On-fire Woods carries United States to title

Tiger Woods unwittingly made his partner appear an encumbrance as the United States swept to a 22nd victory in the $1.5 million World Cup here at the Mines Resort yesterday. With a final round of 65, the world number one steered his country to a five-stroke win over Spain, while capturing the last individual title in the history of the event.

It was also a memorable staging from an Irish standpoint. Padraig Harrington (67) and Paul McGinley (68) repeated their final-round scoring of the victorious effort at Kiawah Island two years ago, to finish third on 14 under par - nine strokes behind the Americans.

As it happened, the battle for the title was a lot more exciting than seemed likely, given the Americans' seven-stroke overnight lead. Indeed when Woods bogeyed the eighth, having earlier carded an eagle and a birdie, Miguel Martin and Santiago Luna had, incredibly, made up eight strokes to actually take the lead.

Those opening holes represented a stretch of remarkable Spanish dominance, in that they carded seven birdies between them, without a bogey in sight. And the advantage was retained at the turn, prompting some serious talking between Woods and his struggling partner, Mark O'Meara.

"Tiger knew what I was going through and he urged me to just hang in there," said the older man afterwards. "I wish I could have done more, but as things turned out, Tiger could have won this on his own."

Paired against the Spaniards in the final round, Woods imposed his will on events, in the best tradition of great players. And while reeling off four successive birdies from the 10th, he succeeded in totally crippling the confidence of Luna, who started back six, six, five - double-bogey, bogey, bogey.

At a stroke, in a manner of speaking, the Americans were back in command. And O'Meara was also made to feel part of the effort when he sank a crucial, 16-foot par putt at the 12th, to deprive the Spaniards of any crumb of comfort.

Yet three holes later, he turned to Woods and remarked bleakly: "This is the worst I've ever felt on a golf course while in contention for a title." And the 23-year-old responded with gentle, encouraging words before carding a two-putt birdie on the long 17th to make their position unassailable.

Martin had played his heart out on the way to a marvellous 68, but Luna collapsed to a homeward nine of 41 which made even the struggling O'Meara look good.

As the quartet came down the last, as many as 10,000 eager fans crowded into every available space within 25 yards of the 18th green, while a line of policeman stretched across the fairway. Many of these locals were largely ignorant of the finer points of the Royal and Ancient game, but they could recognise a sporting hero who had honoured them by his presence in their country.

"We accomplished our goal," said Woods, whose 21-under-par aggregate of 263 was a record nine strokes clear of second-placed Frank Nobilo in the battle for the individual title. It was his 10th win of the season and the fifth in six events, making this the most productive period of his career.

He added: "I felt for Mark and what he was going through and I knew if I could encourage him we could do this thing together. And like a true champion, he never gave up. As for the individual trophy, I take it as quite an honour to have my name added to the list of winners."

O'Meara then said: "Nicklaus still has to be acknowledged as the greatest player in the history of the game, but I wonder if we will be still of that opinion when this young man's career is over. In my 19 years as a professional, I have never seen anybody capable of hitting shots like Tiger."

For his part, Woods seems to be taking it all in his stride. On leaving here, he heads for Japan and two days of exhibitions and general promotional work for his main sponsors, Nike. Then he is off to Hawaii for the Grand Slam of Golf.

Looking further down the road, he plans to continue to be a truly international player. "Hopefully I can go to Buenos Aires next year when the US are defending this title," he said. "It will be an opportunity to make my first visit to South America."

But before that, he may be making a third successive visit to Ireland, as part of his preparation for the Millennium British Open in July. "We've had so much fun in Ireland that it is certainly a possibility we'll be back there before St Andrews," he said.

Since capturing top prize of $1 million in the NEC Invitational at Firestone on August 29th, he completed four wins in a row in the Disney Tournament, the US Tour Championship and the American Express Championship. Then came a sixth-place finish in the Johnnie Walker Classic in Taiwan last week and now he has won in Malaysia.

And all the while, new admirers from far-off places are being drawn by his magic. The era of the Tiger is well and truly upon us.