Record Victory for Woods : Golf: Western High senior wins third U.S. Junior by rallying on the final two holes of regulation.

Tiger Woods of Cypress won a record third U.S. Junior Golf Championship in dramatic fashion Saturday, rallying on the last two holes of the final to beat Ryan Armour, 1-up, in 19 holes.

Woods, 17, who will be a senior at Western High this fall, was two down with two holes to play after missing a short putt on the 16th hole. Woods made clutch birdie putts on Nos. 17 and 18 to draw even, then made a four-foot par putt on the first extra hole, the par-four, 333-yard No. 1, to win it.

“The only thing special about it,” Woods said, “was my comeback. I had to play the best two holes of my life--birdie on 17, birdie on 18. I did it.”

Armour, 17, of Silver Lake, Ohio, played solidly all day, notably with his short game.

“I’m heartbroken,” said Armour, who lost to Woods, 8 and 6, in last year’s quarterfinals.

Woods has won 18 consecutive junior amateur matches and has a 22-1 match-play record in four U.S. Juniors.

Earlier Saturday, Woods beat 16-year-old U.S. Open qualifier Ted Oh of Torrance, 4 and 3, and Armour ousted 14-year-old Charles Howell, 4 and 3, in the semifinals.

Armour went one up in the final with a 40-foot putt on the 15th hole, then moved two shots ahead when Woods, a strong putter throughout the tournament, had a four-foot par putt lip out on 16.

“If I parred 17, I thought I’d win this match,” Armour said.

Woods outdrove Armour by about 40 yards on the par-four, 432-yard 17th, then hit a three-iron approach to about seven feet. Armour’s approach went into a trap.

On the par-five, 578-yard 18th, Woods outdrove Armour, but his second shot, with a three-iron, flew into a trap about 40 yards from the pin. Woods hit out to about 10 feet.

With Armour again looking at a tap-in par, Woods sank the putt to force extra holes.

Woods, who had bogeyed the par-four, 333-yard No. 1 in both matches Saturday, hit an iron off the tee and put his second shot some 25 feet from the cup. Armour’s approach was 60 feet away. After both missed birdie putts, Armour missed a seven-footer coming back and Woods won it with a four-footer for par.

Woods controlled the semifinal showdown of Southern California standouts, losing holes to Oh only with bogeys. Oh’s usually reliable putter failed him on Nos. 2, 3 and 4, each time giving the hole to Woods, and on No. 15, where the match was closed out when Oh three-putted from 60 feet.

“I started out bad and gave him some quick, easy ones,” Oh said. “I had a couple of lip-outs that I should have made. That’s golf.”

“I played extremely solid against Ted,” Woods said. “On the back side, I went and took the match.”

Armour played steady against Howell, who is from Augusta, Ga., in the other semifinal, winning holes with three birdies and two pars.