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Tiger Woods gains first win of 2001

Tiger Woods rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to complete a successful title defense at the Bay Hill Invitational on Sunday. Woods' victory was his first of the season and his 25th in 96 career starts on the PGA Tour.

Woods, who captured an amazing nine titles in 2000 including three major championships, broke a five-start winless streak in 2001 and an 0-8 streak going back to the end of last season.

Woods had said during his "slump" that he was playing well but not getting the breaks to fall his way. On Sunday, he prevailed when some downright bad tee shots found some awfully good lies.

"That's the beauty of our game. It's very fickle," said the 25- year-old Woods, who joined Loren Roberts as the only players to post back-to-back wins in the 36-year history of this event. "That's one of the reasons why we all love to play it, because there are days when you go out there and you play great. Other days, you play great and you score like a dog."

Woods needed to make birdie on the final hole to avoid a playoff with Phil Mickelson, who made a terrific par save at the 18th Sunday to remain in a tie with the world's top-ranked player.

Tiger Woods celebrates the winning putt. Allsport.

Woods hit left off the tee at the par-four closing hole, his ball bounding into the gallery. He then caught a break when he was given relief from a cart path with a perfect lie on the trampled down grass. Woods' angle to the narrow green was perfect as well, and he laced a five-iron shot from 191 yards out that came to rest 15 feet left of the hole.

Woods stepped up and made the left-to-right breaker for the win and the $630,000 first prize. He finished with a three-under 69 for a tournament total of 15-under-par 273.

"It was ugly," said Woods, who hit only half of his fairways and just 10 of 18 greens in the final round. "I didn't really hit the ball that solid, and definitely didn't really know where it was going but forward. I was very lucky to have the breaks that occurred and executed a couple good shots after that."

Mickelson, who trailed Woods by four shots coming into the final round, tallied his fifth birdie of the day when he sank a 12-footer atthe 15th t even for the day at 12-under after leaving a 20-foot par putt at the 11th a foot short.

He paved his way to the mistake by hitting a two-iron off the tee at the 438-yard hole. That left him with 222 yards to the green into a stiff wind, and he failed to make the up-and-down after knocking his approach left of the putting surface.

Woods was 50 feet right with his five-iron to the par-three 14th, but managed to sink the long birdie putt to regain a share of the top spot. Mickelson again took the outright lead with a two-putt for birdie at the par-five 16th, only to have Woods battle back from another bad drive to match him later at the same hole.

After surviving the tee shot at 16 that nearly hooked out of bounds, Woods hit a seven-iron out of a flyer lie in the rough that carried the pond and left him with a two-putt from 35 feet for birdie.

After taking a par at 17, Mickelson sent his drive at 18 into the right rough then decided to lay up short of the green. However, his second shot found the rough on the left side, forcing him to fashion a difficult pitch from about 80 yards.

But the lefthander knocked the shot to within two feet of the hole to send the crowd at the last green into a frenzy, as a sullen- looking Woods listened and waited at the tee at the par-three 17th.

Woods wound up parring 17, a hole he birdied the day before to secure the third-round lead. But his hole of the week would prove to be the final one on the final day, where he dodged a bullet of a bad drive and shook a six-month-old monkey from his back.

"It feels great," said Woods, who ran his record to 21-2 when taking the lead into the final round in a PGA Tour event. "You're going to have to somehow grab some great breaks and have luck on your side. You can't always play well on Sunday and win."

Mickelson's six-under 66 was the best round on a day when only six players in the 74-man field shot in the 60s. He finished alone in second at 14-under, his third top-three finish of the season.

His bogey-free effort was also a far cry from the roller coaster performance he put on the first three days. Mickelson mixed in 21 pars with 17 birdies, 11 bogeys, three eagles and two double-bogeys to keep himself in contention with 18 holes to play.

"Early in the week, I felt like I threw away 10 to 15 shots and that's where I really lost the tournament, not today on Sunday," he said.

Mickelson, currently ranked second in the world behind Woods, was the last player to overtake Woods in a final round for a victory on the PGA Tour. Interestingly enough, Mickelson turned in a 66 against Woods' final-round 69 to win by two shots at last year's Tour Championship.

Mickelson has a total of 18 wins, his most recent coming in a playoff at the Buick Invitational in February.

New Zealand's Grant Waite finished alone in third at 10-under with a final-round 69, while Steve Lowery (71), Greg Norman (71), Vijay Singh (72) and Sergio Garcia (74) tied for fourth at minus-nine.

Lee Janzen recorded only his third top-10 finish in the last two seasons. The two-time U.S. Open champion closed with a 72 to tie for eighth place at eight-under 280 with Dennis Paulson (70), Scott Hoch (71), Jeff Sluman (71), second-round leader Paul Goydos (71) and Chris Perry (74).

Perry was positioned to finish in third place at 11-under, but hit two shots into the stands at the 18th hole to close with a triple-bogey seven.

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