Tiger Woods back on the ball to win Aussie

Masters by two strokes from Chalmers

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Tiger Woods claimed his first ever win in Australia as the World Number One captured the 2009 JBWere Australian Masters title at Kingston Heath today.
Woods, the joint leader after 54 holes with Australians Greg Chalmers and James Nitties, fired a final round 68 at the historic 6455 metre par 72 lay-out in Melbourne's renowned sandbelt to prevail by two shots from Chalmers (70) in outright second.
Francois Delamontagne of France elevated himself from among the also rans with weekend rounds of 68 and 69 for a share of third place on ten under with American Jason Dufner (70) while Nitties (73) rounded out the top five at minus nine.
Clad in his customary Sunday red, Woods constructed a copybook birdie at the first to signal that Saturday's misadventures, when he carded a frustrating and unsatisfactory 72, were well and truly behind him.
In fine, warm conditions, the 14 time major winner made his move with successive birdies at five and six.
First, he offered his huge gallery the thrills they were craving with a long iron to the pin for a gimme at the 351 metre par four fifth for the outright lead, followed by a pitching wedge to inches at the next for a tap in to extend it.
Woods' most telling shot of the day was at the par five 12th when he smashed a fairway wood from 268 metres to within four metres of the flag, setting up another birdie for a three shot break on his rivals.
A furious Woods blamed an overenthusiastic photographer for his wayward approach which was to cost him a shot at 13 - his one blemish for the round - and a 5at the par five 14th was an opportunity lost.
But when he holed a three metre birdie putt at the 142 metre par three 15th, the door was effectively slammed shut on his rivals.
"Saturday was one of those days," said Woods. "I was thankful I was still (in contention) in the tournament, but I kept myself in it and it allowed me to go out today and go for the chance to win.
"It was going to be tough today. I had to make some birdies early and I was able to do that and was able to keep it."
The champion was kept honest by Chalmers who managed a couple of early birdies and remained thereabouts despite a dropped shot at the 173 metre par three eighth.
What really hurt the 36 year old, however, was his failure to convert two gilt edged birdie opportunities when he most needed to on the back nine at 14 and 16.
Adam Bland's 67 was the best of Sunday's rounds while two former Masters champions, Craig Spence, the 1999 winner and Aaron Baddeley (2007) both matched Woods' 68.
Defending titleholder Rod Pampling fired a final round 73 to finish equal-14th at minus four overall.
It was Woods' seventh victory of the year. He justified his $3 million fee by attracting unprecedented 100,000 crowds over the four days and was tracked by huge galleries.
Aberdeen-born Australian Michael Sim finished joint 14th on 284.
Former Scottish amateur champion Callum Macaulay didn't get the high finish he needed to avoid going back to Tour School. He had a disappointing last round of 75 for 292.

FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)
274 Tiger Woods (USA) 66 68 72 68
276 Greg Chalmers (Aus) 68 69 69 70
278 Jason Dufner (USA) 70 67 71 70, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 71 70 68 69
279 James Nitties (Aus) 66 71 69 73
280 Adam Scott (Aus) 71 71 69 69, Cameron Percy (Aus) 67 72 69 72
281 Stuart Appleby (Aus) 69 70 71 71
282 Craig Scott (Aus) 71 72 70 69, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 73 72 69 68, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 71 73 66 72
283 Alistair Presnell (Aus) 72 73 66 72, Ashley Hall (Aus) 69 69 72 73
284 Michael Sim (Sco) 70 71 69 74, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 71 70 70 73, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 72 67 72 73
285 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 73 68 76 68, Leigh McKechnie (Aus) 73 71 69 72, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 71 71 67 76, Seve Benson 71 71 70 73
286 Scott Laycock (Aus) 72 68 70 76, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 68 70 74 74, Steven Bowditch (Aus) 71 68 75 72, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 71 73 71 71, Steven Jones (Aus) 72 75 70 69
287 Richard Bland 71 73 73 70, Adam Bland (Aus) 72 75 73 67, Richard Green (Aus) 72 71 72 72, Craig Spence (Aus) 72 75 72 68, Kurt Barnes (Aus) 70 73 75 69, Heath Reed (Aus) 77 68 74 68
288 Manny Villegas (Col) 70 68 76 74, David McKenzie (Aus) 70 72 73 73, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 72 73 71 72, Matthew Griffin (Aus) 71 75 69 73
289 Gary Murphy 71 73 71 74, Rick Kulacz (Aus) 69 76 69 75, Michael Long (Nzl) 71 75 70 73, Ewan Porter (Aus) 71 76 70 72, Branden Grace (Rsa) 66 75 73 75, Craig Parry (Aus) 70 76 73 70, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 71 69 73 76, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 71 74 71 73
290 Aaron Townsend (Aus) 75 72 74 69, Andrew Tampion (Aus) 71 75 71 73, Peter Nolan (Aus) 68 72 74 76, John Senden (Aus) 73 69 75 73, Matthew Millar (Aus) 71 76 72 71, Andre Stolz (Aus) 71 74 70 75, Lee Slattery 69 74 75 72
291 Ryan Haller (Aus) 70 74 76 71, Sam Little 71 71 73 76, Peter Wilson (Aus) 73 73 72 73, Doug Holloway (Nzl) 67 74 77 73, Michael Wright (Aus) 73 73 71 74, Paul Sheehan (Aus) 73 72 74 72
292 Callum Macaulay 75 71 71 75, Marc Leishman (Aus) 72 73 74 73, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 75 72 72 73, Matthew Giles (Aus) 74 69 77 72, Adam Groom (Aus) 73 70 75 74, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 74 73 76 69
293 Josh Younger (Aus) 72 73 71 77, Andrew Bonhomme (Aus) 73 74 73 73, Anthony Brown (Aus) 72 72 72 77
294 Jason Norris (Aus) 73 74 71 76, Terry Price (Aus) 73 72 80 69, Miles Tunnicliff 74 72 75 73
295 Mahal Pearce (Nzl) 71 68 77 79
296 Aaron Pike (Aus) 74 73 72 77
297 Rohan Blizard (Aus) 69 76 77 75
298 Frank Power (Aus) 74 70 76 78, Andrew Tschudin (Aus) 73 72 74 79
299 Damien Jordon (Aus) 69 78 79 73, Simon Furneaux (Aus) 73 74 77 75
300 Kim Felton (Aus) 76 71 77 76
302 Ryan Hammond (Aus) 75 72 77 78