Monday, November 8, 1999
Hollywood finish gives Woods a Hoganlike
streak
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
SOTOGRANDE, Spain (AP) — Tiger Woods became the first
player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win four straight tournaments,
capturing the American Express Championship on Sunday after Hoganlike
play and a Hollywood finish.
Under floodlights erected on the 18th green of Valderrama Golf
Club, Woods made a 12-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole
against Spanish star Miguel Angel Jimenez to win the final event
of the year and become golf's first $6 million man.
“I've had a great season, and it's nice to end it this
way and to get a victory on a tough, tough, tough day,” Woods
said.
Tough? Bizarre was more like it.
Only an hour earlier, it appeared the greatest round of Woods'
career would be wasted on the diabolical 17th hole of Valderrama,
where a perfect shot rolled helplessly off the green and into
the water and led to a triple bogey.
“You can't get down on yourself for hitting good shots,”
Woods said. “The execution of the shots were all good. It's
just unfortunate.”
But Jimenez, cheered by a Spanish gallery so partisan that
it brought back memories of the Ryder Cup, made a bogey on the
last hole to fall back into a tie and allow Woods another chance.
He took advantage, as he has done all year.
The Spanish Civil Guard, an armed squad in their paramilitary
suits, held back the gallery in the fairway as Woods made his
birdie in the playoff to earn another $1 million paycheck and
bring an end to one of the most memorable years in golf.
Woods has won eight times in his last 11 tournaments, including
a victory against a world-class field in Germany. He became the
first player since Johnny Miller in 1974 with eight PGA Tour victories
in one season.
By finishing the year with four straight victories, a streak
that started and ended with a World Golf Championship title, he
earned $6.6 million, nearly $3 million more than David Duval.
Woods closed with a 3-under 68, one of only six players to
break par on windswept day at Valderrama. Jimenez had a 69 as
both finished at 278. Dudley Hart had a 70 and was at 283, the
only other player who finished the tournament under par.
Lost in the mayhem of the 17th — 11 players had a double
bogey or worse on Sunday — was a round so remarkable that
Woods was 6-under over a six-hole stretch in the middle of his
round and was on pace for a score 10 strokes better than the course
average of 75.1 in the final round.
Jimenez, bidding to win for the third time in Spain this year,
was equally relentless and put the heat on Woods with a birdie
on the 10th. The cheers rumbled up to the 11th green, the highest
point at Valderrama, with Gibraltar in clear view.
“Jimenez,” Woods whispered to caddie Steve Williams.
He responded by chipping in for eagle from 25 feet, then hitting
an 8-iron from 196 yards on the par-3 12th into 8 feet for another
birdie.
“He's on a mission,” Williams said as they walked
to the 13th tee.
Woods could do no wrong. From under a forest of cork trees,
he found an opening no larger than a hot tub and squeaked out
a par on No. 13, then busted a 6-iron through the stiff wind to
3 feet for a birdie on the next hole.
“Incredible,” Jim Furyk said after he finished his
round and looked back at a scoreboard that showed Woods at 10
under. “This round he's having represents what has happened
in the last part of the year.”
But after his first bogey of the day on No. 16, Woods watched
a perfect day come unraveled on a hole that has been redesigned
three times.
Woods already had one bad memory of the hole by across the
green and into the water during the Ryder Cup in 1997. This was
different, a strategy marked by smart decisions and a damaging
result.
He drove into the fairway, laid up with a 6-iron and had 100
yards to the hole, which was on the bottom shelf. Woods hit a
9-iron, two clubs more than normal to avoid spinning down the
hill, and thought he was perfect.
“You don't spin back a 9-iron, at least I don't,”
he said. “It just kind of rolled back. It actually picked
up speed by the hole, as if a wind gust hit it.”
Even more shocking was the gallery, which jumped up and cheered
as the ball trickled 35 feet — past the pin, off the green,
down the slope and into the water.
Woods, striding confidently toward the green, froze when the
ball disappeared.
“It was disappointing to hear the sounds, but understandable,”
Woods said. “They obviously wanted him (Jimenez) to win.”
Woods took a drop and hit to the top shelf, then watched Tom
Lehman's chip from the same area nearly come to a stop on the
green, then roll down the shelf and keep going into the water.
Woods three-putted for his triple bogey, although it could have
been worse.
“He played great today,” Lehman said. “To have
a tournament possibly decided when you make an 8 and not miss
a shot ... golf is not meant to be that way.”
Jimenez, two groups behind, appeared to have the tournament
won when his approach stayed on the green and he made a 6-foot
par putt to stay one stroke ahead.
“I felt as if my chances were greatly diminished,”
Woods said.
Jimenez's bogey on the 18th gave Woods a chance to write the
last chapter to his storybook season. As has been the case this
year, he did it in style.
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