Tiger Woods is still the best in the world, and his fifth victory of the year Sunday at the American Express Championship might be enough for his peers to vote him best on the PGA Tour again.
With three clutch pars on the grueling back nine at Capital City Club, Woods won his seventh World Golf Championship in 13 tries by closing with a 2-over 72 for a two-shot victory over Vijay Singh, Tim Herron and Stuart Appleby.
It was only the fourth time in 39 victories on the PGA Tour that Woods won despite failing to break par in the final round, and the first time since the 2002 US Open.
PHOTO: AFP
This was particular ugly, although Woods -- as usual -- did what was required.
The Crabapple course was a brute, with brick-hard greens and deep, wiry rough. Woods won at 6-under 274, the third-highest winning score this year behind the British Open (1-under 283) and the PGA Championship (4-under 276).
Woods had to win this week for a chance of winning the money title and PGA Tour player of the year for an unprecedented fifth straight time.
He earned US$1.05 million, putting him atop the money list by about US$170,000 over Singh.
Woods' five victories also leads the PGA Tour, and he has virtually locked up another scoring title. Still, much can happen with one month left in the season.
Woods was more elated over the 100th career victory for his caddie, Steve Williams, who has worked for Peter Thomson, Greg Norman and Raymond Floyd during his career.
"People have no idea how big this win was," Woods said. "It's not just the player of the year or the money title, it was Stevie's 100th win. He's meant a lot to a lot of the success I've had."
Woods is 30-2 when having at least a share of the 54-hole lead.
Woods has only two events left on his schedule -- Disney and the Tour Championship -- and might have to win one of those to claim the money title.
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday said that she hoped she would be able to play tennis under the Belarusian flag after the International Olympic Committee lifted its ban on the country’s athletes competing in the Olympics. World No. 1 Sabalenka has had to compete under a neutral banner as a consequence of her country’s support for Russia following its ally’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The IOC earlier on Thursday lifted its ban on Belarusian athletes competing in the Olympics, although restrictions on Russian athletes remain in place. Asked whether the women’s tour would drop the ban on her representing her country, Sabalenka said:
China’s Wu Yize on Monday won the World Snooker Championship for the first time with a dramatic 18-17 victory over Shaun Murphy in the final. Wu held his nerve to seal his thrilling triumph in a tense last frame shoot-out at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre. The 22-year-old is the second Chinese player to win the world title after Zhao Xintong beat Mark Williams to make history as the first Asian to lift the trophy last year. Wu is also the second-youngest player to be crowned world champion at the Crucible after Stephen Hendry, who was 21 when he won in 1990. “I have been trying
Real Madrid announced on Friday they had fined Aurelien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde 500,000 euros (US$588,000) each after a training ground clash that saw Valverde transported for medical care. The club did not impose any sporting sanctions on the two players, saying in a statement that the fine “thereby concludes the internal procedures” launched against them. Valverde is going to miss today’s Clasico against Barcelona as a result of the head injury he suffered during the altercation. The club said he would be out for up to two weeks. Tchouameni took part in training on Friday and could feature at Camp
RSS