Misery for McGinley as Woods wins in Akron

Irishman Paul McGinley suffered arguably his biggest disappointment in golf as Tiger Woods grabbed the 60th win of his career in Akron.

Joint leader with two holes to play the 38-year-old bogeyed the 400-yard 17th just as Woods made a curling 18-foot birdie putt on the long 16th - despite having carved his drive into the trees.

McGinley, a winner of only three of 355 European tour events and desperate to taste individual success on the big stage to go with his Ryder Cup and World Cup heroics, needed a birdie at the 464-yard last to keep his hopes alive.

He left himself a 40-footer and for a while it had a chance. But the ball stopped on the right edge of the hole.

The hopes of the Dubliner, who had fought back valiantly from double-bogeying the short 12th, were over at that point as it left him one behind Chris DiMarco.

So after his dramatic putt back at the 16th, Woods had to par the last two holes to beat the same man he defeated in a play-off for the Masters in April.

Another sudden death shoot-out remained a possibility when his final drive headed into the trees, but luckily he had a gap to the green and since he had smashed it an incredible 413 yards down the hill he had only 78 yards to go.

Woods got it to 22 feet and, despite all his earlier putting troubles, safely got down in two more for his fourth victory in his last six visits to the Firestone Country Club.

This was the 38th time out of 43 that Woods has triumphed when taking at least a share of the lead into the final round.

DiMarco was left as the runner-up to the world number one just as he was at Augusta and McGinley had to settle for a share of third with Vijay Singh and Ryan Palmer.

After missing only one putt under 10 feet in the first 56 holes, Woods missed five in the next nine holes and at that point, joint third round leader Kenny Perry was on course for victory.

But the 45-year-old had a nightmare run of five bogeys in six holes from the ninth and that opened the door.

McGinley, having three-putted from only five feet on the 12th after missing the green, revived his hopes with birdies at the 14th and 16th, but could not sustain his challenge.

He drove left down the 17th, went from there into the right rough just short of the green and after chipping on missed from 12 feet.

McGinley, who had two late bogeys to lose the BMW Championship at Wentworth in May, said afterwards: “I gave it away at the 12th – you can’t afford to do what I did – but dug deep and rallied.

“Tiger, though, seems to have a shot every time he hits it in the trees. He makes some great escapes and is such a skilful player no shot is impossible.”

That was illustrated on the 667-yard 16th. Woods carved his drive into the trees there and still had 189 yards to go after finding his way back onto the fairway.

He then struck a towering iron to 18 feet and the ball dropped in almost on its last roll. Asked about his earlier putting Woods, who finished with a one over 71 for a six under aggregate, said: “Let’s just say it wasn’t one of my best days.” He made the ones that mattered at the end, though.

Luke Donald, after a disappointing third round 74, came back with a 67 and would have been joint third as well but for a closing bogey.

Instead he shared sixth with David Howell, delighted with how he performed in only his second event back from two months out with a torn abdominal muscle.

Colin Montgomerie and Jose Maria Olazabal were only one further back in a tie for ninth, making five Europeans in the top 12.

But first place is always the one that matters – and as so often, it went to Woods.

“I was just trying to get to six under somehow. My realistic chance was 16 and I was able to take it,” said Woods.

“I’ve had that putt three or four times and have missed it. This time I threw it out a bit wider, but thought ‘now you’ve overdone it’.

“But it started curling and lipped in. It was sweet.

“Boy, what a day. I hit the ball beautifully, but either good putts didn’t go in or I hit some atrocious ones.

“The course was playing so tough, though, and I kept leaving myself downhill downwind putts.”

Collated final round scores and totals in the World Golf Championships-NEC Invitational, Firestone Country Club, Akron, Ohio, United States (USA unless stated, par 70):

274 Tiger Woods 66 70 67 71

275 Chris DiMarco 67 70 70 68

276 Vijay Singh (Fij) 66 71 72 67, Ryan Palmer 72 68 67 69, Paul McGinley (Irl) 71 66 67 72

277 Luke Donald (Gbr) 69 67 74 67, David Howell (Gbr) 70 68 70 69, Kenny Perry 70 69 64 74

278 Colin Montgomerie (Gbr) 70 72 68 68, Zach Johnson 70 70 69 69, David Toms 71 67 69 71, Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 72 68 66 72

279 Rod Pampling (Aus) 71 70 71 67, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 66 71 72 70, Davis Love 67 73 69 70, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 68 70 67 74, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 68 70 67 74

280 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 70 67 72 71

281 Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 73 71 71 66, Kenneth Ferrie (Gbr) 71 70 73 67, Jay Haas 76 69 67 69, Paul Casey (Gbr) 75 68 67 71, Justin Leonard 72 66 71 72

282 Jim Furyk 72 73 68 69, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 75 68 69 70, Lee Westwood (Gbr) 73 72 63 74

283 John Daly 71 69 69 74

284 Darren Clarke (Gbr) 76 68 72 68, Fred Couples 71 74 70 69, Bart Bryant 74 73 67 70, Nick O’Hern (Aus) 68 73 72 71, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 73 69 67 75

285 Niclas Fasth (Swe) 72 72 70 71, Chad Campbell 72 72 69 72, Ian Poulter (Gbr) 73 69 69 74

286 Woody Austin 73 68 77 68, Peter Lonard (Aus) 74 71 68 73, Adam Scott (Aus) 70 76 67 73, Stephen Ames (Can) 74 71 68 73, Mike Weir (Can) 71 69 70 76

287 Tom Lehman 73 71 75 68, Goeff Ogilvy (Aus) 74 74 70 69, Stewart Cink 72 72 73 70, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 75 74 67 71, Fred Funk 74 71 69 73

288 Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 75 70 71 72, Brent Geiberger 70 76 69 73, Thomas Levet (Fra) 72 71 72 73

289 Steve Elkington (Aus) 72 76 75 66, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 71 75 71 72

290 Nick Dougherty (Gbr) 67 81 70 72, Tim Clark (Rsa) 71 75 72 72, Sean O’Hair 70 74 73 73, Phil Mickelson 69 72 75 74, KJ Choi (Kor) 71 76 69 74, Scott Verplank 73 73 67 77

291 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 76 75 73 67

293 Chris Riley 69 81 74 69, Craig Parry (Aus) 79 71 73 70, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 77 73 73 70, Stephen Gallacher (Gbr) 74 74 75 70, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 73 76 72 72, Ben Crane 74 75 71 73, Mark Hensby (Aus) 70 76 71 76

294 Kazuhiko Hosokawa (Jpn) 70 78 71 75

295 Tim Petrovic 80 73 69 73

296 Richard Green (Aus) 76 78 69 73

298 Michael Campbell (Nzl) 72 74 78 74

302 Stephen Dodd (Gbr) 74 78 77 73

304 Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 79 77 75 73.