Woods caps amazing finish

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The fist pump is played out.

Tiger Woods is throwing hats now. Everyone else is tipping theirs.

The black Nike cap hit the ground as Woods did a Johan Santana impersonation, flexed like the champion he is and roared toward the crowd that ate it up.

The endings keep getting better as Woods keeps winning.

Woods captured the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a 24-foot putt during a week when he had missed 21 straight putts of 20 feet or more.

But this was the 18th green on Sunday. That’s when 24-foot putts obey Woods.

As a result, all Bart Bryant could do was laugh from the Bay Hill scorer’s trailer as Woods topped his nine-under total of 271 by one stroke.

The moment even made Woods blank out.

“When Stevie [Williams] handed me my hat, I was like, ‘How in the hell did he get my hat?’ ” Woods said of his caddie. “Evidently it came off.”

The intensity grows as Woods has won seven of his last eight PGA Tour events, including five in a row heading into next week’s CA Championship at Doral in Miami.

Woods shot a final-round 66 after entering the day tied for first with Bryant, Vijay Singh, Bubba Watson and Sean O’Hair.

Arnold Palmer told Woods he was proud of him after the putt that now holds major history. The win gave Woods 64 for his tour career, tying Ben Hogan.

Next up: Jack Nicklaus at 73 wins. And the way Woods is writing this script, he could reach Nicklaus by the fall.

“It’s knowing that you have an opportunity to end the tournament and it’s in your hands, not anyone else’s,” Woods said after finishing at 10-under 270. “It’s like having the ball with a few seconds to go, do you want it or not want it? I would much rather have it in my hands than anyone else’s.”

In his last nine tournaments counting one on the European Tour, Woods has eight wins and one second-place finish. The only guy to defeat Woods since September, Phil Mickelson at the Deutsche Bank Championship, is the same guy who lost to Woods on a similar 18th-hole putt at Bay Hill in 2001. That was Woods’ second of four consecutive Bay Hill titles -- but he struggled to crack the top 20 since 2003.

With worm-infested greens Woods disliked, some expected this to be the week he fizzled. At least that pattern seemed inevitable early on when he was seven strokes off Singh’s lead.

But Bryant was the only player who could challenge Woods with an impeccable 67. Bryant played it safe on the par-four 18th that has a dangerous water-and-rocks combination in front of the right side of the green. He parred the hole and waited from the trailer for Woods to finish him off, force a playoff or blow it in the water.

“I felt if I could play the last four holes well, I could put the pressure on Tiger, make him make a birdie coming down the stretch,” Bryant said. “That’s why Tiger’s Tiger.”

Woods fired a five-iron from 167 yards out that he called playing “aggressive to a conservative spot,” sort of right in the middle of the green with the pin to the right.

The approach on No. 18 swallowed plenty of players throughout the week -- but not Woods on Sunday. “Best swing I made all week,” he said.

There was reason to believe something phenomenal would arise as Woods stared down the slope on the 18th green. The win puts Woods at 43-3 after having at least a share of the 54-hole lead.

O’Hair, Woods’ playing partner who finished tied for third at seven under with Cliff Kresge and Singh, said Woods played a “flawless” round.

“He didn’t make any mental errors,” O’Hair said. “Every shot was where it needed to be. It could have been a lot lower than what he shot today, but he’s Tiger.”

With Woods chasing the sweep of all four majors that he says is “easily within reason,” now it’s time to gear up for next month’s Masters.

His peers were still trying to chew on what he’d just done.

“You can’t even hardly fathom it,” Bryant said. “You can’t explain it. It’s just incredible. Just what he did today is another evidence of this weird zone he’s in, and he’s been in it like his whole life.”

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Only two ahead of him

Tiger Woods won his 64th PGA Tour title Sunday, tying him with Ben Hogan for third place on the career wins list (years listed represent years of first and final victory):

*--* Player Years Wins Sam Snead 1936-65 82 Jack Nicklaus 1962-86 73 Tiger Woods* 1996- 64 Ben Hogan 1938-59 64 Arnold Palmer 1955-73 62 Byron Nelson 1935-51 52 *--*

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Tracking Tiger

Since finishing 12th in the 2007 British Open, Tiger Woods has finished first in nine of his last 10 events (*PGA Tour event):

*--* PL EVENT YEAR 1 WGC Bridgestone Invitational* 2007 1 PGA Championship* 2007 T2 Deutsche Bank Championship* 2007 1 BMW Championship* 2007 1 Tour Championship* 2007 1 Target World Challenge 2007 1 Buick Invitational* 2008 1 Dubai Desert Classic 2008 1 WCG Accenture Match Play* 2008 1 Arnold Palmer Invitational* 2008 *--*

Source: pgatour.com