Woods cruises to 6th Buick title
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2008 Buick Invitational | Round Four | 28 Jan 2008
Tiger Woods continued on his milestone setting ways today when he won the Buick Invitational for the sixth occasion and for the fourth consecutive year. Woods joined Arnold Palmer in winning his 62nd USPGA Tour title and lies in fourth place on that list behind Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan.
He adds this event to the Bay Hill Invitational (now known as the Arnold Palmer Invitational) as events he has won in four consecutive years.
Woods added a final round of 71 to his stunning 54 hole total of 18 under and at 19 under won by eight shots over Ryuji Imada and by ten over Rory Sabbatini and Stewart Cink.
Woods got to 21 under for the tournament through 13 holes today and led by ten but in the cool and breezy weather he almost inexplicably produced three consecutive bogeys to slip back to even for the day. He added one last birdie at the last to win by eight and heaven help his rivals in four and a half months when the US Open is played over the South Course at Torrey Pines.
Woods has dominated events he has played at Torrey Pines in both professional golf and in his amateur days including the World Junior Golf Championship. This was his sixth win in this particular event in eleven starts as a professional, adding that milestone to a similar number of victories at the World Golf Championship Bridgestone Invitational.
Ryuji Imada was brilliant in his final round producing nine birdies in a round of 67 on a demanding day. The round produced a runner up finish that equalled his previous best PGA Tour placing at the AT&T Pebble Beach event in 2007 but this will be of more satisfaction given the quality of the field and the player he finished runner up to. The 31-year-old is in to his third season on the USPGA Tour after several years on the Nationwide Tour and a collegiate career at the University of Georgia.
Rory Sabbatini continued his great run of form to finish in a share of third, a 30 foot putt at the last for eagle ensuring yet another high finish. Sabbatini has recorded nine top tens in his last eleven starts. He shared third with Stewart Cink who struggled through his early holes today before consolidating over the closing stages.
The best of the Australians were John Senden and Stuart Appleby who finished 8th, Nathan Green recorded yet another good week at Torrey Pines when 11th, Steve Elkington and Aaron Baddeley continued their good recent form when 13th, Matt Jones maintained his good rookie form when 23rd, Robert Allenby was 35th, Rod Pampling 37th and Jason Day 49th.
Nick O’Hern and Nick Flanagan both made the cut but did not play the weekend and will receive cheques.
The PGA Tour now moves to Scottsdale in Arizona for the FBR Open while Tiger Woods heads to Dubai for the Dubai Desert Classic.
