If there was any doubt Tiger Woods would be the Masters favorite, he dispelled it on Sunday with another dramatic victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
In just his third start back from left knee surgery, Woods ignored camera flashes from the party on the other side of the pond at the par-four 18th, read his birdie putt perfectly in the semi-darkness and ran in a 15-footer for his sixth victory at Bay Hill.
“This feels like we hadn’t left,” Woods said after shooting a three-under par 67 to finish five-under 275, one stroke ahead of fellow American Sean O’Hair, who fired a 73.
It was the third time Woods had holed a lengthy putt at the 18th green to win at Bay Hill. For any other player, that alone would be an astonishing feat but not for Woods, who collected US$1.08 million.
Woods won his 66th career title in his final tuneup for the Masters and made himself a huge favorite for a 15th major title at Augusta National Golf Club in two weeks.
■ANDALUCIA OPEN
AFP, SEVILLE, SPAIN
Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen won the Andalucia Open golf tournament here on Sunday following a battle with Scotland’s David Drysdale over the final holes at the Real Club de Golf de Sevilla.
Kjeldsen made an 18-foot putt to stay level with Drysdale after going into the lake on the long 16th, then holed out from even further at the 226-yard 17th.
It put him two ahead as Drysdale narrowly failed to get up and down from a bunker and at the last the Edinburgh golfer went from more sand into the water by the green to finish three shots behind.
Kjeldsen made a level-par 72 for this final round — 10 more than his career-best, course-record third round of 62 — for a 14-under par, four-round aggregate of 274.
England’s Graeme Storm and Italian Francesco Molinari were in equal third place, four shots back, while Alastair Forsyth was fifth, five shots off the pace.
Kjeldsen could only three-putt the final hole for bogey but it was enough to bank the £156,000 (US$220,000) winner’s check and he now heads to Augusta for his debut in the US Masters.
■PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL
AFP, PHOENIX, ARIZONA
Seven-time major champion Karrie Webb of Australia captured her first LPGA title in two years here Sunday, firing a five-under par 67 final round to win the Phoenix LPGA International.
Webb finished 72 holes at the US$1.5 million event on 14-under par 274 to defeat South Korean rookie star Shin Ji-yai, the 54-hole leader, by two strokes. South Korean Kim In-kyung was third on 277. Both South Koreans fired 70s on Sunday.
Taiwan’s Yani Tseng and Norway’s Suzann Pettersen shared fourth on 278 with Korean Kim Song-hee another stroke back.
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