Woods Closes Year With Target Victory
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Ten weeks later, nothing has changed with Tiger Woods and the rest of golf.
Woods won the final golf tournament of the year yesterday, closing with a 4-under 68 to match the tournament record at the Target World Challenge and set a record for the largest margin of victory, by seven shots over Masters champion Zach Johnson.
Woods had not played since September 30 at the Presidents Cup, but he didn’t show much rust in winning his tournament for the fourth time and becoming the first player to win in consecutive years.
“Doesn’t help us, does it?” Colin Montgomerie said of Woods’s long break. “If he took a bloody year off, it would help. Never mind 10 weeks.”
Johnson closed with a 68, but the only challenge came from Jim Furyk.
Furyk got within two shots after nine holes, but the tournament changed abruptly on the 10th. Woods holed a 12-foot birdie putt, and Furyk three-putted for bogey from 4 feet on a downhill putt.
“Jimmy put a ton of heat on me the front nine,” Woods said. “The whole tournament switched on the 10th. That was a big two-shot swing there.”
Woods finished at 22-under 266, tying the tournament record first set by Davis Love III in 2000. He earned $1.35 million, which he will donate to his Tiger Woods Foundation. Johnson, shut out at his first Skins Game last month, earned $840,000 for second. Furyk closed with a 71 and finished third, earning $570,000.
For the second straight day, Furyk made Woods sweat, even if it was only a drop.
Woods was six shots clear until a two-shot swing on the seventh hole, when Furyk made birdie and Woods three-putted for his first bogey. Furyk birdied the next hole, and Woods dropped a shot on the ninth when he failed to save par from a bunker.
Suddenly, the lead was two shots going to the back nine, and Furyk immediately applied pressure with a wedge that he hit with no spin to about 4 feet above the flag. Woods hit wedge that spun back 12 feet below the cup, and that made all the difference.
Woods calmly made the birdie putt, while Furyk’s putt slid by the cup and rolled 4 feet by. He slapped at the face of his putter, then missed the par putt for a shocking two-shot swing.
Woods’ lead was back to four, and he kept that margin until the par-3 15th.