O’Meara Captures Pro-Am Holds Off A Fast-Charging Tiger Woods To Win For The Fifth Time At Pebble Beach

It is a common notion that Tiger Woods has a better passing gear than a Ferrari. Perhaps that’s because golf’s comeback kid has chased down so many Hyundais in his brief but illustrious career.

Mark O’Meara, however, has a pretty high-powered engine himself, especially on the Monterey Peninsula. He won here in 1985, when the event was known as the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am. He won three more times over the next seven years after AT&T took over sponsorship.

Pebble Beach is O’Meara’s house. By shooting a fourth consecutive 67 Sunday, he proved that no one, not even a fuzzy faced friend of his known far and wide by the singular name of Tiger, is going to upstage him at home.

For the record, O’Meara held off Woods’ final-round charge for a one-stroke victory. He shot a tournament-record 268 and collected $342,000 for his efforts. More important, O’Meara refused to be another victim of Woods’ 11th-hour heroics.

“Tiger just motivates me more,” O’Meara said. “If I can’t handle the pressure or deal with the pressure, I should be doing something else.”

Sunday he did his job better than anyone else, but not before Woods made it interesting. The 21-year-old superstar followed a third-round 63 with a 64 that had moments of brilliance and frustration. His rally, from seven shots back of the third-round leader, David Duval, was not unexpected.

Woods has extricated himself from the depths so many times that it is almost shocking when he does not. Six times as an amateur, he fell behind in the final of a U.S. Golf Association championship. Six times he rallied to claim victory and write another chapter in his growing legend.

In winning three of his first nine PGA Tour events, Woods had to push the pedal to the floor. He was tied for seventh at the Las Vegas Invitational, shot a final-round 64 and won in a playoff over Davis Love III. In the Walt Disney World Classic, he shared fourth place before claiming a controversial victory over Payne Stewart and Taylor Smith, who was disqualified for using a nonconforming putter grip.

Woods won the rain-shortened Mercedes Championships last month after moving up from third place in the third round to catch Tom Lehman, then launching a stake-in-the-heart 6-iron to tap-in range on the playoff hole on Sunday - the only hole played because of torrential rains.

Despite Woods’ reputation for comebacks, it appeared unlikely he would overtake Duval, who shot a 62 in the third round to open up a three-shot lead over O’Meara and Jim Furyk. Duval, however, struggled with his ball-striking. He shot even-par on the same front nine that had yielded him a record 28 the day before.

Woods played flawlessly. He made three straight birdies, shot 31 and closed the gap to two strokes.

O’Meara was nearly as impressive, making four birdies to take a one-shot lead after seven holes before giving a shot back at the eighth.

The drama was just beginning. Woods cut a 4-iron to 15 feet at the par-3 12th and made the putt to pull within one of the lead.

If there was a turning point for Woods, it occurred at the next hole, when he flew his approach long into the rough. His flop shot rolled 12 feet past, and he failed to convert. The resulting bogey proved costly.