Woods roars back to capture Chevron title

TIGER WOODS scored his first win since the 2009 Australian Masters with a thrilling last-shot win over fellow American Zach Johnson at the Chevron World Challenge event at Thousand Oaks, California last night.

Woods sank an eight-foot putt for birdie on the 444 yard 18th hole to take the win, while Johnson could only manage par.

Johnson, who took the lead with a birdie on the 16th, missed on the low side from 15 feet on the final hole and watched as Woods passed him for the title.

The win will no doubt be a huge boost to Woods, who took his first win since being engulfed in a personal scandal that erupted in 2009.

Meanwhile, Lee Westwood comfortably held off all challengers to retain the Nedbank Golf Challenge yesterday.

The Worksop golfer, who established a seven-shot lead for the final round after a course-record 62 in South Africa on Saturday, closed with a one-over-par 73 to win by two shots.

Sweden’s Robert Karlsson finished second, with Graeme McDowell and America’s Jason Dufner two shots further adrift on 11 under par at the Sun City resort.

Westwood finished with successive bogies, but it did not matter as his dominance was never seriously threatened.

Birdies on the sixth and ninth helped the 38-year-old’s cause, before a bogey on the 12th. Although his finish was unspectacular, it did not prevent the world number three claiming a first prize of almost £800,000.

McDowell made good ground to close in on Westwood, before his challenge faded on the back nine as he double-bogeyed the 15th and dropped another shot on the difficult 16th. The 32-year-old Irishman said afterwards: “Today kind of summed up the week – I made some mistakes at the wrong time. I might have been in the mix but maybe pushed a bit hard last night and there was the double on the 17th – but I’m happy with my game.”