tiger woods bay hill

As Only He Can, Woods Seals Another Comeback
Like some inexorable force, Tiger Woods returned to his spot atop the golf world Sunday, erasing Sean O’Hair’s five-stroke lead with three holes to play in the Arnold Palmer Invitational and securing the victory with yet another dramatic birdie putt at the final hole.

Just as he did a year ago, and as he did in 2001 in his second of six victories in this tournament, Woods delivered the stunning coup de grâce with a flourish on Bay Hill’s 18th green. The putt was an uphill 15-footer, and it never wavered, falling into the middle of the hole for a round of 67 and a five-under-par 275 total, one stroke better than O’Hair, who shot 73.

There was no cap thrown to the ground in exultation this time. Just a quick two-step to his left as the ball moved toward the hole, and trademark fist-pump, like a hard right hook to the jaw. He embraced his caddie, Steve Williams, and flashed a megawatt victory grin for the first time in a long time.

“It feels good, it feels really good,” said Woods, whose last victory was nine months and one major knee operation ago. “It feels good to be back in contention again, to feel the rush and have to deal with everything coming down the stretch.

“It’s been awhile. But God, it felt good.”

It felt like a punch to the stomach for O’Hair, who struggled with his driver most of the day, hitting just 6 of 14 fairways. But even bereft of his ball-striking, which had carried him to the five-stroke lead after three rounds, he hung in until the end.

He tied for the lead with a par to Woods’s bogey at the 17th and his 7-iron shot into the final hole set him up for a 38-foot putt for birdie, which he missed.

“The last three days I hit the ball fantastic,” O’Hair said. “I think that’s kind of the outcome of today was the ball-striking wasn’t there. From the first hole I was struggling hitting fairways. If you’re in the rough all day, you’re going to struggle to hit greens. I just didn’t give myself enough birdie opportunities.”

The drama that played out at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge on Sunday was like something from two dreams — a sweet one for Woods and a nightmare for O’Hair. The two had joked on the putting green before the round, laughing about Woods’s two workouts before their tee time when Woods said, “I don’t sleep.”

O’Hair responded that sleeping was something he did best, “except last night when I was thinking about playing you today.”

It did not take Woods long to get serious. He quickly established that five strokes was not insurmountable and that he was going for the jugular early. He birdied the second hole to close the gap to four strokes. And he birdied the third, hitting his wedge to 6 feet before making the putt. That, combined with O’Hair’s bogey after a mediocre pitch from 25 yards right of the green went 12 feet past the hole and he missed the par putt.

In just three holes, O’Hair’s five-stroke lead was down to two. He was in Woods’s world now, in the caldron where throngs of people were screaming Woods’s name and shouts of, “He’s baaaack!” were raining down on the golf course. The crowd was getting just what they had come to see — a Tiger Woods charge, and a tight race to the finish.

When your ball-striking has gone on leave, that is not a pleasant place to be. O’Hair bogeyed the seventh hole with a three-putt from 25 feet, and his lead was down to one. But he kept coming, birdieing the ninth to restore the temporary two-stroke cushion.

Cutting O’Hair’s lead to two at the turn had been Woods’s goal from the start of the round. It was exactly the position he had been in last year when he came back to win.

And when it came time to close it out, he got into the mind-set he needed, the one he had missed for nine months while rehabbing his knee and watching golf on TV.
source:NY Times

Tiger returns to winning at Bay Hill

The clutch shots. The late charge. An electric birdie putt on the 18th hole at Bay Hill.

Yep, Tiger Woods is back.

With those familiar back-nine heroics and a putt most everyone knew he was going to make, Woods holed a 15-footer for birdie to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational for his first victory since returning from knee surgery.

Woods closed with a 3-under 67 for a one-shot victory over hard-luck Sean O'Hair, matching his largest comeback on the PGA Tour.

"It feels good to be back in contention, to feel the rush," Woods said. "It's been awhile, but God, it felt good."

Just like last year, when Woods made a 25-foot birdie on the final hole at Bay Hill for a one-shot victory, he delivered a high-charged celebration. Instead of slamming his cap to the ground, he turned and ran into the arms of his caddie, who lifted him off his feet.

Then came the meeting with the tournament host.

"What was it I told you last year?" Palmer said with a wide grin.

Palmer has seen enough of Woods to know what to expect. Woods won at Bay Hill for the sixth time, the fourth PGA Tour event he has won at least that often.

This one was special.

Woods had not been atop the leaderboard since he won the U.S. Open in a 19-hole playoff last June. He had reconstructive surgery on his left knee a week later, and missed the next eight months.

With two indifferent results at World Golf Championships, there were questions whether he would be ready for the Masters in two weeks. Not anymore. He rallied from a five-shot deficit and delivered one crucial shot after another in fading sunlight.

It was the third time Woods has won at Bay Hill with a birdie on the 72nd hole.

O'Hair made only one birdie and closed with a 73, but he steadied himself along the back nine until a crucial mistake on the 16th hole, when he went at the flag with Woods in the rough. His 7-iron came up short and into the water, leading to a bogey.

"I think what happened is when the sun was going down a little bit, I guess that kind of proved to me that the ball wasn't quite going as far," O'Hair said.

He might be right, for Woods ran into the same problem a hole later. He posed over a 4-iron that he thought was flush, tongue hanging out of his mouth like Michael Jordan when he knew a shot was going in. This one plugged under the lip of the front bunker, and Woods made bogey to fall into a tie.

That set up the dramatic finish with only minutes of daylight remaining, thanks to a two-hour rain delay in the morning.

It was the second straight year that O'Hair had to watch Woods celebrate. They were in the final group a year ago when Woods made his big birdie putt to beat Bart Bryant. This one stung even more.

"It's just a little bit disappointing that I couldn't close it," O'Hair said.

Woods finished at 5-under 275 and won $1.08 million for his 66th career victory. Only once in his career has Woods failed to win a PGA Tour even in the three months leading to the Masters, but more Bay Hill magic took care of that.

Zach Johnson shot 69 and finished third.

Woods was running out of holes until he came up with two clutch putts, the kind he has made throughout his career.

The most pivotal came at the 14th, when he was one shot behind and caught yet another plugged lie under the lip of a bunker. Woods did well to blast out to just over 12 feet, while O'Hair had 15 feet for birdie. Make it, and he could go up by three.

O'Hair narrowly missed, and Woods holed his putt for par. On the next hole, Woods made a 25-foot birdie putt to tie for the lead.

There were three lead changes over the final three holes, and a predictable winner.

"It's like Stevie was saying out there," Woods said of caddie Steve Williams. "This feels like we hadn't left. You just remember how to do it. It hasn't been that long for me, but you just have that feel of what to do. And it's a matter of getting it done."

It was a struggle from the start for O'Hair.

He didn't hit a fairway until the sixth hole, and he didn't have a birdie putt inside 30 feet until the ninth hole. The game was on after a two-shot swing on the third hole, when O'Hair missed the green to the right and made bogey, and Woods made an 8-footer for his second straight birdie to close within two shots.

Woods pulled to within one shot on the par-3 seventh. Standing over the ball with a 7-iron, he backed away when he felt the wind shift ever so slightly, switched to a 6-iron and hit it to 6 feet for a birdie. O'Hair, well left of the flag, three-putted for bogey.

They were separated by one shot for most of the back nine, with momentum seemingly on Woods' side, but not the lead. That didn't come until the 16th hole, and then he needed one more clutch shot to return to a familiar place.
source:nbcsports