Tiger Woods even amazed himself with his dramatic eagle-eagle finish in the PGA Grand Slam of Golf.
"I've never done something like this before -- with everything on the line," Woods said after eagling the par-5 18th hole twice today, first to tie Vijay Singh then to beat him in a playoff.
"It was nice to execute the way I wanted to."
Woods, also the 1998 and 1999 winner in the 36-hole unofficial money tournament for the year's major champions, hit a 6-iron approach from 231 yards to 8 feet to set up his tying eagle on the final hole of regulation.
In the playoff, Woods placed his second shot in almost the same spot on the green and calmly holed the putt to claim the $400,000 first prize. "Same putt, same line,'' Woods said.
Singh birdied the playoff hole after missing a long eagle putt.
"The way I played, I was lucky to finish where I did," said Singh, who appeared to have the tournament in hand when he rolled in an 18-foot birdie putt on No. 18 to open up a two-stroke lead.
Despite the exciting finish, Woods pointed to a 5-foot par-saving putt on No. 17 as the key.
"It gave me a chance to stay with Vijay,'' he said. "It kept me in the match. I knew if I could grind it out, it would give me some momentum. That's how the scenario played out.''
Woods, coming off a victory Sunday in the Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand, won for the 11th time this year. He won nine times on the PGA Tour, including three major championships.
Woods shot a 4-under 68 and Singh, the Masters champion, had a 70 for 5-under 139 totals. Tom Lehman shot a 70 to finish third at
143, and Paul Azinger had a 74 for a 148 total.
Woods arrived at the Poipu Bay course a couple of hours before
the start of the tournament Tuesday, hit a few warmup shots and
proceeded to shoot a 71 that put him two strokes behind Singh.
"I felt a lot better today," Woods said. "But I knew I had to
go out there and get a good start, which I was able to do."
Lehman made an early move, making the turn in 3-under 33 to move
into a tie with Singh. But a double-bogey 6 on No. 13 knocked him out
of contention.
Azinger couldn't recover from an opening 74. He picked up one
stroke on the second hole, but a pair of bogeys on two of the first
three holes coming in and a double bogey at the 14th ended his
hopes of catching up.
Because Woods won three majors -- the U.S. Open,Open, and PGA Championship -- Lehman and Azinger gained invitations based on their finishes in the elite events. Ernie Els, the runner-up in three of the four major championships, clinched an alternate berth, but withdrew because of a schedule conflict.
