Tiger claws out stunning win

Tiger Woods revealed that previous experience allowed him to remain calm after he birdied the final hole to claim a dramatic victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

With the tournament host among the overflowing gallery at the 18th hole, Tiger Woods curled in an unlikely 24-foot birdie to claim an exciting one-stroke victory in Orlando.

It was the only putt Woods holed from outside 20 feet all week, but nobody, least of all Palmer, was at all surprised that Woods rose to the occasion when it really mattered to extend his six-month winning streak to six official tournaments – five on the PGA Tour, plus the European Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic.

Woods’ first priority was to lag his downhill, breaking putt to tap-in distance, but the longer he thought about it, the more he wanted to make it.

“I kept telling myself, ’I’ve done this before and I can do it again’,” Woods said.

“I was just trying to make sure I got the speed right. I felt good over the putt. I hit the putt down there and it took forever to start breaking, but once it started, it went straight right and in the hole.”

It was Woods’ 64th career victory on the PGA Tour, equal third on the all-time list with Ben Hogan, behind only Sam Snead (82) and Jack Nicklaus (73).

This was a more hard-fought victory than most recently, coming after a slow start, a seven-stroke halfway deficit and a tight battle down the stretch with Bart Bryant.

But Woods did what he had to do, shooting a final-round 66 to finish at 10-under-par 270, one stroke ahead of Bryant (67), with Cliff Kresge (67), Vijay Singh (69) and Sean O’Hair (69) another two strokes behind.

Woods, who collected £515,099 (€900,000) for his fifth title at Bay Hill, will savour his latest victory more than most, although he is reluctant to compare.

“I don’t know where it ranks,” he said. “It was great to make the putt, but I was so excited with the five-iron I hit in there to give myself a putt at it.

“You have to understand I had not hit the ball well the last three days, and then to have that shot with everything on the line, and to hit a shot and give myself a putt at it, I was so fired up.”

Bryant, who watched Woods’ winning putt after finishing in the previous pairing, was obviously disappointed.

“What are you going to do?” he said. “I was pretty hopeless sitting there in the trailer, but I did what I thought I was supposed to do, which was put the pressure back on Tiger to make the play. He has a habit of making it when he needs to.”

At least Bryant made it a contest, pulling level with a short birdie at the 15th before parring in to keep the great one honest.

Earlier, Woods and Bryant started the final round as part of a five-way tie for the lead, and Woods took little time to stamp his authority, taking the sole lead with a birdie at the par-three second.

He added two more birdies on the front nine to turn in front, only to miss an inexplicably short putt of little more than two feet at the 10th, a bogey dropping him back into a tie with Bryant.

“I got too fixated on the line (with my first putt) and blocked the next one,” he said. “I kept yelling at myself going to the next tee. It was just a bad mistake.”

Woods will attempt to extend his winning streak at the World Golf Championships event in Miami starting on Thursday. Whether he wins there or not, he will go to next month’s Masters as perhaps the hottest favourite ever.