After Tiger Charges, Love Able to Cash In

Davis Love III had a seven-shot lead that looked unbeatable until a couple of par putts lipped out and turned everything around.

“I felt like I was letting someone back into the tournament,” Love said Sunday. “I just didn’t know who it was.”

He should have known.

Tiger Woods, 10 shots behind with 10 holes to play, unleashed six birdies in seven holes to cut the lead to one and make the rain that dripped off Love’s cap feel more like sweat.

Love pulled himself together with a 45-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole, and finished with a two-shot victory in the Target World Challenge at Sherwood Country Club.

He closed with an even-par 72 and earned $1.2 million, the biggest check of his career.

Woods made him earn every penny.

“It was fun competing, rather than to have a six- or seven-shot lead and hanging on,” Love said. “Tiger proved even if he’s not playing good, in crunch time he can shoot the best round of the week in the worst conditions.”

Woods finished with three pars for a 65, then went to the clubhouse to see where it would leave him. Within minutes, he had changed into blue jeans and sneakers and was headed home for the year.

From the grill room, he watched Love hole the 45-foot birdie putt over the ridge on the par-5 16th to end the drama.

“I thought a 65 was realistic, but not to win,” Woods said. “When I saw Davis at 13 under, I figured if I shot 29 on the back that would put me at 11 under, and at least I would make him work for it.”

It wasn’t over until Love splashed out of the bunker to three feet for a par on the final hole. He finished at 11-under 277.

“When he birdied five holes in a row, I knew the game was on,” Love said. “And I had to play hard.”

He finally got some breathing room with his birdie putt on No. 16.

“When it got up there about 10 feet away, I knew it was in,” Love said. “And that made me very excited, because I didn’t have a second putt and I had a two-shot cushion.,”

Love’s biggest check had been $1.17 million at The Players Championship, one of his four PGA Tour victories this year.

This one doesn’t count in the record books, but it still was plenty meaningful.

Love won against a world-class field that featured the top 12 players available from the world ranking and four sponsor’s exemptions -- two of them major champions.

He became the first repeat winner of the Target World Challenge since Woods created it five years ago. Love also won in 2000, the first year it was at Sherwood.

It was a familiar ending for Woods.

A year ago, he was six shots behind Padraig Harrington and closed within one shot before taking a bogey on the final hole to finish two shots behind.

Woods earned $700,000, which he donated to his Tiger Woods Foundation.

Harrington closed with a 71 to finish third at 282. Masters champion Mike Weir (72) and Justin Leonard (71) were at 284.

K.J. Choi, who played in the final group with Love, had a 77 and was at 285.

Thick, gray clouds descended over the foothills about the time Love headed for the practice range, and a drizzle turned into a raw, steady rain when he teed off with a three-stroke lead over Choi.

Choi had trouble keeping the ball in play and dropped shots on Nos. 4 and 6.

Love plodded along with a routine birdie on the par-5 second and great pars on the next two holes, especially No. 4.