Woods does his Lazarus act

Tiger Woods made serious, final-round predictions utterly meaningless in Thailand yesterday when he came from eight strokes behind to win the Johnnie Walker Classic in a play-off with Ernie Els. It was an astonishing achievement by the 22-yearold, who was capturing his eighth title in only 17 months as a professional.

In the manner of great players, Woods seemed to impose his will on the natural order of things - even to the extent of bringing forward the official start of the Year of the Tiger from later this week. His final round of 65 brought him level with the defending champion on nine-under-par, and he went on to sink a curling, 15-foot birdie putt at the second extra hole.

"It was amazing," said Woods, who shot a final round of 64 to be runner-up to Phil Mickelson in the Mercedes Championship earlier this month. "I never thought I would win. I thought the play-off would be about 11. Still, I'll take it."

The more modest total meant a surprisingly strong finish for Padraig Harrington, who shared eighth place for £17,140, despite third and fourth rounds of 73. Harrington was affected during the closing 36 holes by strained neck muscles, which forced him to punch most of his shots.

"Considering the way I felt before my third round on Saturday, I've got to be satisfied with my finish," said the Dubliner. His reward was certainly more substantial than in the same event 12 months ago, when a share of 27th place earned him £6,615. The only other Irish qualifier, Paul McGinley, shot a final round of 71 for a one-under-par total of 287 and a share of 21st place. "Saturday's 76 killed me," he said. "The really frustrating thing is that there was nothing wrong with my game. It was just one of those rounds where nothing seemed to go right."

Still, like Harrington, he improved on his performance of 12 months ago: he missed the cut on that occasion.

In the light of what would develop during a hectic final round, it was fascinating to note the main concern focusing on Woods on Saturday. When informed that he would need to slip no further than seven places, from his 18th position at that time, if he hoped to remain number one in the world rankings, he replied: "I won't lose sleep about that. All we care about is four tournaments."

He could have argued that he had improved from his half-way position of 11 strokes behind Els. Instead, he set himself the target of a final round of 62.

As it happened, 65 became sufficient when Els followed a disappointing 74 on Saturday with a final round of 73. And Woods went on to gain the distinction of a third play-off victory against players who are now major-title winners - against Davis Love in Las Vegas in 1996, against Tom Lehman at last year's Mercedes event and against Els, who has become the first to take him to two extra holes.

The South African, who captured the US Open in 1994 and last year, was unable to hide his disappointment. "It was really amazing what Tiger did, but I should never have found myself in a play-off," he said. "I wouldn't have been if I had played halfdecent over the closing holes."

Woods, who reckons his last play-off defeat was as an 18-yearold freshman at Stanford University, achieved a comeback that has been bettered only twice in European tour history. Neil Coles came from 10 behind in the final round to take the 1977 Tournament Players' Championship, and Jamie Spence matched that with a closing 60 in the European Masters in Switzerland six years ago.

On a day of fierce heat, most observers were expecting a "Duel in the Sun" between Els and second-placed Nick Faldo. But Faldo managed only a 75 and dropped into a tie for eighth spot. Els' compatriot, Retief Goosen, who finished third, could have made it a three-man play-off except for a bogey on the final hole.

Sharing fourth place on seven under were England's Lee Westwood, Scot Andrew Coltart, German Alexander Cejka and Australian Peter O'Malley. Of all the close challengers, O'Malley really squandered the chance of the £133,330 first prize by finishing double bogey, bogey.

Meanwhile, believing he could do enough to win, Woods dressed in his traditional, semi-superstitious final-day red shirt: it's his power colour, according to his mother. In the event, he fell three strokes shy of his target.

With the American in the clubhouse on nine under, Els was out on the course, one stroke ahead of him. But he still had eight to play and four of them were good birdie opportunities. The South African had just bogeyed the 10th, however, and, when he could do no better than par at the next five, he was starting to look anxiously at the leaderboards.

They showed him that O'Malley had gone one ahead with two to play, but the man remembered for winning the 1992 Scottish Open by covering the final five holes in seven-under-par (eagle-birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle) to deny Colin Montgomerie, had a different experience this time.

He missed the green at the short 17th and took four to get down, then pushed his drive into the lake at the last. Eventually, he had to hole from 35 feet for his bogey.

As for Els, the numbers meant that he had to play the final three holes in level par to win. But he proceeded to three-putt the 16th and missed the green on the 221yard 17th. Now he required a birdie to force a play-off - and produced it with a 14-footer.

On the first extra hole, the South African had the better chance but missed from 10 feet, while Woods, over the green in two, holed from six feet to stay alive. Roles were reversed when they returned to the same green - the 18th - and although Els chipped well to three feet, Woods had a putt to win.

Even before the ball found the target, he punched the air in delight, just as he had done when winning the US Masters by a record 12 strokes last April.