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Tiger
romps to 14 shot Grand Slam win Tiger Woods fired an 11-under-par
61 on Wednesday for a stunning 14-stroke victory in the two-round PGA Grand Slam
of Golf, an unofficial event.
The world number one has now won this event
for five straight years but never by such a huge margin. After an opening-round
66 at the 7,064-yard Poipu Bay Golf Club course gave him a three-shot lead, Woods
stormed away from the rest of the four-player field for a 36-hole total of 127.
Justin Leonard and Davis Love III finished tied at three-under 141, four
shots better than PGA Championship winner Rich Beem, the only player over par.
Love shot a three-under 69, Leonard a par 72 and Beem a one-over 73, making
it appear that they were playing a different course than the winner. Woods
didn't play any spectacular shots throughout his round but managed to complete
a methodical bogey-free round of 11 birdies. "I enjoyed it. I really
played well today," Woods said. "I hit just a lot of good shots.
"Starting out, I did exactly what you need to do when you have a three-shot
lead; I needed to go out there and play a good, solid front nine and I just got
on a roll." Woods birdied six of the first eight holes and five of
the last seven to go with three straight pars as he made the turn. "It
just kept going -- making shots, aiming at my spots and I was knocking down my
putts," Woods said. "It's a lot of fun when everything works
like that." "Another top-five (finish)," Beem joked. "I'm
just glad I was part of it today so I could watch Tiger shoot 61. That was the
highlight of my day." At times Woods appeared to be playing on a different
level. At the 384-yard, par-four 13th hole, he hit a three-wood off the
tee and a nine-iron within two feet of the cup. "That shot was ridiculously
so good, you can't even believe it," Beem said. "That's when
you know things are going right," Woods said. Woods claimed $400,000
for the victory and after losing in his inaugural visit to the event in 1997,
he has won every year since. The $1 million event normally features the
winners of the four grand slam events. However, Woods claimed both The
Masters and U.S. Open to earn a record sixth invitation here. He was joined
by Beem, who beat him by a stroke at the PGA Championship in August, and former
major tournament champions Leonard and Love. British Open champion Ernie Els of South Africa skipped the event. Despite playing only 18 events,
Woods again topped the PGA Tour money list with more than $6.9 million, bringing
his career total past $33 million.
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