Tiger fights hard for 4th NEC victory
IN: News | US PGA | NEC Invitational (2005) | Wrap | by Bruce Young | 22 Aug 2005
On one of the more demanding, yet fair, golf courses on the USPGA Tour, Tiger Woods somehow found a way to emerge as the winner at the WGC NEC Championship after a day where so many had their chances but were not able to take them.
Woods' birdie at the par five 16th was the straw that broke the camel's back for the clubhouse leader Chris DiMarco and one or two others who felt they may yet have had a chance when Tiger drove it into trouble on that very hole. They may in fact still have had a chance given the difficult nature of the closing holes but somehow the chances of Tiger letting this position slip, after such a brilliant play to grab the lead alone for the first time in the event, seemed slim.
Woods had joined Chris DiMarco at 5 under par when he produced his sensational birdie at the par five after a drive which appeared to give him no chance. He was forced to advance the ball only 60 or 70 yards after his tee shot finished in the trees right and was still left with 189 yards to a flag tucked in behind the water right. His third was right on line and came to rest some 25 feet behind the flag. The curling right to left putt was started well right and then turned sharply and as if on a string falling into the hole on the last roll to grab the lead.
From there and with DiMarco sitting in the clubhouse waiting for a mistake from the world number one, Woods played conservatively from the tee at the 17th and found the green with his second. His putt, from 35 feet, looked as if it might just finish any last hole tension but as it rolled towards the hole very much on line, it turned just a fraction at the finish and so to the last with Woods still holding his narrow one shot lead over DiMarco.
Woods attacked the demanding last with driver and pushed it right and into the trees. It had been assisted by a cart path bounce or two but it left a second of some 130 yards which would require a very much manufactured and running shot to reach the putting surface. This though was Tiger Woods and he hit the perfect shot coming to rest just off the green edge but flag high.
When he had run his putt down to less than 2 feet it was all over and the NEC title at Firestone Country Club's famed South Course was his for the fourth time. It did not appear that such might be the case early in the round when, after an early birdie, Woods bogeyed three holes before the turn. At that point he was back to five under but while he was having his problems so were those around him. Kenny Perry, after a bogey at the 9th, was still in the lead at 7 under as he and Woods walked to the 10th tee but the way the back nine was playing it appeared that it might well be a case of the last man standing who would be the winner.
Perry self destructed over the closing nine holes, running off four bogeys in the first five holes on the way home and his chance was all but gone. DiMarco had emerged as perhaps Tiger's biggest threat when he took the lead at 6 under before a bogey at the 17th and he would need to wait to see if his five under score would be good enough. It wasn't. His opening run of three birdies in his first six holes today had him well poised for any mistake by those ahead on the leaderboard, but behind on the course, and while those mistakes did come, he was not able to capitalise on the position he had create for himself. It was a good bounce back from two consecutive missed cuts for DiMarco but a win would have been a nice birthday present for the man who turns 37 on Tuesday.
The line up for fourth place saw Paul McGinley, Vijay Singh and Ryan Palmer sharing that position. Singh will rue a bogey at the 15th and a missed opportunity from 6 feet at the last but his putting generally today was a big improvement on recent efforts.
McGinley had fought back after a double bogey at the 13th to gain a share of the lead, at five under, when he produced a beautiful birdie at the 16th, but he would bogey the 17th and his chance was gone. It was, however, a great week for McGinley.
Ryan Palmer is slowly but surely developing into a fine player and this week's effort will give him a great boost of self belief. The man who more than two years ago won the Nationwide Tour's Clearwater Classic in Christchurch, New Zealand, won last year in Las Vegas but it may be that this performance, against the world's best, has greater meaning. Palmer was a prolific winner on lesser tours before gaining his card via the Nationwide Tour in 2003 and I believe we will hear a lot more yet from this man from Texas.
Amongst those who were further back in the field are several hard luck stories of what might have been but when considering those, spare a thought for Stuart Appleby.
Appleby was still very much in the mix when he pitched in at the 11th from an impossible position behind the green. He was at four under and not far back. Even when he bogeyed the 12th he was still not out of it completely but at the 13th his day and challenge took a turn for the worse. When taking a drop from the cart path it appears his caddie grabbed for the ball before it had come to a halt. With the ball deemed to have been in play until it comes to rest, the penalty was two strokes and a par turned into a double and his challenge was gone.
He still however shared the position as the leading Australian with Rod Pampling, who if he had been able to produce a similar week last week may well now be a Presidents Cup team member. His last round got him a share of 13th with Appleby.
Nick O'Hern was 28th, Adam Scott and Peter Lonard 36th, Geoff Ogilvy 41st, Steve Elkington with a last round 66, 49th, Craig Parry and Mark Hensby 58th, Richard Green 67th and Michael Campbell well and truly out of steam it would seem, 68th.
The USPGA Tour now heads to Hartford in Connecticut for the Buick Championship.
Photo - Anthony Powter
