Out of the Fog Comes Tiger

The fog parted, and Tiger Woods emerged from his second event of 2005 with his first victory of the new year.

This victory closed the books on the longest stroke-play drought of Tiger Woods’ career (American Express Championship in October, 2003). Of course, it certainly seemed as though Lady Luck was on Tiger’s side as competitors fell away hole by hole. Charles Howell III in particular felt the wrath of Lady (Un)Luck as he rattled the flagstick and holed his approach to the par-5 18th for eagle only to have it spin around in the cup and rebound into the lake. Had the ball stayed in the hole he’d have ended up tied with Tiger at -16.

Tiger said “This golf course is so difficult, anything could happen.” Just about everything did.

Tiger had his “B-” game today, but it was good enough for a final-round 68 on a 31-hole day for Woods, who finished his second round just before lunchtime before heading back out to the course for round four. His own approach to the 18th – going for it in two from 239 – was flared so badly to the right he was 30 yards shy of the green and 20 yards right of the pin, landing in a narrow strip of fairway right of a pond. He got up and down for birdie while Lehman struggled to a bogey that ended up costing him $158,000. Woods walks away with $864,000, putting him atop the money list for the first time since October 2003, when Vijay Singh won at Disney. Said Lehman of Tiger’s play, “He whipped the field playing lousy. I give him a lot of credit.”

Credit for Tiger’s win also belongs to the many who fell away. Ernie Els made a charge, only to bogey a few holes coming in and to finish T6 at -10. Englishman Luke Donald had gone 37 holes without a bogey, but yanked a 6-iron over 14 for a double bogey, then hit a bad tee shot on 17 and had to scramble to a bogey. Howell, as noted above, hit a perfect shot that spun out of the cup and went into the water, leading to a bogey.

Lehman, playing with Tiger for the final 36 holes as the groups did not re-pair after completing the third round earlier today, buried a ball in a bunker at 17 and played the 18th poorly. Lehman, who did earn his fifth straight top-10 finish, has also failed to win the last seven times he’s had at least a share of the 54-hole lead.

Vijay Singh shot 68 in finishing up the third round to get within six, but trucked in with a 75 in the final round. Perhaps he wasn’t “100 percent into it,” as he’s said before. Phil Mickelson skulked along to a 78 in front of his home crowd in the first round before closing with a 71, finishing 15 shots back.

Pos    Name              Today    Final    R1    R2    R3    R4    Final
1      Tiger Woods         -4      -16     69    63    72    68     272
T2     Charles Howell III   E      -13     72    67    64    72     275
T2     Luke Donald         +1      -13     68    67    67    73     275
T2     Tom Lehman          +1      -13     62    67    73    73     275
5      Bernhard Langer      E      -11     69    69    67    72     277
T6     Scott McCarron      -3      -10     72    65    72    69     278
T6     Pat Perez           -1      -10     66    69    72    71     278
T6     Arron Oberholser    -2      -10     64    72    72    70     278
T6     Ernie Els           -1      -10     65    71    71    71     278
T6     Kevin Sutherland     E      -10     68    66    72    72     278

Woods’ victory ends an 0-for-21 slump and is his 41st career win on the PGA Tour.

Photo Credit: © AP