Akron, Ohio – The World Golf Championships were created seven years ago to bring together the best players from around the world. Tiger Woods has turned them into an annuity.
Woods overcame some shaky putting Sunday by making the one that mattered, an 18-foot birdie putt that broke sharply into the right side of the cup on the 16th hole at Firestone, sending him to a one-shot victory over Chris DiMarco in the NEC Invitational.
“I’ve had that putt for three or four years, and I miss it low every time,” Woods said. “I made sure I threw the ball out there a little bit more … and it just snapped at the end. I thought it was going to lip out, which was how my whole day was going. But it lipped in, which was sweet.”
The victory, his seventh straight year with at least one WGC title, wasn’t secure until Woods punched a 9-iron through the trees and onto the 18th green for a two-putt par to close with a 1-over-par 71.
Woods has won nine of the 18 World Golf Championships events he has played, and has earned about $11.6 million from these tournaments, more than 20 percent of his career earnings.
“You started these too late,” he said.
Still, he has rarely had to work this hard on a Firestone course four times in his past six trips.
Woods missed five putts inside 8 feet and trailed Kenny Perry by two shots when they made the turn. Even the birdie putt that finally gave him the lead required an approach from 189 yards over water. And it wasn’t over until he made another escape from the trees.
Woods finished at 6-under 274 and earned $1.3 million for his fifth victory of the year, one more than Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson, enough to end any debate about PGA Tour player of the year.
DiMarco, who lost to Woods in a playoff at the Masters, thought he might get another shot at him when he shot a 68 to finish at 275. Playing four groups ahead of Woods, he had a 20-foot birdie on the 18th that grazed the edge of the cup. Di- Marco watched Woods play the last three holes from the dining room.
“If you’re hoping for him to make bogey, you didn’t do what you needed to do out there,” DiMarco said.
Paul McGinley, one of four players who had at least a share of the lead, fell out of contention with a bogey on the 17th and shot 72 to tie for third with Singh (67) and Ryan Palmer (69).
Perry bogeyed five of six holes and wound up tied for sixth after a 74.
