Impressive round by Harrington not enough to tame Tiger

Tiger Woods hit a superb final-round 66 to clinch the Target World Challenge in California.

The American finished two shots clear of Padraig Harrington, who also fired a five-under-par 66 on Sunday to end on 14 under for the tournament.

Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie – who led the field by two shots heading into the final round – could only manage a level-par 71 on Sunday to finish one behind Harrington and claim a share of third spot along with Jay Haas, who shot a 69.

Woods, who won his first strokeplay event of the season with an eight-shot victory in the Dunlop Phoenix tournament in Japan last month, is clearly delighted to have hit top form once again.

“I was very comfortable with my swing, it was exciting down the stretch,” Woods told Sky Sports.

“Every shot I wanted to hit I hit, I just didn’t make any putts today!

“I felt I needed to shoot three or four under par on the front nine with Monty and the others behind us. I didn’t think Harrington would be five under on the front nine, but I felt I had to keep pace and I did that.”

Runner-up Harrington is looking forward to more duels with the former world number one when he spends more time on the American circuit next year.

The Irishman said: “I’m going to come over and play more – March, April, May, June – playing six or seven more events than I did last year in the same period.

“I felt I wasn’t game-sharp last year, so I’ll play more early on in the year and see how I do at the end of the year.”

Collated final round scores and totals in the Target World Challenge, Sherwood CC, Thousand Oaks, United States of America (USA unless stated, par 71):

268 Tiger Woods 67 66 69 66

270 Padraig Harrington (Irl) 68 69 67 66

271 Colin Montgomerie (Sco) 67 66 67 71, Jay Haas 69 66 67 69

273 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 68 69 66 70

276 Jim Furyk 67 68 67 74

278 Stewart Cink 70 69 69 70

279 Fred Couples 68 70 71 70, Vijay Singh (Fij) 74 69 68 68

280 Chad Campbell 70 68 69 73

281 Chris DiMarco 69 67 70 75

282 John Daly 73 69 75 65, Davis Love III 70 66 74 72

284 Kenny Perry 73 73 69 69

289 Stephen Ames (Tri) 74 69 74 72, Todd Hamilton 73 69 74 73.