Woods holds off Toms to claim Match Play title

Tiger Woods completed his sweep of the World Golf Championships, building a big lead and then holding off a gritty comeback from David Toms to win the Match Play Championship.

Leading by as many as five holes Sunday, Woods finally closed out Toms with a 3-foot par putt on the 35th to win 2 and 1.

``It was a tough day for all of us,'' Woods said.

It figured to be a breeze for Woods, especially after he had a 5-up lead and had 8 feet for birdie on the second hole. Toms rolled in a 35-foot birdie putt to swing the momentum, and slowly pieced together a charge that made Woods look vulnerable.

Woods won a record three straight U.S. Junior Amateur titles and three straight U.S. Amateurs, but he was 0-4 as a professional in match play tournaments.

That changed during a dominant week at La Costa, where he made only five bogeys on a tough course and played only 112 holes, the fewest of any winner in the five-year history of the tournament.

He also became the first player to win all four of the World Golf Championships since their inception in 1999 -- three times the NEC Invitational, twice the American Express Championship and the 2000 World Cup with David Duval.

The missing piece was the Accenture Match Play Championship, a format Woods enjoys the most. He finally showed why, hitting smart shots down the stretch when his game was off and making Toms come after him.

The former PGA champion almost did.

A 15-foot birdie putt on No. 15 cut the lead to 1-up with three holes to play. After they parred the 16th, Toms missed the fairway and then hit into rough so deep left of the green that he could barely identify his ball.

He hacked out just short of the green, and his par chip turned away.

Toms, who only last August said he could not compete on a regular basis with Woods, showed plenty of heart and game.

``I'm not going to quit,'' said Toms, who was 4-down after the morning 18. ``That's not my nature. We're on national TV and I wanted to last a long time. I didn't want to be embarrassed. My goal was to chip away.''

Woods won for the 36th time on the PGA Tour and earned $1,050,000, his largest paycheck on Tour.

Since returning from knee surgery after a two-month rehab, Woods has won twice and tied for fifth. His game looks better than ever as he starts preparing for the Masters.

Toms, who missed the cut his previous two tournaments, made $600,000.

Adam Scott, who pushed Woods to 19 holes in the semifinals, was 6-up through eight holes in the 18-hole consolation match against Peter Lonard. Scott didn't make another birdie until the 18th, winning 1-up.

Scott earned $480,000, the largest check of his career. Lonard won $390,000.

Toms trailed by as many as five holes, but never panicked. He has more grit than glitz, and hung around just long enough for Woods to start making a few mistakes.

Woods, so relentless with his power and accuracy in the morning round, made only two bogeys in his first 102 holes at La Costa before making them back-to-back on the 26th and 27th holes, to swing momentum in Toms' favor.

Suddenly, his lead was only 2-up. Toms twice cut that in half, holing a 15-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole to give himself a chance.

Still, the match was really decided over the first 18 holes when Woods applied relentless pressure off the tee with power and accuracy.

``I got down too far to come back,'' Toms said.

Woods was 4-up after the morning round, a margin that seemed even larger considering the limited opportunities Toms had to win a hole.

His remarks from the PGA Championship last year seemed prophetic.

``Tell me this: If we're all on our games and they're hitting three less clubs than me, who's got the better chance?'' Toms said at Hazeltine after playing the first round with Woods and Ernie Els.

That's exactly how it shaped up at La Costa.

Woods belted his drives long and straight, not missing a fairway until the 11th hole. That gave him shorter irons into the greens, and he had 16 birdie putts in the morning.

It looked like it might be the biggest rout in the finals of any match-play event when Woods hit his approach into 4 feet on the opening hole of the afternoon for birdie to go 5-up, then followed with a shot into 8 feet on the par-3 second.

Toms showed no quit.

He holed a 35-foot birdie putt on No. 2 and won the hole when Woods missed his birdie, a key moment in the match.

Woods was on the verge of going 6-up, and momentum suddenly shifted to Toms. On the next hole, Toms made a 10-foot birdie putt and Woods three-putted for par from 40 feet, missing his birdie attempt from 5 feet.

Even so, this was Woods' match to lose. He hit into 3 feet for birdie on No. 6, exchanged pars on the next hole and was 4-up with 11 holes to play.

Toms didn't go away. He simply ran out of holes.

Tiger Woods meets David Toms in final

Tiger Woods went from breathing easy to a huge sigh of relief.

Hardly challenged through four rounds of the Match Play Championship, Woods had to fight to the very end Saturday afternoon to hold off Adam Scott and advance to the 36-hole final against David Toms.

Woods holed a 5-foot par putt on the 19th hole, then won the match when Scott missed his par putt from 3 feet.

``It's unfortunate the way it ended,'' Woods said. ``I'd rather it had been won with a birdie.''

Just as dramatic was the semifinal match behind them.

Toms, still recovering from food poisoning, missed 4-foot putts on the 15th and 17th hole that gave new life to Peter Lonard. As usual, Toms gutted it out to the end by holing a 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole.

``I'm just glad I made the putt on the last hole,'' Toms said. ``I felt like I played good enough the whole day to win that match, and I was able to do that.''

After 62 matches in five rounds over four days at La Costa Resort, it all comes down to Woods against Toms with a $1,050,000 check riding on the outcome.

In its fifth year, the Accenture Match Play Championship finally lived up to its promise. Sunday will be the first time that two top-10 seeds reached the final -- Woods at No. 1, Toms at No. 6.

The advantage goes to Woods, who has made only one bogey in 77 holes at La Costa Resort, and has only been behind on 10 holes all week.

``If he plays his best golf, it's going to be very difficult for me to beat him,'' Toms said. ``If we both play our best golf, I think it will be fun to watch for the fans and in the end, it will be a tough race.''

History goes to Toms.

The only other time Woods reached the final, he was soundly beaten by Darren Clarke 4 and 3.

Most expected a Woods-Toms final, especially late in the afternoon when they seized control of their matches.

Both turned into nail-biters, the pressure building with each shot.

Woods, 2-down through seven holes, fought back and took the lead with a soft 8-iron into 5 feet for birdie on No. 15. He followed that with another 8-iron that spun back within 15 inches of the cup, so close that Scott conceded the putt.

Then, the 22-year-old Aussie who has patterned his game after Woods, showed off some clutch skills of his own by making a 12-footer to stay 1-down.

``The putt at 16 was huge,'' Scott said. ``I might as well have walked in if I missed that one. I gave him a good shot.''

Scott, cool and confident throughout the sunny afternoon, squared the match on the 18th by getting up-and-down from a difficult stance in the bunker.

They returned to the 10th hole, and both hit their approach shots some 35 feet away. Scott's putt rolled 3 feet by the hole, while Woods misread his putt and it swung 5 feet left of the cup.

He thought he needed to make that putt to keep going. Instead, Scott pulled his par putt so badly that it never even grazed the lip.

A victory Sunday would give Woods another slam -- the first player to win all four of the World Golf Championship events since their inception in 1999.

Standing in his way is Toms, the former PGA champion and one of his good friends.

Toms never trailed against Lonard, but he nearly threw the match away.

He had a 14-foot birdie putt to go 3-up with three holes to play, but wound up three-putting for bogey and lost the hole when Lonard saved par from a bunker. Lonard birdied the next hole to even the match, and Toms missed from 4 feet again on No. 17 with a chance to go 1-up.

Both had 10 feet for birdie on the last hole. Lonard's putt slid by on the right, 4 feet past the hole. Toms left nothing to chance.

Earlier Saturday in the quarterfinals, Toms knocked out Jerry Kelly, 4 and 3; Lonard beat Clarke, 1-up; Scott beat Jay Haas, 2 and 1; and Woods continued to dominate his opponents with a 5 and 4 win over Scott Hoch.

Woods was 7-under through 13 holes against Hoch, his best performance of the week.

``The way he played, I don't see anyone beating him this round,'' Hoch said.

That didn't mean the tournament was over. Three years ago, Hoch lost by the same margin in the quarterfinals to David Duval, and Duval lost badly in the semifinals.

``He made everything against me, and then he couldn't break an egg,'' Hoch said. ``But Tiger is a different animal.''

Woods certainly was put through his toughest test.

Having gone 42 consecutive holes without trailing, Woods fell behind on the third hole when Scott holed a 12-foot birdie putt.

The young Aussie, on the biggest stage of his career, looked comfortable in the spotlight and threatened to build an even bigger lead. Scott missed a 5-foot birdie putt on the sixth, but answered with a 12-foot birdie on the next to go 2-up.

It was the largest deficit of the tournament for Woods, but he didn't panic.

Firing at a pin tucked behind a bunker on spongy greens, Woods hit a three-quarter shot to take the spin off the ball and stuck it 6 feet next to the hole. Then, he birdied the ninth with a slick 12-footer to tie the match heading to the back nine.

Scott had a three-putt bogey from 18 feet on the par-3 12th hole to fall behind for the time in the match, then quickly atoned for it by holing a 40-foot birdie putt on the 14th.

Woods and Scott play practice rounds together at majors. Their swings are eerily similar, and both work with Butch Harmon. Scott even mimics some of Woods' body language, whether it's a fist pump or picking up his right leg after a big drive.

He couldn't match Woods at the end, however.

Two putts for par. One made it, the other missed.

Scott and Lonard will play an 18-hole consolation match Sunday.

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