Tiger Woods surged past Vijay Singh to seize his fifth straight PGA title in superb style on Monday at the Deutsche Bank Championship.
World number one Woods erased a three-shot deficit in three holes, took sole possession of the lead after five and rolled to his fifth win in as many starts with an eight-under-par 63 for 16-under 268.
”I just kept thinking that if Vijay shot something in the high 60s, I figured mid 60s would either get me in a playoff or win it,” Woods said. ”And that was what I had in mind today, and I was able to actually go a little bit lower than that.”
Woods extended a winning streak that included the British Open and PGA Championship — titles that brought his total of majors to 12 — and took his tally of victories in 2006 to seven.
Singh, who had opened the tournament with rounds of 70-71, had gone into the third round five shots off the pace but fired a course-record 61 that gave him a three-stroke lead heading into the final round.
Singh carded a creditable 68 on Monday, but by the time he nabbed a birdie at the seventh hole he was playing catch-up.
”I didn’t play the front nine as good as I wanted to and Tiger played unbelievable [sic],” Singh said. ”I hung in there and thought I had a shot on the back nine.”
A front nine of six-under-par 30 included two eagles and put Woods on top by three shots.
Singh was even through nine, and even as Woods went through a stretch of seven straight pars, Singh couldn’t mount a charge.
Woods picked up two more shots at 15 and 17 as he claimed his 53rd career PGA Tour victory, placing him fifth on the all-time list.
Singh started with six pars before a birdie at the seventh. A bogey at nine dropped him back to 11-under.
Three birdies coming in, on 12, 15 and 18, got Singh to 14-under 270.
When he won here in 2003, Singh temporarily ended Woods’ reign as the number one player in the world and got the best of him in a final-group showdown.
”Vijay just flat out outplayed me last time. I had an opportunity and I bogeyed, what, 14 there and made a mistake and then he birdied 15 and it was basically over,” Woods said of 2003.
”This year I just felt that I was playing well enough to catch Vijay on that front nine and I was able to do it earlier than I thought I would, but I was still able to get the lead on the front nine, which was a huge bonus and basically play a little bit more
conservative on the back nine and it forced Vijay to try to make birdies.”
Woods appeared bent on revenge from the start as he eagled both the par-fives on the front nine.
”Well, I hit it good today. I got off to a quick start,” Woods said. ”I didn’t think I would get all of them back within the first three holes, but the par-five number two playing downwind, with the length that Vijay and I both have, put the ball in the fairway and you can have an iron to the green.
”And he missed the fairway there and I made eagle there and just got all the momentum. I got back two shots instead of basically feeling all square. Made a nice putt at the third and then all of a sudden I had all the momentum on my side and just tried to continue doing what I was doing. Hitting the ball well and making some
putts.”
Woods added birdies at three and five to get to 14-under at the turn.
The tournament turned into a duel between Woods and Singh, with only 26 players finishing under-par and no other player reaching double-digits under-par.
Brian Bateman closed with a 66 to finish third at eight-under 276.
Australian Robert Allenby (68) and England’s Justin Rose (72) tied for fourth at seven-under. – Sapa-AFP