Woods coasts to Dunlop Phoenix victory

Tiger Woods picked up his first strokeplay title of a difficult year when he romped to an eight-shot victory at the Dunlop Phoenix tournament on Sunday.

The 28-year-old American fired a three-under-par 67 for a 16-under total of 264 to claim his maiden Japanese win.

Woods's triumph signalled a welcome return to form after his five-year reign as world number one was ended by Fiji's Vijay Singh in September.

It also halted a run of 20 consecutive strokeplay events without a win, his longest drought since turning professional in 1996.

Japan's Ryoken Kawagishi finished runner-up at the $1.9 million event after a final-round 65. South Korean KJ Choi was a further two shots back in third place on six-under 274.

Last year's winner Thomas Bjorn of Denmark hit a closing 64 for 277, earning him seventh spot.

Woods had failed to win in three previous visits to Japan. He finished eighth at the 2002 Dunlop Phoenix, 15th in the 1998 Casio Open and also lost in a sudden-death playoff at the 2001 World Cup.

264 Tiger Woods (U.S.) 65 67 65 67

272 Ryoken Kawagishi 71 67 69 65

274 KJ Choi (South Korea) 72 66 71 65

275 Steven Conran (Australia) 73 68 69 65

276 Daniel Chopra (Sweden) 71 68 68 69, Hideto Tanihara 69 70 69 68

277 Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 75 69 69 64

278 Toru Taniguchi 73 70 71 64, Kaname Yokoo 68 67 73 70

279 Christian Pena (U.S.) 73 63 73 70, Robert Allenby (Australia) 71 69 69 70

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