Monday, March 26, 2001
Tiger Woods wins Players Championship
By PETE IACOBELLI
AP Sports Writer
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Forget the slump and bring
on the Masters.
Tiger Woods couldn't help raising his own season start after holding
off Vijay Singh's late charge to win The Players Championship
for his second straight victory.
Woods said people had been writing and talking about his slump
when he went through his first seven starts this year without
a victory.
“Obviously, they don't understand the game that well,”
he said. “Now I've won two in a row and they'll go write
about something else.”
Like maybe how Woods is the favorite for his fourth straight major
at Augusta National in two weeks. “I feel as if I'm headed
in the right direction,” he said. “It's nice to see
the changes I made in my game pay off.”
Woods lost a duel with Hal Sutton in a similar Monday finish a
year ago. This time, Woods didn't need much fight to finish a
shot ahead of Masters winner Singh to take one of the few golf
prizes he didn't already own.
Woods had a 67 and was at 14-under 274. Singh had a 68. Bernhard
Langer was two shots back after a 67. Little known Jerry Kelly
had a 73 and was four off of Woods.
There wasn't much magic in Woods' round, certainly none to match
his twisting 60-footer for birdie on No. 17's island green Saturday
or the 90-foot eagle chip on the second hole Sunday that first
gave him the lead. It didn't matter as each challenge faltered.
Woods, who won the U.S. Amateur here at 18 years old in 1994,
was pressed a bit when Singh recovered from a triple bogey on
the 14th hole to go eagle-birdie on Nos. 16 and 17.
And moments after Singh hit his 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th,
Woods tapped in for birdie on the 16th hole — he barely lipped
out a 50-foot eagle putt — to restore his lead to two shots.
“Sometimes those scoreboards can be wrong,” Woods said
of Singh's error. “I thought I've got a lot of trouble ahead
and knew I had to make some birdies.”
Woods scared the crowd and himself at the island hole, flying
a 9-iron right of the flag that spun perilously close to the water.
But like everything Monday, it settled into the rough and Woods
left with par.
“I executed the shot just the way I wanted to, it slid a
bit more in the wind,” Woods said.
On the 18th, where Woods was in the water Saturday, he drove into
the rough, chipped out and got down for a two-putt bogey to win
$1,080,000.
Singh, a Ponte Vedra Beach resident who regularly practices at
the TPC at Sawgrass' Stadium Course, seemed to have the most motivation
and the sharpest game to chase Woods down. Singh's Masters victory
was almost lost as Woods fashioned one of golf's most amazing
years with nine victories, including the U.S. Open, British Open
and PGA Championship.
At last year's President's Cup, Singh caused a stir when his caddie
wore a hat with “Tiger Who?”
Singh tied things at 13-under with his 4-footer for birdie on
the 13th hole. But Woods made his own birdie moments later on
the 12th hole for a one-stroke lead.
Singh's chances ended for good, like so many on Pete Dye's famous
course, in the water.
His drive on the 14th hole was a wild swing that headed left into
the water. It was probably the worst stroke all week for Singh.
Singh threw down his driver in disgust, kicking it before hitting
again. He left with a triple-bogey-7 — his worst score of
the week.
He got as close as two shots to Woods after an improbable eagle
on the 16th hole. Singh turned his putter sideways and used the
toe to pop the ball off the bulkhead and into the cup.
He followed with his birdie on No. 17 as Woods looked across to
the patch of land that is the course's signature hole.
Singh had a putt of about 35 feet for birdie on the final hole,
but sent it 10 feet past and made par.
“I made one bad swing and that's all it takes,” Singh
said.
Singh said he'll spend the rest of the week here working on his
game before heading to Augusta and, hopefully, matching up with
Woods again. “I think the whole game is in tune right now,
and I just need to not make dumb mistakes like I did today.”
Langer hasn't won in the United States since the 1993 Masters
and looked unlikely to challenge, especially after missing a par
putt on the 10th hole on his first stroke when play resumed. Rain
delayed the start of Sunday's round and play was suspended by
darkness.
He made two straight birdies on the 11th and 12th holes and was
only two back of Woods. But Langer truly couldn't find the consistency
to keep up — he had five birdies and three bogeys.
Kelly, paired with Woods, would've been the tournament's most
amazing story. The 34-year-old Kelly never has won in 175 PGA
Tour events and suddenly was matched with Woods in the $6 million
tournament. But he never got enough of a charge going and finished
four shots back.
Kelly, despite his good play, says he won't leave happy. “Good
check, good week, so what?” he said. “I guess I did
prove to a few people that I could play. But I didn't think I
had to prove it to myself.”
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