Lady Luck Helps Woods End Drought

Tiger Woods shook off a rocky opening nine holes and held off a steady Jay Don Blake to win the $1.8-million BellSouth Classic by one stroke Sunday at Duluth, Ga.

Woods’ victory ended a 10-month winless drought on the PGA Tour.

He led Blake by three shots entering the final round after a course-record 63 on Saturday and then shot par 72 with three bogies and three birdies on Sunday. All three bogies came on the front nine.

“I didn’t play all that great, but I got a couple of lucky breaks, which is what it takes,” Woods said.

He was referring to two holes in particular, the par-four, 465-yard ninth and the par-three, 189-yard 11th. On both he thought he had hit his shots in the water.

On No. 9, his second shot rolled into the deep rough, but stayed out of the water about 15 feet below. Woods knocked his third shot 25 feet beyond the cup onto the green and two-putted for bogey. “If I go in the water, it’s a double-bogey,” he said.

On 11, his tee shot went over the green and landed on a hill about 30 feet beyond the green, barely missing the water on the left. He chipped to within four feet from high grass and made par.

Woods wound up at 271, 17 under par.

Blake, who has won only once in 12 years on tour, shot a 70 with 16 pars and two birdies over the soggy, 7,259-yard TPC at Sugarloaf course near Atlanta to finish at 272. His birdie attempt at No. 18 from 20 feet to tie was off to the right and about one foot past the hole.

Woods, who hadn’t won since taking the Western Open last July, had a four-shot lead after making birdie on No. 3, but bogeyed Nos. 4, 8 and 9 as Blake made nine consecutive pars to get within a stroke.

The win ended a string of 16 PGA tournaments without a win for Woods, who won six of his first 21 events.

He earned $324,000 to increase his earnings to just over $1 million on the year in only nine tournaments. Woods, 22, had two second-place finishes and a third in his previous eight starts in 1998.

It was Woods’ seventh PGA win in 37 events since joining the tour in 1996 and raised his career earnings to $3.8 million.

Woods was playing in his first tournament since the Masters last month where he tied for eighth.

Esteban Toledo, who lives in Costa Mesa, and Steve Flesch were tied for third place three shots back at 274. Toledo had a 67 and Flesch a 69. Toledo won $104,400, which is his biggest payday of the year. He had won $53,406 in nine events before Sunday.

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Jim Dent found inspiration on TV during a one-hour rain delay and defended his Home Depot Invitational title with a victory over Bob Charles on the second playoff hole at Charlotte.

Dent, who saw his five-shot lead evaporate and fell behind by one stroke with four holes to play, said watching the NBA playoff game between the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks during the delay helped him find his stride again.

“Indiana hit a three-point shot to force overtime and I said to myself, ‘That’s what you have to do,’ ” said Dent, who birdied the par-five 16th hole to pull even with Charles and force the playoff.

Dent shot an even-par 72 final round, while Charles surged with a five-under 67 as both finished the tournament at nine-under 206.

During the playoff, Dent and Charles both parred the 18th. On the second hole, Charles bogeyed the par-three 17th, while Dent made an 18-foot putt for par to earn the Senior PGA Tour victory and the first-prize check of $165,000.

Jay Sigel finished third at 208 after a final-round 70, and DeWitt Weaver, John Morgan and Graham Marsh tied for fourth at 209.

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Barb Mucha sank a 12-foot putt to birdie the second playoff hole and beat out Nancy Lopez, Donna Andrews and Jenny Lidback for the Sara Lee Classic title at Nashville, Tenn.

Lopez and Lidback then missed long putts before Mucha’s putt fell in on the par-three 17th. Then Andrews missed her putt to the left.

The three finished 54 holes at 11-under 205.

“It was just fun out there. It was fun to be in that position again,” said Mucha of her first victory since 1996 and her fifth overall. “And to kind of cap it off, that really made it pretty special.”

Overnight thunderstorms forced officials to delay the start of the third round for nearly three hours while workers squeegeed holes. But rain was still standing on a couple fairways when the round started with golfers going off the first and 10th tees.