last year, the most of anyone in the
world, and he can return to No. 1 with a win at Bay Hill in two weeks.
He won by two shots over Steve Stricker, who might want to claim a share of this trophy.
Woods ran into Stricker on the putting green Wednesday afternoon, and
in a 45-minute session, Stricker helped him with his posture over
putts. Woods left feeling as good as he did at Torrey Pines, where he
won by four shots. And it showed. Woods made 27 birdies this week, one
short of his personal best on the PGA TOUR, and he took the fewest putts
(100) over 72 holes in any TOUR event.
"Thank you to Steve for the putting lesson," Woods said at the trophy
presentation. "It was one of those weeks where I felt pretty good about
how I was playing, made a few putts and got it rolling."
Stricker, playing a part-time schedule, picked up his second
runner-up finish in just three starts. He closed with a 68, and had no
regrets about offering Woods some help.
"At times you kick yourself," Stricker said with a laugh. "He's a
good friend. We talk a lot about putting. It's good to see him playing
well."
Asked if he would have won without that chance meeting with Stricker, Woods hedged a little.
"I would like to say I probably would have, but ..." he said with a
smile. "I've been putting at home and it just still hadn't felt right. I
still was a little bit off. ... He basically got me in the same
position that I was at Torrey. So once he put me in there where I felt
comfortable, I said, 'Well, this is not too foreign. This is what I was a
month or so ago.' And I started rolling it and it felt really, really
good."
The Masters is a month away, and Woods is sure to be the favorite.
"Majors and World Golf Championships are the best because you know
you are playing against the best players," Woods said. "That's what
makes wins like this special. That's why I love to compete."
Rory McIlroy, the No. 1 player in the world, showed signs of
recovering from his rough start to the season. He had a 65 and tied for
eighth.
Graeme McDowell, who started the final round four shots behind, made a
birdie on the opening hole, but never got any closer. McDowell had
third place to himself until he went for the green on the 18th hole and
found the water. He made double bogey, shot 72 and fell into a four-way
tie for third that cost him $172,500.
Phil Mickelson (71), Sergio Garcia (69) and Adam Scott (64) also tied for third.
Woods improved to 41-2 on the PGA TOUR when he had the outright lead
going into the final round, the last two wins with McDowell at his side.
Woods last won while ahead at Bay Hill a year ago.
"The way Tiger was playing, I was always in chase mode," McDowell
said. "He was always going to be a tough guy to catch. Fair play to him.
He played fantastic golf the last couple of days."
Woods finished at 19-under 269 and earned $1.5 million in winning this World Golf Championship for the seventh time.
McIlroy's week ended on a happy note.
Not only did he finish the tournament, he might have turned the
corner with a bogey-free 65. McIlroy opened with a 7-iron into 18 feet
for eagle, which he called one of the best shots he hit. He shot a 32 on
the back nine for a round that surprised him, considering how far away
he felt when he arrived at Doral.
"Just goes to show, it's not as far away as you think," McIlroy said.
"That's been one of my problems. I always think when I'm playing bad
that it's further away than it is. That's just where I have to stay
patient ... and know that if I put in the hard work, that the results
will bear fruit. Whether that's sooner or later, it doesn't really
matter."
McIlroy said he won't add a tournament the next two weeks, returning
at the Shell Houston Open before going to the Masters. He is signed up
for the member-guest a week from Monday at The Medalist Club, presumably
as the guest of former NBA great Michael Jordan.
"He's asked me, so depending on what my schedule is and where I have to be ... we'll see," he said.
Scott had the low round of the tournament with eight birdies in his round of 64.
That's what McDowell, Mickelson and Stricker would have needed to
have any chance of catching Woods. As he did early in third round,
McDowell gave it his best shot, only to have Woods answer on every
occasion.
McDowell two-putted for birdie on the par-5 opening hole as Woods
blasted a shot from a buried lie at the back of the green well past the
pin and off the green. He had to chip close just to save par. McDowell
hit his approach on the second hole to 7 feet and looked as if he might
pick up another shot.
In what could have been the most significant putt Woods made, he buried an 18-footer for birdie.
"It was important to make that," Woods said.
That's how it went all weekend. Woods never gave anyone a chance, and
he didn't give anyone much hope. His lead was back to four shots, he
hit an 8-iron to 4 feet on the par-3 fourth hole, and no one seriously
challenged him the rest of the way.
Mickelson hit a 200-yard shot into the breeze and over the water to a
foot for a tap-in birdie on the par-5 eighth to get within four shots
with 10 holes to play. He missed far too many short putts, however,
making bogey on the ninth and 11th holes to fall too far back to matter.
That allowed another easy walk up the 18th hole for Woods to collect
another WGC title, another seven-figure check, and offer another
reminder that he is closer than ever to getting back to the top of golf.
Woods now has won more than $24 million in the WGCs alone since the
series began in 1999, winning 42 percent of the tournaments. This was
his 76th career win on TOUR, leaving him six short of the record 82 wins
by Sam Snead. He now has more wins than Mickelson and Vijay Singh
combined.
| TPC Blue Monster at Trump Doral: Sunday |
| Easiest hole |
Toughest hole |
The par-5 first hole was the easiest with a Sunday scoring average of 4.369.
Eagles: 3 | Birdies: 37 | Pars: 23 | Bogeys: 2 | Others: 0
|
The par-4 18th was the toughest with a Sunday scoring average of 4.708.
Eagles: 0 | Birdies: 4 | Pars: 32 | Bogeys: 13 | Others: 16
|
|
| About the winner: Tiger Woods |
| • Tiger Woods earns 550 FedExCup points to move to No. 2 the PGA TOUR's FedExCup standings, 177 points behind Brandt Snedeker. |
| • Woods finished with 27 birdies, one shy of his career-best 28 at the 2007 TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola and 2006 Buick Open. |
| • Woods has seven victories (1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2013) in 13 career starts at the Cadillac Championship. |
| • Wins his 17th World Golf Championships event and first
since the 2009 Bridgestone Invitational. From 1999-2009, Woods did not
go an entire season without winning at least one World Golf
Championships title. |
| • Ended the week with a career-best 100 putts for 72 holes. Previous-best was 101 putts at 2009 Arnold Palmer Invitational. |
|
|
