WOW!
Tiger Woods made a statement Sunday, outdueling Phil Mickelson and slaying the Blue Monster in the process. Tiger Woods has won the 2005 Ford Championship at Doral and, in doing so, re-claimed his spot on top of the World Golf Rankings.
Woods, who began the day two shots back of Mickelson, first took the lead when he eagled the 603-yard par-5 12th after knocking a 3-wood 295 yards to the back of the green. We’d later learn that he hit it a bit thin. Sheesh!
Though other players – including former World #1 Vijay Singh and last week’s sizzling winner, David Toms – made charges, none came within three shots of Phil (-23) and Tiger (-24). Today was a showdown at high noon.
In the end, Woods made a 24-foot birdie putt on the 71st hole and Mickelson lipped out from behind the green on the 72nd, but Woods and Mickelson traded punches all afternoon. Said Woods, “The whole day, we were going at each other. It was fun to be a part of that.”
Expectations were high for Sunday’s showdown, and fans were not let down. Frank Nobilo said afterwards that “this marks the return of the regular PGA Tour event. We talk about the majors and the World Golf Championships, but this win was important to Tiger and some of the best golf we’ve seen in any tournament.”
Woods reached the previously unreachable 603-yard 12th for the second day in a row and drained the eagle putt to go to 24-under, two ahead of Mickelson. Phil responded on the 240-yard par-3 13th with a birdie, and again on the 14th to pull back to even. Both players moved to the 16th – a 370-yard par 4 that Tiger drove yesterday – and promptly drove their balls poorly: Tiger into the rough, Phil into a fairway bunker. Phil blew his approach over the green and chipped to five feet. Tiger’s pitch came up short and rolled back into a bunker. He blasted poorly to 15 feet and two-putted for a bogey. Phil missed the five-footer for par and the stage was set for an exciting final two holes.
Tiger and Phil both found the fairway on 17, but Phil blocked his approach. Tiger, who outdrove Phil all day, sometimes by as much as 45 yards, put his shot 27 feet below the hole and sank the putt to pull ahead. Both players found the fairway on 18, the Blue Monster, but it was Tiger’s turn to block a shot well wide of the hole (and the water to the left). Phil put his ball beyond the pin and faced a 30-foot chip. Tiger’s 45-footer rolled four feet past. Phil’s chip looked in the whole way but lipped out at the last second, and Tiger sank the par putt for his 42nd career victory, $990,000 in earnings, and his second win this season.
Woods broke the old tournament record of -23, set by Greg Norman in 1993 and tied by Jim Furyk in 2000. This marks the sixth PGA Tour event where Woods has at least a share of the 72-hole record. Mickelson’s streak of 10 consecutive rounds atop the leaderboard came to an end, as did Vijay Singh’s hold on the top spot in the world rankings.
Tiger made up three shots on Lefty on Sunday, and one statistic tells it all: on the par 5s, Tiger was -5 on Sunday. Mickelson, -2. Tiger played the same par 5s in even par on Friday.
Sunday marked the third time Woods and Mickelson played together in the final round and the first time Mickelson held the lead. Tiger’s won every time, holding on to 1- and 2-stroke leads at the 2001 Masters and the 2003 Buick Invitational and, today, overcoming a two-shot deficit. Tiger won each tournament.
Fans got what they wanted Sunday, and 15-20,000 were following Tiger and Phil exclusively. 35,000 visited Doral today and lined up six-deep along almost every fairway. Fairly evenly divided between those pulling for Phil and those pulling for Tiger, Tiger commented in his post-round interview that “I told Stevie he’d have to speak up because I couldn’t hear him. Fans were screaming at the top of their lungs two feet from my ears.”
In addition to the $990,000 first-place check, Woods’ victory netted him a new Ford GT. “That’s Stevie’s car,” said Woods after the round. After all, Woods is a Buick man. The Ford guy came in second today.
Pos Player Tot R1 R2 R3 R4 Final 1 Tiger Woods -24 65 70 63 66 264 2 Phil Mickelson -23 64 66 66 69 265 T3 Vijay Singh -19 68 67 68 66 269 T3 Zach Johnson -19 68 70 64 67 269 5 David Toms -17 69 66 69 67 271 T6 Jose Maria Olazabal -16 64 69 70 69 272 T6 Craig Parry -16 69 66 67 70 272 T8 Retief Goosen -15 67 69 73 64 273 T8 Jim Furyk -15 70 66 67 70 273 T10 Angel Cabrera -14 68 69 70 67 274 T10 Dudley Hart -14 70 67 68 69 274
Photo Credit: © AP.
FWIW, the new world rankings are as follows: