Woods Wins, PGA Next on the List

Tiger Woods has won the PGA Championship two ways: by playing the previous week and by practicing and resting.

Now he will attempt to win the year’s final major off a victory.

Woods shot a two-under-par 70 Sunday to win the Buick Open at Grand Blanc, Mich., by four shots at 17 under. It was his 33rd PGA Tour victory and fourth in his last eight starts.

“You want to feel like you’re playing well going into a championship,” Woods said. “And any time you win, you feel good.”

Although he missed a chance to win the Grand Slam with his 28th-place tie at the British Open three weeks ago, Woods has an opportunity to do something no other golfer has, beginning Thursday at Hazeltine in Chaska, Minn.

Woods, who won this year’s Masters and U.S. Open, will be the first to win three majors in a year twice if he wins the PGA Championship. Ben Hogan did it in 1953 and Woods, who has won seven of the last 12 majors, did it two years ago.

“That would rank right up there,” said Woods, who was to fly Sunday night to Minnesota. “Hopefully I can add that to my list. It’s already been a successful year and I would like to make it even more successful.”

Esteban Toledo, who began the final round one stroke behind Woods, stayed with the world’s best golfer through 12 holes, but then collapsed with three consecutive bogeys.

Toledo shot a one-over 73 to finish at 13 under, tied for second with Mark O’Meara (68), Brian Gay (68) and Fred Funk (71). It matched Toledo’s best finish and moved him from 118th to 85th on the money list.

“I wasn’t at nervous at all,” Toledo said. “He’s the best player and I tried to put some pressure on him. It just didn’t work.”

Woods won $594,000 to raise his total this year to more than $4.5 million.

If Woods wins the PGA Championship, he would be the first player to win a major after winning a tournament the previous week since Sandy Lyle won the Greater Greensboro Open and the Masters in 1988.

Woods is 25-2 in PGA Tour events when leading or tied for the lead after 54 holes. Since 1958, only 16 of 38 players who have at least shared the lead after 54 holes have won the Buick Open.

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Karrie Webb overcame a three-shot deficit with a six-under 66 at Turnberry, Scotland, to win a record third Women’s British Open and complete the LPGA’s Super Slam.

Webb finished at 15-under 273, defeating Australia’s Michelle Ellis and Spain’s Paula Marti by two strokes and claiming her sixth major in four years.

The 27-year-old Australian completed the Grand Slam by winning the du Maurier, the Nabisco Championship, the U.S. Open and the LPGA Championship. By adding the British Open, she completed the Super Slam in five years.

Webb also became the first player since Mickey Wright in 1964 to win a major four years in a row.

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Hale Irwin, who lost in playoffs two of the last three weeks, shot a four-under 68 and defeated Hubert Green by three strokes in the 3M Championship at Blaine, Minn., his tour-leading third senior victory of the year. The bogey-free final round at the TPC of the Twin Cities gave Irwin a 12-under 204 total and the first-place check of $262,500. It also ended his five-month victory drought on the Senior PGA Tour.