Woods retains title as Clarke wins battle for third
Woods twice trailed his Ryder Cup team-mate by two holes but won three in a row in the afternoon round on his way to a 3&2 win in the 36-hole final here at La Costa.
The $1.2 million first prize took Woods' earnings from World Golf Championship (WGC) events to more than $10m. The world number one has now won nine of the 16 events he has entered since their inception in 1999.
He is the only player to win all four of the WGC's annual events, having completed the clean sweep here 12 months ago.
Ireland's Darren Clarke, the winner in 2000 and 2003 NEC Invitational champion, is the only other player to have won more than one WGC title. Clarke beat Australian Stephen Leaney 2 and 1 to take third place.
It was Woods' third final in five appearances in the event, and his record now reads played 23, won 20, lost three.
In the play-off for third and fourth place, Clarke completed an excellent week's work with a two-hole victory over Leaney.
Clarke, who blew a two-hole lead with two to play against Love in Saturday's semi-finals, was two down with six to play but birdied the 13th and 16th on his way to victory.
The Ulsterman therefore took home a cheque for $530,000 and with it a likely place in the top 10 of the world rankings, while Leaney had the consolation of $430,000 for his efforts.
Love looked like taking a handy lead after the morning round but Woods crucially birdied the final hole, smashing a drive and long iron onto the 558-yard par five to go into lunch just one down.
In fact, Woods had little time for lunch as he headed for the practice range to try and sort out his errant driving, and although he was still occasionally wayward from the tee, his iron play eventually put him in a commanding position.
A bogey from Love on the 20th hole allowed Woods back on level terms, and the world number one went in front for the first time with a stunning birdie on the seventh.
Final (36 holes): Tiger Woods bt Davis Love 3&2.
3rd/4th place play-off (18 holes): Darren Clarke (Irl) bt Stephen Leaney (Aus) 2 up.
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