Woods Keeps on Rolling, Beats Cink in Bridgestone Playoff

AKRON, Ohio — Tiger Woods celebrated his 10-year anniversary of turning pro yesterday by winning for the 52nd time on the PGA Tour, making an 8-foot birdie putt on the fourth playoff hole against Stewart Cink to win the Bridgestone Invitational.Woods won for the fourth straight time, a streak that began at the British Open and shows no sign of ending.This one looked to be in doubt, however, when Cink made up a three-shot deficit over the final three holes, then had Woods on the ropes the first three holes of the playoff. But with rain pounding Firestone South, Cink hit into a bunker on the 17th hole, and never got a chance to putt for par when Woods made his birdie.“Just end this thing now,”Woods said he told himself standing over the final putt.Both finished at 10-under 270.Woods won for the fifth time in the seven years this World Golf Championship has been played at Firestone, and he now has won more on this track than any other golf course on the PGA Tour.Woods has won four times each at Augusta National and Torrey Pines.It was on August 27, 1996, that Woods announced in Milwaukee he was turning pro.Ten years later, his 52 victories match Byron Nelson for fifth place all time, and his 12 majors are second only to the 18 won by Jack Nicklaus over a quarter-century.Woods, however, said the only competition he cared about was himself.“It’s always yourself,” he said. “You’re always trying to better what you’ve done in the past — always. Hopefully, that’s good enough to beat the rest of the guys.”Cink was looking for a peculiar repeat.Two years ago, he validated Hal Sutton’s decision to make him a captain’s pick for the Ryder Cup by winning at Firestone. Tom Lehman picked him on Monday, and Cink nearly delivered his first victory in two years.“There were a lot of highs and lows today,” Cink said. “Unfortunately, I finished on a low.”Cink had a shot to win on the first three playoff holes — a 20-foot chip that grazed the lip at no. 18, an 18-foot putt that missed on the high side at no. 17, and an 8-foot par putt on the 18th again that missed to the right.Woods was in trouble most of the time. On the first extra hole, he pulled his approach long and left into the rough, but pitched beautifully to 5 feet and escaped with par. The second time playing the 18th in the playoff, Woods found a greenside bunker 40 feet from the flag, blasted out to 8 feet and left it inches short.“I didn’t convert, and he did,” Cink said. “That’s why he has the trophy.”Victory seemed inevitable for Woods, as it often does at Firestone, when he turned a two-shot deficit at the turn into a three-shot lead with his 20-foot birdie on the 13th. No one else was making birdies, and Woods wasn’t making mistakes.That changed on the 652-yard 16th hole, when Woods hit into the trees down the right side and had to pitch out to the fairway, leaving himself some 230 yards to the flag. He went over the green, chipped to 4 feet and missed the par putt.Cink, who started the final round with a one-shot lead, holed a 15-foot birdie on the 16th hole, then made a 20-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to tie Woods atop the leaderboard.Woods (68) and Cink (69) each had to make a testy 3-footer for par on the 18th hole in regulation — Woods after leaving his 20-foot putt from the fringe short, Cink after lagging from 90 feet at the front of the green.Jim Furyk closed with a 68 to finish one shot behind, making a 10-foot par save on the 18th to give himself a chance. Paul Casey of England, among four players atop the leaderboard at one point in the final round, stumbled on the back nine and shot 71. He tied for fourth along with Angel Cabrera (65), Lucas Glover (69) and Davis Love III (71).Woods, Cink, and Furyk headed to the Cleveland airport to join the rest of their U.S. Ryder Cup team for a charter flight to Ireland, where they plan to spend the next two days practicing at the K Club.Woods and Mickelson, the top two players in the world, rearranged their schedule to make the trip. Asked if that sent a strong message to their 10 teammates, captain Tom Lehman replied, “It sends a strong message to the other team.”When the Americans return on Wednesday, Woods will go for a fifth straight victory when he plays the Deutsche Bank Championship outside Boston. He already has won six of his 13 starts on the PGA Tour this year.This victory didn’t materialize until the back nine.Casey, whom Woods easily beat in a Ryder Cup singles match two years ago, made two birdies out of wet, thick grass on nos. 3 and 8 to surge into the lead at 10 under with Furyk, who birdied his first three holes and made a 40-foot birdie on the ninth.Woods was at 8 under after failing to reach the ninth green from the rough and missing a 15-foot par putt.Four holes later — thanks to three birdies by Woods and dropped shots by Casey and Furyk — Woods had a threeshot lead. Equally surprising was that Woods gave up the lead over the final three holes.“It was a roller coast out there,” he said. “I was down. All of a sudden, I got hot … and I had the lead. I was thinking if I could par in, I’d win the tournament. That didn’t happen.”It took longer than he wanted, but Woods got the result everyone expects at this tournament.

Woods Keeps on Rolling, Beats Cink in Bridgestone Playoff

Woods Keeps on Rolling, Beats Cink in Bridgestone Playoff

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