It Isn’t Perfect, but Woods Wins

Tiger Woods got a bigger fight than he expected Sunday, then a real surprise at the end--his first and only bogey of an otherwise flawless victory in the American Express Championship at Thomastown, Ireland.

“That last hole did get me,” Woods said.

It was about the only thing that did during a week in which his worst round was a 67. Woods went 51 consecutive holes with nothing worse than a four on his scorecard, and he claimed his fifth World Golf Championship event by one stroke.

Woods had a five-stroke lead going into the final round, closed with a six-under 66 and still had to hit his best shot of the week--a wedge from the deep rough--for a birdie on the 17th hole to hold off a late charge by Retief Goosen.

Goosen played six holes at six under par, including a six-foot eagle putt on the 17th hole to get within one shot, and he had a career-best 62 to finish second.

Woods finished at 25-under 263 for a one-stroke victory, matching his best score in relation to par in a 72-hole tournament. He really wanted to get his first bogey-free tournament title. With the victory all but assured, when his tee shot found the fairway on the 18th hole, it looked as though nothing could stop him.

But a photographer snapped a photo as Woods stood over his four-iron, facing a 237-yard shot to a green guarded by sand and water. He backed off, glared at the photographer, then pushed his approach into right rough. He chipped to three feet but missed the par putt.

“The most important shot of the entire week, and he gets a happy finger,” Woods said. “It just threw my focus off. I never got it all the way back to where it should have been. I’m hot at him, yes.”

With his fifth PGA Tour victory this year and sixth worldwide, Woods became the first player since Arnold Palmer (1960-63) to get at least five tour victories in four consecutive years.

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K.J. Choi shot a final-round 68 for a seven-shot victory in the Tampa Bay Classic at Palm Harbor, Fla., winning for the second time this season.

Choi, 31st on the tour money list when the entry deadline qualified the top 30 for a trip to Ireland for the World Golf Championship event, finished at 17-under-par 267 and won $468,000. Glen Day, who closed with a 69, finished seven shots back at 10 under. Mark Brooks shot 67 to finish eight back.

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Bruce Lietzke shot a final-round 67, reaching 16 of 18 greens in regulation to win by four shots over Tom Watson, Sammy Rachels and Gil Morgan in the SAS Championship at Cary, N.C. It was Lietzke’s third Senior PGA Tour title of the season. He finished the 52-hole event at 14-under-par 202 and earned $255,000.