Sunday, September
22, 2002
Tiger
not perfect, but still wins AmEx
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
THOMASTOWN, Ireland
(AP) - Tiger Woods got a bigger fight than he expected Sunday,
then a real surprise at the end _ his first and only bogey of
an otherwise flawless victory in the American Express Championship.
"That last hole
did get me," Woods said.
It was about the
only thing that did during a week in which his worst round was
a 67. Woods went 51 consecutive holes with nothing worse than
a 4 on his scorecard, and he claimed his fifth World Golf Championship
event.
But it wasn't easy.
Woods had a five-stroke
lead going into the final round, closed with a 6-under 66 and
still had to hit his best shot of the week _ a wedge from deep,
gnarly rough _ for a birdie on the 17th hole to stave off a spectacular
charge by Retief Goosen.
Woods finished at
25-under 263 for a one-stroke victory, matching his best score
in relation to par in a 72-hole tournament.
Goosen played six
holes at 6-under par, including a 6-foot eagle putt on the 17th
hole to get within one shot, and he had a career-best 62 to finish
second.
"That is one
of the best rounds I've played," Goosen said.
It was also one of
his most consistent tournaments striking the ball, a good sign
with the Ryder Cup only five days away. Woods caused a stir earlier
this week when he said he would rather win the this tournament
_ and its $1 million prize _ than the Ryder Cup.
What he really wanted
was his first tournament without a bogey. With victory all but
assured when his tee shot found the fairway on the 18th hole,
it looked as though nothing could stop him.
Click!
A photographer snapped
a picture as Woods stood over his 4-iron, facing a 237-yard shot
to a green guarded by sand and water. He backed off, glared at
the photographer, then pushed his approach into right rough. He
chipped to 3 1/2 feet but missed the par putt.
"The most important
shot of the entire week and he gets a happy finger," Woods
said. "It just threw my focus off. I never got it all the
way back to where it should have been. I'm hot at him, yes. I'm
also hot for blocking that putt."
The anger didn't
last long.
With his fifth PGA
Tour victory this year, and sixth worldwide, Woods became the
first player since Arnold Palmer (1960-63) to go four straight
years with at least five tour victories.
In his last four
tournaments, Woods has won twice, finished second at the PGA Championship
and was fourth at the NEC Invitational, another World Golf Championship.
"I can't win
every tournament, but as long as I'm there with a chance on the
back nine on Sunday, that's where you want to be," Woods
said. "I've won my share this year."
The conditions at
Mount Juliet were so pristine _ especially the smooth greens _
that Woods figured someone might make a run at him.
Vijay Singh had a
65 to finish third at 267, while David Toms and Jerry Kelly each
had a 66 to finish another stroke behind. Sergio Garcia had a
62.
The real move came
from Goosen, whose birdie-birdie-eagle run produced cheers that
Woods couldn't ignore _ especially when the former U.S. Open champion
hit a 3-iron under and around a tree to 6 feet on the par-5 17th.
"That roar was
a little louder than it normally would have been, so you figured
it had to be Goose," Woods said. "And we were on the
tee when he buried the putt."
The eagle brought
Goosen within one stroke, and he had a 22-footer for birdie on
the last hole that would have tied Woods. He pushed it to the
right.
Meanwhile, Woods
hit his 3-wood under a tree on the 17th, then hit 4-iron into
the right rough. He was only 47 yards from the hole, but the lie
in the thick grass made the distance look even longer.
"I knew that
was probably going to be the shot of the tournament," Woods
said. "If I'm aggressive and hit too far behind it and blade
it, I'll probably lose. I just said, 'Suck it up and put it on
the green like you know you can.'"
He did just that,
leaving himself an 18-foot putt. Woods showed more emotion than
he has all week when the ball disappeared, giving him a birdie
and a two-stroke lead.
"That was one
of the best shots I've hit all week," he said.
That's saying something.
Despite playing for the first time in three weeks, and using his
new Nike irons for the first time in competition, Woods looked
as good as he has all year.
He missed only two
fairways and five greens over the weekend, went wire-to-wire for
the second time this year and had his best score in relation to
par since he was 25-under 263 at the Johnnie Walker Classic two
years ago.
"I didn't really
hit a bad shot today," he said.
Goosen, who finished
second to Woods at the Masters and joked that he should get the
green trousers, got a nice consolation prize _ $540,000, enough
to put him ahead of Ernie Els on the European tour's Order of
Merit by about $12,000.
Woods had a dinner
Sunday night with 10 of his Ryder Cup teammates, then was headed
to England with them on Monday.
U.S. captain Curtis
Strange, at Mount Juliet during the week as an ABC analyst, drove
around in a cart and checked on his players. When he caught up
with Woods during the second round, Strange asked him how he was
playing.
Woods reply: "How
do you think?"
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