Morales Wins Title When Final-Round Woes Fell Woods : Junior World Golf: Defending champion struggles after triple bogey on No. 7. Venezuelan wins by three strokes.

Six-time champion Tiger Woods was driving toward an unprecedented seventh Optimist Junior World Golf championship Friday when he took a wrong turn on the seventh hole at Torrey Pines South.

Defending champion Woods of Cypress triple-bogeyed No. 7, triggering a startling turnaround in which Gilberto Morales, 15, of Caracas, Venezuela, turned a five-stroke deficit into a three-shot victory in the boys’ 15-17 division.

Woods, who has won six championships in 10 years (two more than anyone else), recorded a seven on the par-four, 436-yard No. 7, the course’s third-toughesthole, with two sand traps and a slight dogleg. Woodshit his tee shot out of bounds, resulting in two penalty strokes, then hit wild two more times.

After rounds of 68-71-68, Woods soared to a 75 for a 282 total, six under par for the tournament. Morales, who had shot 69-72-71 to trail Woods by five, fired a 67 Friday, the best round of the tournament on the par-72, 6,706-yard course. He finished nine under at 279 for his first title in three trips to the Junior World.

Morales recorded seven birdies and two bogeys. But he made up three strokes by parring the seventh. He cut the lead to one when he birdied No. 8, then pulled even when Woods bogeyed the par-five ninth hole. Morales’ birdie on 11 gave him a lead he never relinquished.

“I was right on the fairway when Tiger went OB,” Morales said. “I said to myself, ‘Hit it easy to the middle of the green and make your par.’ I didn’t want to get excited; I just wanted to take it easy and keep going.”

That could have been difficult for Morales after watching Woods shank his second shot from the right rough across the fairway to the left rough, then crank his third shot over the green.

Woods, 16, has experienced disaster holes like this before. But when asked if catastrophe had ever struck while on his way to a tournament victory, he said, “Never.”

“I still had a two-stroke lead,” he added. “It was really no problem. (On No. 8) I just left the putt short and he made his . . . so it was a one-shot lead.”

Then it was no lead, as Woods bogeyed nine and actually bent the shaft of his seven-iron, striking a tree on the follow-through of an approach shot.

“I said, ‘Break the seven-iron, hurt my wrist or whatever; I’m just going to play the shot,’ ” said Woods, emphasizing the importance of not double-bogeying at that point. “(After that), I tried not to hit a shot where I would need a seven-iron. And I didn’t need to. I was very lucky.”

Lucky? When Morales, leading by two strokes, put his tee shot at 18 behind a big eucalyptus tree and a grove of small pines, he stepped right up with his seven-iron and whacked the ball over the trees. It rested two yards in front of the pond before the green, where he would chip and one-putt for a final birdie on the par-five, 485-yard hole.

Morales, who stayed calm and never said a word throughout the round, said it was no time to panic.

“If I made par, he needed an eagle to tie,” Morales said. “It’s a par five; you miss a shot and come back with the next shot.”

Woods watched and wilted, knowing he had to go for broke with his second shot. He pulled out a six-iron, aimed for the pin 186 yards away and sailed it over the green to the base of the No. 1 tee 30 yards beyond. He salvaged par.

“I guess the golfing gods weren’t with me,” said Woods.

No one will argue. He lipped a 17-foot birdie putt on 14 that would have tied Morales, who bogeyed. On 15, it happened again, only this time the ball did a near 360-degree swirl around the cup and Woods yelled “come on” in disgust.

Still one back at No. 16, Woods pushed an uphill, sharp right, 25-foot birdie putt that stopped two inches in front of the hole. Morales tapped a downhill 12-footer, facing a faint left break. The ball nearly stopped in front of the cup, then started again and dropped in.

Said Woods, “That was the whole match.”

Girls’ 15-17 Division

Erika Hayashida of Lima, Peru, shot par-74 at Torrey Pines North and held off Luisa Cuartas of Cali, Colombia. Hayashida, whose four-day total was four-over-par 300, shot an 80 the previous day and saw Cuartas cut her five-stroke lead to one.

“I’m very happy,” said Hayashida, who came back to win by four strokes. “I did everything better today, particularly my putting.”

Golf Notes

Pat Perez of Rancho Santa Fe shot 72 and finished at five-over 293, tying for fourth with Mike Jones of Mesa, Ariz., in the boys’ division. He had rounds of 72-74-75-72 and was one of eight boys’ and six girls to gain an all-expenses paid entry into the Japan Cup World Junior Golf Championships, Aug. 25-30 in Nagoya, Japan. J.J. Killeen (10-under) of San Diego and Matt Christensen (13-14) of Del Mar also received berths. Tiger Woods declined the invitation for the second year in a row.