|
Bet
on this tournament & other sports here
Tiger Woods wins by four
Tiger Woods holed out from
the 13th fairway for an eagle on the way to his second victory in three years
at the Deutsche Bank - SAP Open TPC of Europe on Sunday. Woods, who also captured
the season-opening Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand, won for the fifth time
on the European Tour and the 32nd time worldwide.
Woods, tied for the lead
with Michael Campbell at 19-under after the two matched birdies at holes 11 and
12, launched a soaring seven-iron 175 yards to the 13th green that dropped into
the cup on the fly. The eagle, Woods' second of the day and fifth of the week,
lifted the world's top-ranked player to 21-under and into a lead he would not
relinquish.
"I just let it rip," Woods
said of his victory-clinching approach at 13. "It was just a nice, full seven.
When it landed, I didn't know if it went over the green or not. No one did anything
for a split-second there, then all of a sudden [the gallery] went nuts."
Woods added a birdie at
the 15th to finish with a 66. His 72-hole total of 22-under-par 266 left him four
shots clear of Campbell, who went on to bogey the 17th for a two-under 70 and
second place at 18-under.
Argentina's Eduardo Romero,
who came into the final round with a one-shot lead over Woods and Campbell, struggled
to a 77 on Sunday and finished tied for 14th at minus-12.
Campbell, who surrendered
a six-shot, halfway lead after shooting 73 in the third round, collected the runner-up
check for 300,000 euro, enough to vault the New Zealander past Pierre Fulke into
first place on the Order of Merit.
"I was doing fine then
suddenly [Woods] turned things around," said Campbell, who seemed in control after
posting 62-65 over the first two rounds. "That’s the sign of a good player. He
finds extra gears and he did that by holing the seven-iron. It was a great shot
by a great player. I can’t control what others do and that one shot turned things
around."
Woods' final-round run
began at the par-five first hole, where he blistered his tee shot before knocking
a three-iron to 10 feet for an eagle and the lead at 18-under. Campbell was one
behind after opening with a birdie, while Romero bogeyed the first to start his
slide.
Campbell seized the lead
with birdies at the third and fourth, but again fell one back when his fairway
bunker shot into the water at seven led to a double-bogey. The lead changed hands
again on the next hole when Woods bogeyed and Campbell birdied.
At the 10th, Campbell missed
a three-foot par putt to even the contest at 17-under. But he seemed to gain the
upper hand at the par-five 11th when he reached the green in two and Woods' third
shot out of a bunker ran 25 feet past the hole. However, after Campbell lagged
his long first putt up to three feet, Woods rolled his ball in for a matching
birdie. They then traded birdies of similar length at the 12th.
Woods had a six-iron in
his hand in the 13th fairway, but handed the club back to caddie Steve Williams
in exchange for a seven-iron. Soon no one would question the decision.
"I felt the wind just die
down and Stevie automatically knew it was a seven," Woods said. "I had to sweep
it a little bit so I aimed to the right with a nice high draw and it was looking
pretty good and all of a sudden it disappeared..."
Woods later extended his
two-shot advantage to three with a 10-footer for birdie at the 15th. The final
margin was four after Campbell failed to get up and down out of a bunker to save
par at the par-three 17th.
After getting off to a
slow start on the PGA Tour in 2001, Woods tallied three straight victories, culminating
in his second green jacket and sixth major championship title at the Masters in
April. He was runner-up to Thomas Bjorn in his second European Tour appearance
of the year in Dubai, an event he was in line to win before making a double-bogey
at the final hole.
Woods earned a bit of redemption
with his win at St. Leon Rot, which also hosted this event when he won the Deutsche
Bank in 1999. Last year at Gut Kaden in Hamburg, Woods held the lead after three
rounds but wound up fourth behind Lee Westwood, who fired a 64 on the final day
to win.
Romero, a seven-time European
Tour winner who had never lost when leading after 54-holes, fell out of contention
for good when he dropped five shots in the span of six holes mid round.
Denmark's Soren Kjeldsen,
who turned 26 of Thursday, celebrated with a tie for third -- his best finish
of the season. He posted a back-nine 30 towards the day's low round of 65 and
a share of 17-under 271 with Peter O'Malley of Australia.
Padraig Harrington, Mikael
Lundberg and Andrew Coltart tied for fifth at 15-under, while rookie Henrik Stenson,
who reeled in his first career win at last week's International Open at The Belfry,
finished knotted in eighth place with Nick O'Hern at minus-14.
Colin Montgomerie, who
will seek his fourth straight Volvo PGA Championship title next week in England,
tied for 10th at 13-under, his first top-10 since he finished joint third at the
Singapore Masters in February.
Westwood, who shot a 66
in the opening round, shot a 77 on Sunday to end the tournament in 52nd place.
Email this page to a friend | Return
to top of page
|