Tiger Woods Back To Winning Ways at Bay Hill Targets Augusta Masters

Tiger Woods has registered his first PGA tour victory, in two and a half years, at Bay Hills, Florida, beating Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell by five strokes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

This was his first win since the 2009 sex scandal that left the former world champion battling, off the golf course, to clear his name. The victory came after a winless run that extended over 30 tournaments worldwide and was Woods’ 72nd PGA tour win, one short of Jack Nicklaus and 10 of Sam Snead.

The win has brought the Augusta Masters into sharper focus for Woods whose 14 majors include four previous titles at the venue. His seventh overall win at Bay Hill pushed Woods up to sixth in the world rankings; the American went into the final  round in Florida with a one-shot lead over McDowell, before carding a two-under on the last day.

Woods began the last day at 11-under and redeemed a dropped shot at the second with birdies on the third and fourth holes. McDowell ran into early problems with a double-bogey six on the second hole but a 45-footer on the third saw the Northern Irishman get back on track to nine-under.

Woods saw his lead go down to just two after McDowell’s hole from 50 feet on the sixth. Woods is unlikely to have forgotten his loss to McDowell at the 2010 Chevron world Challenge after leading the Brit by four holes going into the last day. The American made sure there wouldn’t be an action replay of that loss, at Bay Hill, by birdying the eighth, considered a difficult hole. Going into the 17th, Woods stayed four shots adrift of McDowell who then overshot the green for a bogey that left him with a two-over-par 74.

Tags: EPL, featured, Ireland, Tiger Woods

Category: Golf, Other Sports