Woods simply sublime in Tour Championship win
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2007 PGA Tour Championship | Round Four | 17 Sep 2007
Yet another sublime tournament performance has seen Tiger Woods become the inaugural champion of the FedEx Cup and break his personal earnings record for any one season plus take his PGA Tour victories total to 61.
An eight shot win over Mark Calcavecchia and Zach Johnson at this week’s PGA Tour Championship in Atlanta has, if it was at all possible, taken Woods to an even higher level in the game. To have been in the heat of the battle so often, and for so long, in the last two months and to have achieved what he has, further highlights the superhuman nature of this magnificent athlete. Winning even one tournament is taxing enough on the mind but winning four and finishing runner up in his last five starts, all within the space of six weeks, cannot be underestimated.
An early bogey by Woods at the second hole had Calcavecchia within two but that was as close as anyone would get on the final day, the gap extending to nine at one point after Woods had birdied the 16th. A bogey at the 17th, after his approach from a difficult lie finished short, saw the final margin as eight.
Both Calcavecchia and Johnson had their chances to take second outright which would have made a significant difference to their already lucrative payday but Calcavecchia bogeyed 16th while Johnson bogeyed the 17th and they shared the US$1,238,000 between them.
The tournament made no difference to the outcome of the leading three as far as FedEx Cup points with Woods not only earning US$1,260,000 but adding another US$10,000,000 in the form of a superannuation contribution. In the past five tournaments Woods has earned US$5,652,000 in official earnings and another US$10 million in bonuses. Nice work if you can get it!
Alone in fourth place was Sergio Garcia who now seems back to where he was at Carnoustie. Garcia’s putting has taken a huge turn for the better in 2007 since turning to the belly putter and it appears only a matter of time before he challenges for his first major once again.
The best of the Australians was Robert Allenby who finished 11th and appears to be finishing off his season as he started it. Some of the golf he produced in between was not particularly memorable but this is already Allenby’s best season earnings wise since 2001 and with several events still to play he could push past his previous best in 2001 when he won on two occasions.
Geoff Ogilvy was 17th after a very ordinary final round of 74, Aaron Baddeley was 24th and Adam Scott produced a shocker on day four with a final round of 78 to finish 26th of the 29 who finished the event. Scott did however finish as the leading Australian in the FedEx points race in 12th place just ahead of Geoff Ogilvy.
The PGA Tour returns to some form of normality this week in Verona in New York when the Turning Stone Resort Championship is played for a mere US$6 million.
