Two tournaments, two continents and two playoff victories.
Tiger Woods' year is off to a perfect start.
However, Woods' one-hole playoff victory over Ernie Els on Sunday in the Dubai Desert Classic was messy. He needed birdies on the last two holes to catch Els, and a 20-foot par putt on the 14th to stay within two strokes of the defending champion.
Els helped out in the playoff, knocking his second shot into the pond guarding the 18th green.
"I had a two-way miss going," Woods said. "I could hit it right or left at any given time, and that's not a whole lot of fun. Somehow I just hung in there with my short game and hit some very good shots on the back nine."
Woods sprayed a half dozen drives, often hitting his second shots from the bare, sandy soil that nurtures the palm groves guarding every fairway at the Emirates Golf Club.
But when it comes to a playoff, Woods is nearly unbeatable. He's 13-1 in playoffs worldwide, and 9-1 on the US PGA Tour.
"Somehow I got lucky," he said. "Today it was very fortunate because I didn't really have it, but the other guys didn't run away either."
Woods' victory on the tip of the Arabian peninsula was his 57th worldwide -- 47 of them on the US PGA Tour. It also makes 10 countries in which he's won an official tournament. As well as the US and the United Arab Emirates, he's won in Thailand, Germany, Spain, Britain, Canada, Ireland, Japan and Malaysia.
Els and Woods were tied at 19-under 269 after regulation. Els shot 5-under 67 and Woods, who was tied for the lead with Anders Hansen after three rounds, closed with a 69 to go with rounds of 67-66-67.
Richard Green shot a 68 to finish 18 under and Miguel Angel Jimenez (69) and Hansen (71) came in at 17-under 271. Retief Goosen shot 71 for a 16-under 272.
Els took a one-stroke lead on No. 9 with a 12-foot birdie. Woods, playing one group behind Els, trailed the three-time Dubai champion by one after nine.
The round turned for Woods on the 14th, saving par to stay within two shots of Els.
His drive sailed right into a rocky bank surrounding a pond. He pitched his second over the jagged stones into the fairway, left his approach 20-feet short -- and then holed the par-saving putt.
"It was hit and hope, really," said Woods, who stayed two behind Els with the save.
"I tried to get the ball up over that little piece of rock because if it hit it could ricochet easily right back into the water."
Woods likened the victory to last year's Masters, where he struggled on the three closing holes and then hit his best two shots to win the playoff.
"Anybody can win when they are playing well," he said.
Woods fixed his swing by the last two holes, with greens drying from a gentle breeze off the nearby Persian Gulf. He drove the 359-yard 17th, getting down from 25 feet for a birdie. On 18 -- where he lost five years ago, hitting a ball into water on the last hole -- he was off the back edge in two, and got up with two more shots to tie Els.
Two years ago, Woods finished five shots behind his Florida neighbor Mark O'Meara.
"I cannot complain," said Els, who is coming back from knee surgery last year. "After all the hassle I had with the leg to come back ... and to almost win is fine."
Australian left-hander Richard Green also collapsed on the final hole. Green birdied 15, 16 and 17 to take the sole lead at 19 under. But he hooked his tee shot on 18 behind palms, hit his second behind another tree, chipped out, reached the green in four and added two putts for a bogey.
Woods was coming off a six-week break -- the longest of his career -- when he won the Buick Invitational a week ago in San Diego. To win this week, he flew 20 hours across 12 time zones -- halfway around the world -- to reach Dubai.
He even shaved his goatee before Saturday's third round, and that didn't faze him either.
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