David Duval - yes, the very same David Duval I implored to just go home earlier this year before he missed all but one cut on the 2005 PGA Tour, was the first-round leader with a 64. After three days, he was within two shots of the lead. But in the end, it was the same old story: Tiger Woods the winner, Duval, a final-round 75.

Tiger Woods didn't do it easily, though. He was taken to the limit by Japan's Kaname Yokoo before birdieing the fourth playoff hole to defend his title in the $1.7M event. Woods reached the par-5 18th, the fourth playoff hole, and two-putted for the birdie while Yokoo missed a 12-footer to extend the match. On the first playoff hole, Woods saved a par but twisted his ankle on his tee shot. He limped through the remaining playoff holes, but managed to birdie all three of them.

Woods had a one-stroke lead over fellow American Jim Furyk entering the final round. Woods' final-round 72 was good enough to match Yokoo's -8 total after firing a 69. Woods had a chance to win in regulation, but could only manage to par the 18th after finding a fairway bunker off the tee. Yokoo made a four-foot birdie putt on the same hole to force the playoff.

Woods, who won by eight strokes last year, birdied the first hole but bogeyed the second and double-bogeyed the par-3 third. He was two strokes behind Yokoo at the turn, but regained the lead when the Japanese player bogeyed three straight holes. He went two up when he chipped in for his third birdie of the day at the 15th while Yokoo bogeyed.

Furyk, as you can see below, shot a three-over 73 to finish at -6 and in solo third.

Pos   Player                Tot   R1    R2    R3    R4
1.    Woods, Tiger*         -8    65    67    68    72
2.    Yokoo , Kaname        -8    68    67    68    69
3.    Furyk, Jim            -6    67    64    70    73
4.    Miyamoto, Katsumasa   -5    71    69    69    66
5.    Fernandez, Gonzalo    -4    72    66    72    66
6.    Liang, Wen-Chong      -3    72    65    68    72
7.    Duval, David          -2    64    68    71    75
7.    Tanihara, Hideto      -2    69    72    68    69
9.    Hiratsuka, Tetsuji    -1    68    67    72    72
9.    K Ho, S               -1    70    67    73    69
9.    Yokota, Shinichi      -1    67    72    71    69
12.   Kawahara, Nozomi       E    72    70    66    72
13.   Campbell, Michael     +1    72    66    70    73
13.   Kondo, Tomohiro       +1    67    70    73    71
13.   Kuwabara, Katsunori   +1    72    69    70    70
13.   Maita, Kiyoshi        +1    72    71    71    67
13.   Sheehan, Paul         +1    70    72    73    66
13.   Suzuki, Toru          +1    71    67    73    70
13.   Tajima, Soushi        +1    73    68    70    70
* Wins in a four-hole playoff

Photo Credit: © AP.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS