Tiger Woods added to his impressive run of success as a frontrunner here on Sunday as he parlayed his overnight lead into a one-stroke victory at the Ford Championship at Doral.
The world’s number one golfer finished one shot in front of fellow American David Toms and unheralded Colombian Camilo Villegas in the $5,5-million tournament.
Woods, who had never surrendered a two-shot lead in the final round on the US PGA Tour, kept that record intact on Doral’s Blue Monster.
Despite wayward driving and bogeys at the final two holes, Woods closed with a three-under 69 for a 20-under total of 268.
He collected $990 000, and improved his record when leading entering a final round to 34-3.
It was Woods’ fourth victory in his past six official starts.
While Woods wasn’t at his best, he was able to correct his swing as the round progressed.
”I’ve got five different things to work on to hit one shot,” he explained. ”If I hit a couple of bad shots, it’s not the end of the world. I can fix it and move on and still post a really good number.
”I was hanging my head back a little bit, releasing my body but I wasn’t releasing my head as well. I rectified that and hit some good shots on the back nine.”
Toms made it interesting with a birdie at 16, and when Woods bogeyed 17 –missing the green with a wedge — the margin was just one shot.
”I had 116 yards and it was slightly downwind,” Woods said. ”I hit a good shot, maybe just a touch too flat. I thought it would have landed shorter than it did, but it landed pin-high.”
But Toms made a three-putt bogey at the last hole to give Woods some breathing room.
”Once David had made his mistake, I said, ‘Anything in the back bleachers, right bleachers, just take the water completely out of play,”’ Woods said. ”I wasn’t even trying to make par. I could have hit the green, but I didn’t have to.”
Woods blasted out to 12 feet and had a simple two-putt to successfully defend his title, making it two wins in four starts in this event.
Toms (67) and Villegas (67) tied for second at 19-under 269, with Fredrik Jacobson of Sweden another four shots back in fourth place.
Despite his closing bogey, Toms was the only player to push Woods.
”That’s one of the reasons I play the tour, getting in the hunt, having a chance to win, whether you screw up or come out on top,” he said. ”I cost myself a lot of money on the last hole, but in the end it was having a chance to win.”
Toms deliberately ignored the leaderboards all day but received word on the 18th hole that he was a stroke behind. However, after driving into the rough, he could not attack the hole with his second shot, leaving himself 60 feet.
Toms said he wasn’t trying to hole his monster birdie putt, even though it may have looked that way as his ball hurtled nine feet past the cup. – Sapa-AFP