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Tiger Woods wins Wachovia Championship

(AP)
Updated: 2007-05-07 11:18

Tiger Woods couldn't believe his luck when his tee shot somehow stopped 18 inches from going into the water, turning a probable bogey into an unlikely eagle for his first lead?on May 6?in the Wachovia Championship. Equally stunning was his blunder on the 13th hole, a three-putt double bogey to blow a three-shot lead on the back nine.

Tiger Woods holds the trophy after winning the Wachovia Championship golf tournament at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., Sunday, May 6, 2007. [AP]

"My whole goal coming in after that was to try to get the lead through 15," Woods said. "I figured if I parred in, I'd probably win the tournament because these conditions, no one is going to play those last three holes under par."

Woods took one more bogey, but it didn't matter. A final round with wild swings in momentum finally settled into a familiar outcome.

Backed by a two-shot lead going to the most daunting hole at Quail Hollow, Woods was able to play it safe on the 18th and made an 8-foot par to close with a 3-under 69 for a two-shot victory over Steve Stricker, his third PGA Tour victory this year and his ninth in his last 12 tour starts.

Perhaps it was only fitting Woods slipped into the winner's royal blue jacket late Sunday afternoon. A tournament that looks so much like a major got a champion whose career is defined by them.

"Over the course of my career, I've won a few tournaments here and there, and it's been nice," Woods said. "This one, considering the field and the golf course and the conditions, ecstatic to have won here."

Woods' victory meant four of the five winners at the Wachovia Championship have won majors. The others were David Toms, Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk.

Woods finished at 13-under 275, the lowest score in the five-year history of this event. He earned $1.134 million, and went atop the FedEx Cup standings for the first time this year, despite playing only six times.

And as usual, he got some help.

Woods wanted the lead through 15 holes knowing the finish is as tough as anywhere — the hardest three holes at Quail Hollow in descending order, with the 18th so tough it played more than a half-stroke over par.

Stricker, tied for the lead when he holed a 5-foot birdie putt on the 15th, didn't get enough help from the wind and hit into the trees, then the bunker and missed a 6-foot putt to take double bogey on the 16th. He followed with a 30-foot birdie on the 17th, but found the stream down the left side of the 18th fairway to doom his chances. He shot 69.

"A little bittersweet," said Stricker, who hasn't won since 2001. "I'm happy that I finished second, but I had an opportunity to win."

Singh, who briefly led with a short birdie on the seventh hole, couldn't answer Woods' eagle-birdie-birdie charge into the lead at the turn, and the Fijian stumbled badly at the end with two balls in the water for a triple bogey and a 74.

Rory Sabbatini had a one-shot lead and essentially called out Woods on Saturday night, saying he wanted him in the final pairing to prove his victory at Riviera last year — where Woods withdrew with the flu — was no accident. He told XM radio the pairing was "David and Goliath," and jokingly referred to Woods as the underdog.

"He got the job done today and I didn't," said Sabbatini, who didn't make a birdie until the 10th hole and closed with a 74. He tied for third along with Phil Mickelson, who shot 70 but was never a factor.

Woods struggled with his swing and kept coach Hank Haney at his side all week, rare at tournaments other than a major.

"He got a little better every day," Haney said.

Woods' short game carried him, and he didn't lose his touch for special moments, none bigger than the par-5 seventh.

"Ah, it's in the water," caddie Steve Williams said while standing 200 yards down the fairway as he watched Woods' tee shot sail to the right, over the bunkers. It took a hard hop, but somehow stayed in the rough.

The lie was good enough from 193 yards for Woods to hit 7-iron, landing on the top shelf of the green, some 60 feet away and down a severe slope. It seemed to take forever to get to the hole, even though Woods barely rapped it.

"I was just trying to two-putt from there and get out of there with a 4," Woods said. "And it happened to go in."

He straightened his back to watch it track toward the hole, guiding it with his hand as it got close. He raised his arms and backed away when it fell, a slight look of surprise, then turned and delivered a fist pump that hadn't been seen in a while.

The eagle put him at 13 under, one shot ahead of Singh, whom Woods had just watched make birdie with a tricky 4-foot putt.

And the world's No. 1 player took off from there.

With the gallery still buzzing, he pitched a sand wedge to 8 feet on the next hole for birdie. And from the rough left of the ninth fairway, his approach barely cleared the bunker and bounced off a knob to 18 feet. That birdie putt dropped on the final turn, sending Woods to a 31 on the outward nine.

He had a three-shot lead heading to the 10th, and there was little doubt who was going to win.

The surprise was the suspense that followed.

Woods made bogey on the 10th from 78 yards in the fairway. Then came the three-putt double bogey on the par-3 13th, where he missed the green to the right.

"I figured I just let so many guys back in the tournament, gave them a shot of momentum," Woods said. "But at least I birdied 15 and found out I had the lead going to 16, 17 and 18. That's all I wanted."

Woods wound up with the 57th victory of his career, and he is winning at an astounding rate. He is 3-of-6 this year and was asked if his game was as good as it could be.

"It's three short of where I wanted to be," he said with a laugh. "It's been good, just one little negative there."

The negative was not winning a green jacket.

He had to settle for a blue one Sunday, which wasn't all bad.