Tiger’s New Swing a Stroke of Genius : Golfer of the year: Western’s Woods takes his game to a higher level during his senior season.

Tiger Woods finished 39-under-par in his final season for the Western High golf team. Needless to say, he made a few impressive shots.

But for Western Coach Don Crosby, one stands out. Woods was in the rough on a 45-degree slope above and about 15 feet from the 18th green at Olympic View Golf Club in Victoria, British Columbia.

There wasn’t much at stake; Western was on a spring-break trip and already had wrapped up a tournament against two Canadian teams, but a crowd of about 300 and some local television news cameras had gathered to watch “The Tiger.”

The 18th is a 520-yard par-5 to a three-level green. The pin was on Woods’ side, giving him about 12 feet of green with which to work.

“He hits it 30 or 40 feet straight up in the air,” Crosby said. “It bounces once or twice and goes in the hole.

“He couldn’t make it when he was practicing, but when you put all these people around him, he seems almost destined to make shots like that.”

That eagle in late March moved Woods, The Times Orange County golfer of the year, to three-under for the season and might have been a turning point. Since last summer, he has reworked his swing and he is just now beginning to reap the benefits.

His previous swing was good enough to win a record three USGA Junior Amateur Championships, but it was failing him when he competed against more experienced players in amateur and PGA Tour events.

High school players have had enough problems with Woods in the past. This season, forget it. He won his fourth Orange League title by 20 strokes and won his record-tying third Southern Section title by four, shooting a section record 66 at La Cumbre Country Club in Santa Barbara.