Tiger Woods, contracted to appear in the American Express Championship at Mount Juliet in September, proved an ungracious host by winning his own event, the Williams World Challenge, by three strokes over Vijay Singh on Sunday at Thousand Oaks, California.
The world number one carded 10 birdies, including five in a row from the 10th hole, in an eight-under-par 64 round to overtake third-round leader Singh and capture the $1 million (€1.1m) top prize, which he donated to the Tiger Woods Foundation.
Woods was four shots back with 10 holes to play, but began the back nine with five birdies and capped the day with his 10th birdie on 18 for a 15-under-par 273 total. He played the back nine in six-under-par 30.
"I'm pretty excited to win my tournament," he said. "I was not hitting the ball well this week, just chipping and putting," he said. "It was all smoke and mirrors until today." Singh finished second at 276 after a one-under final round, with Scott Hoch third at 279 in the elite 18-player field.
"Tiger had a great run. He birdied five in a row and it totally turned things around," said Singh, who settled for the $500,000 second-place cheque.
Padraig Harrington shot 71 for 289 and Darren Clarke 74 for 295 to end up 16 and 22 shots off Woods's final total.
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