This looks familiar: With 13th major in the bag, Tiger’s game hasn’t changed even if his family has
TULSA, Okla. – The 13th major for Tiger Woods looked like so many others until he finished.
His father is no longer alive for Woods to walk into his arms. His mother no longer travels to any major but the Masters. He now shares his triumphs with a wife and baby daughter, and the biggest surprise Sunday at the PGA Championship was seeing them when he walked into the scoring trailer to sign for a 69 and a two-shot victory.
Naturally, 2-month-old Sam Alexis was decked out in red.
“It’s a feeling I’ve never had before,” Woods said after turning back a brief scare to win the final major of the year. “Having Sam there and having Elin there, it feels a lot more special. And it used to be my mom and dad. And now Elin, and now we have our own daughter. So it’s evolved, and this one feels so much more special than the other majors.”
On the golf course, it was the same old story.
With his five-shot lead trimmed to a single stroke, Woods kept his cool in temperatures that reached 102 degrees. He hit 7-iron to 10 feet on the 15th hole for a birdie that gave him some breathing room, and the bold drive on the 16th – Woods twirled the club in his hand when he saw it split the middle – was the sure sign this major was over.
Woody Austin (67) and Ernie Els (66) made spirited runs, but that wasn’t nearly enough.
And so, a season of first-time winners in the majors ended with a most familiar champion. His fourth PGA Championship gave him 13 majors, leaving him only five short of the benchmark set by Jack Nicklaus, and well ahead of the pace set by the Golden Bear.
Woods, 31, won his 13th major in his 44th start. Nicklaus was 35 when he won his 13th major in his 53rd try as a pro.
He is so dominant in his era that Woods now has more majors (13) then the rest of the top 10 players in the world ranking combined (12).
He finished at 8-under 272 and won for the fifth time this year.
This by far was the biggest, especially after coming in second at the Masters and the U.S. Open.
“It turned into a great year,” Woods said. “I felt like I’ve played well most of the year, and just didn’t quite get it done in the first two major championships. And then on Sunday afternoon, just didn’t get it done. This time I did.”
Austin, a 43-year-old former bank teller, had a 12-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole that would have tied him for the lead. That was as close as he got, although it was quite a consolation. His runner-up finish was enough for him to make the Presidents Cup team.
“I think it’s great that Ernie and I didn’t let him just coast in,” Austin said.
Despite missing birdie putts inside 8 feet on the ninth and 11th hole, Els was one shot off the lead until pulling his tee shot into the trees on the 16th and taking bogey. He wound up alone in third.
“To come back from six back against the world’s No. 1 was always going to be tough,” Els said. “But I gave it a shot.”
U.S. Women’s Amateur
Maria Jose Uribe of Colombia took advantage of a late putting lapse by Amanda Blumenherst to beat the two-time college player of the year 1-up for the U.S. Women’s Amateur golf championship at Carmel, Ind.
On the 412-yard, par-4 final hole, Blumenherst’s long putt from the fringe was about 2 feet to the right. Uribe holed her putt from 6 feet for the championship.
Scandinavian TPC
Catriona Matthew won the Scandinavian TPC at Loddekopinge, Sweden, shooting a 4-under 68 to beat Laura Diaz and Sophie Gustafson by three shots.
Matthew finished with a 9-under 279 for her fifth victory.
Defending champion Annika Sorenstam, the tournament host, closed with a 68 for her best round of the tournament and moved from 21st to ninth.