Monday, November 13, 2000
Valderrama has last laugh on
everyone but Weir
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
SOTOGRANDE, Spain (AP) — One of the
greatest years in golf ended with a bang, just not the kind Tiger
Woods had planned.
As Mike Weir of Canada rapped in his final
putt Sunday to win the American Express Championship, Woods twice
slammed his foot into his golf travel bag while changing to leave
Valderrama Golf Club.
Just like last year, the diabolical 17th
hole took the best shot Woods had to offer and deposited the ball
into a pond.
Only this time, Woods never got a second
chance to win in a playoff. And his spectacular season ended without
a perfect 10 — the first $10 million man in golf, the first
player in 50 years to win at least 10 times on the PGA Tour.
“I played well for most of the day,”
Woods said.
But not good enough to catch Weir, who played
better than anyone on the weekend and came away with a two-stroke
victory in the World Golf Championships event.
Having watched another horror show unfold
before him on the par-5 17th, Weir found dry land and made a deft
par save from behind the green. That allowed him to coast in for
a 3-under 69 and a two-stroke victory over Lee Westwood.
“It's a huge win, a world championship,”
Weir said. “With the quality of the field, that's what makes
it so special. Any time Tiger plays in the tournament you win,
it makes you feel great because he's far and away the best player
in the game right now.”
Weir finished at 11-under 277 and earned
$1 million.
Woods will have to settle for a year that
even one crazy hole at Valderrama can't spoil — nine victories,
over $9 million in earnings, three straight majors, the career
Grand Slam, and the lowest raw scoring average — 68.24 —
in PGA Tour history.
And there was one other winner.
With the $500,000 for finishing second,
Westwood moved ahead of his good friend Darren Clarke on the European
tour money list and claimed the Order of Merit, ending the amazing
seven-year reign of Colin Montgomerie.
“It's more emotional than I have ever
been,” said Westwood, who finished $346,000 ahead of Clarke,
plus a British pound from a bet they made with each other in August.
“It was a very, very long day out there.”
Woods was emotional, too.
He needed a birdie on the 17th, a green
he can reach in two with an 8-iron, but put his drive into the
trees and couldn't advance it out to the fairway.
Bang! He slammed his club into the side
of his bag.
Weir had yet to play the 17th, a hole that
produced four double bogeys and two triple bogeys, a par by Woods
would leave him some hope. His fourth shot landed a foot behind
the hole — and then spun back, gathering just enough speed
to reach the front of the green and trickled down the shaved slope
into the water.
Bang! Woods kicked his bag again in the
scoring tent, having signed for a double bogey on the 17th and
a bogey on the 18th, where he had to hole a 6-foot putt for his
72, extending his streak to 51 rounds at par or better.
“Every ball I've hit in the water has
been good shots,” he said. “It's not a very well-designed
hole.”
The only consolation was that the American
Express is moving to St. Louis next year, so Woods and everyone
else won't have to come back to Valderrama.
“We're not going to come back ever
again,” he said with a smile.
Duffy Waldorf was the top American, making
par on the 17th and closing with a 69 to finish at 280, tied with
Vijay Singh (68).
Sergio Garcia had a 64 on a day when the
tricky winds took a day off. He wound up in the group at 281 that
included Woods, Price (72) and Padraig Harrington (70).
Hidemichi Tanaka, who had a one-stroke lead
over Weir to start the final round, stumbled to a 77.
Five players had at least a share of the
lead at some point Sunday, including Woods with an 8-foot eagle
putt on the par-5 fourth.
Weir, who tries to pattern his swing after
Ben Hogan, had Hogan-like precision from the start. After fixing
his posture late Friday, when he was eight strokes back, Weir
was deadly accurate on a course that requires nothing less.
He took the outright lead with a 4-foot
birdie putt on No. 8, and only a half-dozen birdie putts that
lipped out allowed for some drama on the back nine.
That, and the 17th.
Weir's lead was down to one stroke over
Price and two over Woods when he arrived at the 17th tee and heard
nothing but groans over the hill.
Price laid up, but chunked his approach
into the water. He took a drop, then hit his fifth shot so fat
that it trickled into the front of the pond. Price took 8, and
after a bogey on the 18th, he stormed away from Valderrama without
comment.
Weir was on top of the hill when he saw
Woods take his drop.
“It's just a very dangerous hole,”
Weir said.
The Canadian never looked at a leaderboard
until he got to the 17th, and with a two-shot lead — and
seeing the woes of Woods — he decided to lay up. His third
shot went over the back of the green, but his chip nearly went
in and he had his par.
“The 17th hole is a very difficult
hole, a controversial hole,” Weir said. “But it adds
to the flavor of this event and this golf course.”
It was Weir's second PGA victory, but much
more significant than winning the Air Canada Championship last
year in Vancouver. Along with his sound play in the Presidents
Cup, Weir continues to emerge as one of the top players.
“Three years ago, I was playing when
$100,000 Canadian was the total purse,” he said. “To
win $1 million is far and above what I ever dreamed.”
Woods had his chances at this 10-10 year.
This was the third straight week he was within two shots of the
lead going into the final round and failed to win. That's a streak
he would like too stop, but he'll have to wait until January.
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