Woods Birdies His Way to Another Playoff Win

Two tournaments, two continents, two playoff victories.

Tiger Woods’ year is off to a perfect start.

Two shots behind with two holes to play, Woods drove the green on the 359-yard 17th hole to set up a birdie-birdie finish that got him into a playoff, where he defeated Ernie Els on the first extra hole Sunday to win the Dubai Desert Classic.

“I couldn’t ask for anything more than that,” said Woods, who hasn’t started a season with two victories since his record-setting year in 2000. “Two playoffs too. Very stressful, but I was somehow able to come out on top. I was very fortunate today.”

It was similar to last week in San Diego, where Woods birdied the final hole to get into a playoff at the Buick Invitational and won with pars when his opponents made mistakes.

Els also birdied the last hole with a six-foot putt. But on the par-five 18th hole in the playoff, he pulled his tee shot into the sandy grove of palms, and his approach came up about a yard short into the water. He took a drop and pitched 20 feet beyond the hole, missing his par putt.

Woods, who went just over the back of the green in the playoff, chipped to six feet and two-putted for par.

“I had a two-way miss going,” Woods said. “I could hit it right or left at any given time, and that’s not a whole lot of fun. Somehow I just hung in there with my short game and hit some very good shots on the back nine.”

Woods closed with a three-under 69, finishing with a birdie from behind the 18th green in regulation to join Els at 19-under 269. Richard Green of Australia birdied four of five holes down the stretch to take the lead, but he drove into a plugged lie in the sandy palm grove and took bogey on the 18th.

Els shot five-under 67, but the ending was all too familiar. It was the third time he has lost in a playoff to Woods, and the seventh time the 36-year-old South African has finished second to Woods.

“I cannot complain,” said Els, who is coming back from knee surgery last year. “After all the hassle I had with the leg to come back ... and to almost win is fine.”

Despite spraying tee shots across the Emirates Golf Club, Woods stayed close to the lead. The key hole might have been the 14th, where his drive landed in a rocky bank surrounding a pond.

He managed to chip out into the rough, then made a 20-foot putt to save par and stay within two shots of Els.

Still, he was two shots behind Green when he got to the 17th. Woods’ drive hopped onto the green about 40 feet behind the hole for a two-putt birdie. From the middle of the 18th fairway, he saw Els make birdie to get to 19 under, then hit a five-wood just through the green for an up-and-down birdie.

“I figured 19 (under) would either win the tournament outright or be in a playoff,” Woods said. “I had to birdie the last two holes somehow. I had to take the chance of hitting driver (on No. 17) and put the ball anywhere up there where I could make birdie. It ended up as good as you could like.”

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Close calls

With his runner-up finish at the Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday, Ernie Els has finished second to Tiger Woods, above, seven times, including three in playoffs (* denotes playoff):

*--* Year Event Margin 1998 Johnnie Walker Classic 1* 1999 National Car Rental Classic 1 2000 Mercedes Championships 1* 2000 Memorial Tournament 5 (tied with Justin Leonard) 2000 U.S. Open 15 (tied with Miguel Angel Jimenez) 2000 British Open 8 (tied with Thomas Bjorn) 2006 Dubai Desert Classic 1*

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* Note: Woods has won 57 tournaments worldwide, 47 of them on the PGA Tour. He has also won events in nine countries outside the United States: United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Germany, Spain, Scotland, Canada, Ireland, Japan and Malaysia.