Tiger Woods landed yet another World Golf Championship title to his already bulging list of achievements at Mount Juliet today, despite a sensational late challenge from the 2001 US Open Champion Retief Goosen and his only dropped shot of the week, coming at the 72nd hole.
Many had feared the final round of the American Express Championship would have been a procession, considering Woods' five-stroke advantage at the start of the day but in the end only one shot separated him Goosen.
Woods `blocked' a six-foot par putt on the 72nd green to card a final round 66, for a 25-under 263 aggregate, to claim the top prize in the $5.5million event. For the first time all week the 26-year-old showed emotion when a photographer distracted him ahead of his approach to the last.
"A photographer got trigger happy at just the wrong time, my most important shot of the week. To have 236yards left with a four-iron and trouble everywhere is difficult enough without being distracted. It threw my concentration," explained Woods while still being `hot' even an hour later at the press conference.
Woods stepped away, missed the green on the right and failed to get up and down. The solitary bogey took some shine off an otherwise flawless performance in a tournament he led from start to finish.
But this was still a very important win to Woods nonetheless: "It always means a lot when you compete against the best guys in the world (49 of the world's top 50) and come out on top." It also marked an excellent competitive baptism for his new set of Nike irons, first time out and already a victory under their belt.
Since these `World' events emerged in 1999 the 26-year-old has amassed a staggering $6,708,333 from these Championships alone - there are four each year. Hardly surprising you may think when the top prize in each of them is a cool $1million, and this first sportsman billionaire to be, has never been out of the top five in any of the 12 he has entered.
This became Woods' sixth World Series win having won the WGC - NEC Invitational three years in a row from 1999, the WGC - EMC World Cup representing America with David Duval in 2000. He also won this event in its inaugural year (1999) before adding the second today.
But he was put to the test by Goosen's ability to match Sergio Garcia's course record 62 set earlier in the day. The Spaniard had a blemish free card with eight birdies and an eagle (17th) compared to Goosen's nine birdies, one dropped shot and an eagle, also at the 17th. Those two record rounds epitomised the quality of golf on display this week, which included one half of the Irish contingent.
Padraig Harrington kept the home flag flying with a closing 69, for a 13-under 275 total, but he felt he was still going backwards amid so many other low scores.
"I kept looking at the scoreboards around the course and was amazed to see so many 64's going up, incredible really," said the Dubliner who finished in 21st place.
Sweden's Niclas Fasth (-15), New Zealander Michael Campbell (-16), and American Phil Mickelson (-11) all shot up the leaderboard with 64's in their unique guise. The Kiwi holed a wedge from 108yards for eagle at the first and immediately followed up with four birdies. The Swede waited until the end of his round with four in a row from the 15th while Mickelson bogeyed the last, eradicating a possible 63. But they were all out-shadowed, not only by the winner, but the remarkable course records of Garcia and Goosen.
Darren Clarke's week was `mystifying' and disappointing as he languished in second last spot on seven-over after today's 74. However, the Tyroneman remained upbeat about having his game in order in time for next week's Ryder Cup encounter.
On reflection this week was a huge success for Irish golf. Never have so many of the world's best players gathered to display their talents on these shores. And rarely have the Irish public enjoyed such a perfect week of weather in September at a venue praised immensely by all concerned.
It's true the course could have been made more difficult, the winner said so himself, but let that not distract from this success story. And let's hope the Championship can be played at this venue again when it returns to Ireland in 2004.
European Ryder Cup scores
Sergio Garcia 62 (-18) Niclas Fasth 64 (-15) Padraig Harrington 69 (-13) Thomas Bjorn 72 (-10) Colin Montgomerie 68 (-9) Bernhard Langer 70 (-8) Darren Clarke 74 (+7)
US Ryder Cup scores
Tiger Woods Scott Verplank 66 (-14) Scott Hoch 71 (-11) Phil Mickelson 64 (-11) David Toms 66 (-20) Jim Furyk 73 (-8) Mark Calcavecchia 67 (-8) David Love III 67 (-17) Paul Azinger 66 (-5) David Duval 76 (-4)