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 (photo: Mark Susson) Pick your headline: Tiger’s Back!!! Golf World Trembles!!! Woods Edges Johnson, Edges Off to Abu Dhabi Tiger Wins, Leaves, Snubs Most of West Coast Swing You pretty much can’t go wrong, because there’s truth in each of those. Yes, Tiger Woods’ one-stroke, final-hole victory Dec. 4 at the Chevron World Challenge was a seismic event in his career, a return to the winner’s circle after a very dry and frustrating two years without his name on a trophy. And yes, the collective gaze of the golfing fraternity was firmly on him when that final birdie putt dropped on 18 to freeze out the dogged Zach Johnson. But unlike in years past, that gaze isn’t wavering. No one in the elite ranks of professional golf is going to give Tiger Woods a pass for notching a single win. Just the opposite: Everybody now wants a piece of him. Neither is Tiger plotting his immediate course like an animal reacting to the fresh taste of blood; rather than begin his season in his customary manner at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Jan. 26-29, he will be in Abu Dhabi for the HSBC Championship, a European Tour event. That means Woods will be going for seven weeks without hitting a shot in competition. And, if he participates at all in the West Coast Swing, it will not be at the Humana Challenge at PGA West and La Quinta, nor at the Northern Trust Open at Riviera. Only the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am remains a possibility; at press time Woods had not formally committed to it. If Woods is on the way to regaining his competitive mojo—and his performance at the recent Australian Open and the Presidents Cup suggests that he indeed may be—there’s no dearth of fellow competitors gunning for him. As good as Woods is when he’s on his game, mouths do not go dry throughout the rest of the field when he steps to the first tee. In Abu Dhabi, Woods will be facing the current No. 1 golfer in the world, Luke Donald, plus current Masters champion Charl Schwartzel, U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy and British Open champion Darren Clarke. That’s a lot of firepower. Meanwhile, Woods has the sweet memory of the crowd at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks erupting around the 18th green as his seven-foot birdie putt—the final shot of the day—rolled in and sealed the win at the tournament Woods himself has hosted since 1999. The victory was never a sure thing, however. At the end of the wind-whipped opening round, Woods trailed a confident K.J. Choi by three strokes after shooting a 69. Choi, always a solid wind player, fired a 6-under-par 66 on the hilly Sherwood layout. Only four other players in the elite field of 18 shot sub-par rounds. The winds faded Friday and low scoring was the rule throughout the field. None, however, was as low as that of Woods, who surged into the lead with a 5-under-par 67. He relinquished the lead at the end of the third round, again in windy conditions, after negotiating the course in 1 over par. Johnson took advantage and leapfrogged into the lead by a single stroke on his final shot of the round, a 163-yard 7-iron shot that rolled smartly into the 18th hole for eagle. Johnson and Woods, paired for the final round, dueled throughout the day. Johnson was one stroke ahead going into the final two holes when he missed a birdie attempt on the 17th green and Woods made his birdie putt to tie. The pair both stood over birdie putts on the majestic 18th hole, but only Woods was able to convert, finishing with a 3-under-par 69 and a total score of 278—10 under par for the tournament. He donated $1.2 million—his share of the $5 million total purse—to the Tiger Woods Foundation, the tournament’s charity beneficiary. |
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