Tiger Woods has two trophies he can use as bookends for a year like no other.
It began 322 days ago down the coast at Torrey Pines when he won his first tournament of the year in a playoff at the Buick Invitational. It ended Sunday at the Target World Challenge in Thousand Oaks, Calif., with a 6-under-par 66 that allowed Woods to blow past U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy and win his tournament for the third time in eight years.
In between came a massive loss with the May 3 death of his father, a missed cut for the first time in a major, then six months of golf that Woods considers his best ever.
The benchmark always had been 2000, when his nine PGA Tour victories included three straight majors. He won 53 percent of his PGA Tour events this year – eight of 15 – including the final two majors.
“I think if you compare the two years, I think this year would have to be better because of, obviously, things I’ve been dealing with off the golf course,” Woods said. “In 2000, I didn’t have to deal with that. Hey, life is full of mysteries and you’ve got to deal with things as they come. Who’s to know that if Dad didn’t struggle and end up passing that I wouldn’t have played that well in the summer?”
The question for the 16-man field he beat: How much better will he get? Since missing the cut at the U.S. Open, Woods hasn’t finished worse than second in stroke play, winning his final six PGA Tour events of the year, and closing out 2006 with a victory that doesn’t count in the record books, but means plenty to Woods.
He finished at 16-under 272, and again donated his prize money – $1.35 million – to his Tiger Woods Learning Center.
Starting the day one shot behind Ogilvy, Woods made up ground quickly. He holed a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-5 second hole and chipped in for birdie from 20 feet on the par-3 third. Ogilvy got unlucky with a clump of mud on his ball at No. 2 that led to a bogey, and never recovered.
“I knew starting the day I would have to shoot 5- or 6- under to win,” Ogilvy said after his 71. “Maybe that’s why you never play well when he’s there, because you try too hard to shoot a score. Golf is very hard when you’re trying to shoot a low score.”
Chris DiMarco closed with a 71 to finish another shot behind in third.
Woods said Saturday night that pars would not be good enough Sunday, and he played that way. After a bogey from the bunker on No. 4, he hit fairway metal at the flag on the par-5 fifth to about 20 feet behind the hole to set up a two-putt birdie, then poured it on with a 20-foot birdie on the seventh.
Next up for Woods is a skiing holiday with his family. The next question is when he returns.
Woods, who skipped the final five PGA Tour events – including the Tour Championship – has not said whether he will start his 2007 season at the winners-only Mercedes-Benz Championship in Hawaii on Jan. 4, or wait until the Buick Invitational three weeks later.
South African Open: Ernie Els shot a 7-under-par 65 to beat Trevor Immelman by three strokes at the event in Port Elizabeth.
Els had eight birdies and a bogey to finish the final round at 24-under 264. It was the South African’s first win of 2006.
“My wife needs a lot of credit. I’ve been a bear with a sore head this year,” Els said. “I’ve been working harder than ever and felt like I was going backwards.”
Immelman (71) began the day with a three-stroke lead, but had bogeys on the sixth and eighth holes. The South African rebounded with three birdies on the last nine holes, but Els had five.
Patrik Sjoland, who led at the tournament’s halfway mark, shot a 67 to finish third at 268, and Darren Fichardt (68) was fourth at 272.
Lexus Cup: South Korea’s Seon Hwa Lee held off ADT Championship winner Julieta Granada 2 and 1 in rainy conditions to give Asia a 12 1/2-11 1/2 victory over Annika Sorenstam’s International team in the Lexus Cup in Singapore.
