Waldorf’s 62 Brings Him Back for One-Shot Win

Tiger Woods wasn’t a winner Sunday, just a prophet.

On the eve of the final round in the National Car Rental Classic, at Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Woods warned everyone not to get wrapped up in his pursuit of Steve Flesch.

“This golf course . . . anyone can shoot 62 out here without batting an eye,” he said.

He made a believer out of everyone--especially Duffy Waldorf.

Six strokes behind to start the final day, Waldorf polished off a career-low 62 with a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for a one-stroke victory over Flesch.

“I would have to agree,” Waldorf said when told about the comment by Woods, who finished three strokes out of the lead. “But he was probably thinking about himself shooting 62, not me.”

Waldorf wasn’t thinking about winning, not even after birdies on six of his first seven holes. He looked at the leaderboard just once--after he made the turn in 30, one stroke behind--and realized he had won only after watching Flesch miss a seven-foot birdie putt on the final hole that would have forced a playoff.

“Obviously, it’s a surprise to me,” said Waldorf, who finished with a 26-under total of 262. “I got everything I could out of the round.”

Flesch, at 25-under, suffered a cruel twist of fate.

Playing with Woods he made two crucial birdie putts on the back nine.

And still lost.

“I felt like if I beat Tiger, I would win the golf tournament,” said Flesch, who shot a final-round 69.

Flesch did keep his composure, even on the last hole. Standing in the 18th fairway, he heard the roar when Waldorf made his birdie putt, then hit his approach within seven feet of the hole. Flesch’s putt to force a playoff stayed high of the hole.

Waldorf won $540,000, the largest paycheck of his career. He won for the first time with Woods in the field. “That makes it more special,” he said. “He brought a pretty good game with him too.”

Woods may beg to differ.

With a chance to get within one stroke of the lead, his 18-foot birdie putt on the 16th hung on the edge of the cup. Woods final birdie putt lipped out, and all he could do was smile.

“It was one of those days where I didn’t have much,” he said. “But I hung in there and gave myself a chance.”

Woods wound up with a 69 for third place with a 265 total.

*

Japan, with a hole in one from Akiko Fukushima, won 8 1/2 of a possible 12 points during stroke-play matches to beat the United States by three points in the $765,000 Cisco World Ladies Challenge at Narita, Japan, ending the U.S. tour’s 16-year winning streak in the event. The Japanese team won the title, 13 1/2-10 1/2, after trailing, 7-5, entering the last of three days of competition.

*

Spike McRoy’s second tournament victory in his home state of Alabama got him back on the PGA Tour.

McRoy shot a three-under-par 69 for a record 16-under 272 total that gave him a five-stroke victory in the Buy.com Tour Championship at Dothan, Ala.

The first prize of $99,000 moved McRoy, 32, from eighth place into the top spot on the final money list with $300,638. The top 15 players on the list gained their PGA Tour cards for next year. McRoy is the only one with fully exempt status.