Golfweek - Golf News Magazine

By DOUG FERGUSON
Associated Press

TULSA, Okla. – A season of first-time major winners ended with a familiar champion – Tiger Woods, who seems to win them all.

Challenged only briefly Sunday along the back nine of steamy Southern Hills, Woods captured the PGA Championship to win at least one major for the third consecutive season and run his career total to 13 as he moves closer to the Jack Nicklaus’ standard of 18.


Woods closed with a 1-under 69 for a two-shot victory over Woody Austin, a gritty journeyman whose consolation prize was earning a spot on the U.S. team for the Presidents Cup.

Ernie Els also made a brief run at Woods, but the ending was all too familiar.

The only thing different about this title was how it ended. Woods became the first major champion in seven tries to make a par on the 72nd hole at Southern Hills. And it was his first major as a father, walking into the scoring room with wife Elin holding their 2-month-old daughter, Sam Alexis.

Naturally, the kid was dressed in red.

“That’s a feeling I’ve never experienced before,” Woods said. “To have her here, it brings chills to me. I was surprised she was out here, to see her and Elin there. It’s just so cool.”

Woods, who has never lost a tournament when leading by more than one going into the last round, stretched his three-shot lead to five with back-to-back birdies that appeared to siphon all the drama out of the final major of the year. Austin made a surprising charge, however, and Woods three-putted for bogey on the 14th that dropped his lead to one.

That was as close as it got.

Woods hit two perfect shots on the 15th and holed a 10-footer for birdie, pointing to the cup after it fell.

“Winning becomes almost a habit,” Els said after his 66. “Look at Tiger.”

Woods, who finished at 8-under 272, now has more majors than the rest of the top 10 in the world combined. At age 31, he is well ahead of the pace Nicklaus set when he won his record 18 professional majors. Nicklaus was 35 when he won his 13th.

Austin closed with a 67 and earned plenty of crowd support as the working class hero.

Austin, a 43-year-old former bank teller playing in only his 15th major, had a 12-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole that would have tied him for the lead, but it slid by on the left. He never seriously threatened birdie the rest of the way in closing with a 67.

The highlight was a 60-foot chip-in for birdie on the 12th, with Austin tugging on his ear to get the crowd to pump it up.

“I was trying to get them to go crazy for someone else, so he’d know there’s someone else out here,” Austin said. “There’s no roar like his. It was nice to hear the loudest one I’ve ever heard for me.”

But it wasn’t enough.

After his three-putt bogey on the 14th, Woods hit every fairway and every green the rest of the way. Woods’ final stroke was a 3-foot par on the 18th hole, and he took his time. In the last major at Southern Hills, Retief Goosen three-putted from 12 feet that forced him to win the U.S. Open the following day in a playoff.

Woods removed the ball from the cup and stuck it in his pocket, then removed his cap and thrust both arms in the air as sweat poured down his face from a fourth straight day with temperatures topping 100 degrees.

He won for the fifth time this year – no one else has won more than twice – and for the second consecutive week, coming off an eight-shot victory in the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone.

Stephen Ames, who played in the final group with Woods, made bogey on the first two holes and wound up with a 76.

Arron Oberholser settled down after a bogey-bogey start for a 69 that gave him a tie for fourth at 1-under 279 and secured a spot in the Masters next year. John Senden shot 71 and also finished at 279.

Els said if had been watching from home, he would have bet the house on Woods winning his 13th major. Inside the ropes, the Big Easy played as though he had an ace up his sleeve. Birdies on two of the first five holes at least got his name on the leaderboard, and Els kept plugging away with another birdie on the eighth that briefly drew him to within two shots.

Woods was two groups behind, and after a sluggish start, he began to separate himself from his challengers. He followed a 5-foot birdie on the seventh with a 25-foot birdie putt from just off the green at the par-5 eighth. Woods backpedaled as the ball drew near the hole, then slammed his fist in celebration.

But his knee buckled slightly on the slope, and he appeared to wince. His walk was steady down the ninth fairway, but that five-shot lead was anything but that.

Els continued to gamble, waiting for the 10th green to clear and belting driver on the 366-yard dogleg to just left of the green, leaving him a simple up-and-down for birdie. And even though he missed a 6-foot birdie on the 11th and took bogey on the 12th with an approach into the back bunker, the South African didn’t back down.

He two-putted for birdie on the 13th, then hit his tee shot on the 14th about 4 feet behind the hole for another birdie to reach 6 under, only two shots behind. And when Woods three-putted the 14th, the lead was a single shot.

“I felt like, you know, I got myself into this mess, now I’ve got to go earn my way out of it,” Woods said. “I did some serious yelling at myself going to the 15th tee.”

The bigger threat turned out to be Austin.

Wearing the same shirt he had on when he closed with a 62 to win in Memphis, he ran off three straight birdies starting at No. 11, the most unlikely coming at No. 12 when he chipped in from the front of the green to a back pin.

The cheers died in the final hour and the outcome was inevitable.

Until proven otherwise, Woods simply doesn’t lose when he has the lead going into the final round. He took control of this tournament with his record-tying 63 in the second round, and became the fifth player to shoot 63 in a major and go on to win.

---

Final scores with earnings and relation to par from the PGA Championship, played Aug. 9-12 at the par-70, 7,131-yard Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.:

1. Tiger Woods	$1,260,000		71-63-69-69--272			-8
2. Woody Austin	756,000		68-70-69-67--274			-6
3. Ernie Els	476,000		72-68-69-66--275			-5
4. Arron Oberholser	308,000		68-72-70-69--279			-1
4. John Senden	308,000		69-70-69-71--279			-1
6. Simon Dyson	227,500		73-71-72-64--280			E
6. Trevor Immelman	227,500		75-70-66-69--280			E
6. Geoff Ogilvy	227,500		69-68-74-69--280			E
9. Scott Verplank	170,333		70-66-74-71--281		+	1
9. Kevin Sutherland	170,333		73-69-68-71--281		+	1
9. Boo Weekley	170,333		76-69-65-71--281		+	1
12. Anders Hansen	119,833		71-71-71-69--282		+	2
12. Stuart Appleby	119,833		73-68-72-69--282		+	2
12. Justin Rose	119,833		70-73-70-69--282		+	2
12. Adam Scott	119,833		72-68-70-72--282		+	2
12. K.J. Choi	119,833		71-71-68-72--282		+	2
12. Stephen Ames	119,833		68-69-69-76--282		+	2
18. Pat Perez	81,600		70-69-77-68--284		+	4
18. Hunter Mahan	81,600		71-73-72-68--284		+	4
18. Joe Durant	81,600		71-73-70-70--284		+	4
18. Brandt Snedeker	81,600		74-71-69-70--284		+	4
18. Ken Duke	81,600		73-71-69-71--284		+	4
23. Retief Goosen	51,000		70-71-74-70--285		+	5
23. Kenny Perry	51,000		72-72-71-70--285		+	5
23. Camilo Villegas	51,000		69-71-74-71--285		+	5
23. Heath Slocum	51,000		72-70-72-71--285		+	5
23. Ian Poulter	51,000		71-73-70-71--285		+	5
23. Steve Stricker	51,000		77-68-69-71--285		+	5
23. Steve Flesch	51,000		72-73-68-72--285		+	5
23. Peter Hanson	51,000		72-71-69-73--285		+	5
23. Nathan Green	51,000		75-68-67-75--285		+	5
32. Lee Westwood	34,750		69-74-75-68--286		+	6
32. Phil Mickelson	34,750		73-69-75-69--286		+	6
32. Bart Bryant	34,750		74-70-72-70--286		+	6
32. Brett Wetterich	34,750		74-71-70-71--286		+	6
32. Stewart Cink	34,750		72-70-72-72--286		+	6
32. Shaun Micheel	34,750		73-71-70-72--286		+	6
32. John Daly	34,750		67-73-73-73--286		+	6
32. Luke Donald	34,750		72-71-70-73--286		+	6
40. Paul Casey	27,350		72-70-74-71--287		+	7
40. Richard Green	27,350		72-73-70-72--287		+	7
42. Niclas Fasth	20,850		71-68-79-70--288		+	8
42. Colin Montgomerie	20,850		72-73-73-70--288		+	8
42. Charles Howell III	20,850		75-70-72-71--288		+	8
42. Rod Pampling	20,850		70-74-72-72--288		+	8
42. David Toms	20,850		71-74-71-72--288		+	8
42. Padraig Harrington	20,850		69-73-72-74--288		+	8
42. Darren Clarke	20,850		77-66-71-74--288		+	8
42. Sean O'Hair	20,850		70-72-70-76--288		+	8
50. Brian Bateman	15,236		71-74-76-68--289		+	9
50. Frank Lickliter II	15,236		70-75-75-69--289		+	9
50. Lucas Glover	15,236		70-75-74-70--289		+	9
50. Nick O'Hern	15,236		72-72-72-73--289		+	9
50. Anthony Kim	15,236		73-72-71-73--289		+	9
50. Shingo Katayama	15,236		76-67-72-74--289		+	9
50. Bob Tway	15,236		71-72-71-75--289		+	9
57. Robert Karlsson	14,400		73-71-75-71--290		+	10
57. Chad Campbell	14,400		77-68-73-72--290		+	10
57. Will MacKenzie	14,400		72-70-74-74--290		+	10
60. Billy Mayfair	14,025		76-69-75-71--291		+	11
60. Paul McGinley	14,025		74-66-76-75--291		+	11
62. Thomas Bjorn	13,650		73-71-76-73--293		+	13
62. Brett Quigley	13,650		76-67-73-77--293		+	13
62. Graeme Storm	13,650		65-76-74-78--293		+	13
62. Corey Pavin	13,650		74-68-72-79--293		+	13
66. Todd Hamilton	13,300		73-72-74-75--294		+	14
66. Troy Matteson	13,300		72-69-73-80--294		+	14
66. Tim Herron	13,300		75-68-71-80--294		+	14
69. Mike Small	13,050		73-70-78-75--296		+	16
69. Tom Lehman	13,050		73-71-74-78--296		+	16
71. Ryan Benzel	12,900		71-72-80-74--297		+	17
• • •
Missed the cut
73. Brad Lardon			70-76--146		+	6
73. Rich Beem			76-70--146		+	6
73. Jonathan Byrd			74-72--146		+	6
73. Jim Furyk			75-71--146		+	6
73. Markus Brier			69-77--146		+	6
73. Mark Wilson			69-77--146		+	6
73. J.J. Henry			71-75--146		+	6
73. Robert Allenby			74-72--146		+	6
73. Davis Love III			72-74--146		+	6
73. Vijay Singh			75-71--146		+	6
73. Ben Curtis			75-71--146		+	6
73. D.J. Trahan			72-74--146		+	6
85. Tom Pernice Jr.			73-74--147		+	7
85. Phil Schmitt			79-68--147		+	7
85. Bradley Dredge			73-74--147		+	7
85. David Howell			75-72--147		+	7
85. Jeff Sluman			74-73--147		+	7
85. Justin Leonard			75-72--147		+	7
85. Aaron Baddeley			73-74--147		+	7
85. Wen Chong Liang			73-74--147		+	7
85. Joe Ogilvie			77-70--147		+	7
94. Dean Wilson			75-73--148		+	8
94. John Rollins			73-75--148		+	8
94. Paul Goydos			75-73--148		+	8
94. Jose Coceres			71-77--148		+	8
98. Raphael Jacquelin			76-73--149		+	9
98. Henrik Stenson			75-74--149		+	9
98. Mike Weir			77-72--149		+	9
98. Gregory Havret			75-74--149		+	9
98. Tim Thelen			74-75--149		+	9
98. Daniel Chopra			76-73--149		+	9
98. Ryuji Imada			78-71--149		+	9
98. Toru Taniguchi			77-72--149		+	9
98. Michael Campbell			74-75--149		+	9
98. Kelly Mitchum			77-72--149		+	9
108. Jeev Milkha Singh			76-74--150		+	10
108. Yong-Eun Yang			74-76--150		+	10
108. Rory Sabbatini			74-76--150		+	10
108. Vaughn Taylor			76-74--150		+	10
108. Miguel Angel Jimenez			78-72--150		+	10
108. Zach Johnson			74-76--150		+	10
114. Bo Van Pelt			77-74--151		+	11
114. Charley Hoffman			75-76--151		+	11
114. Mark Calcavecchia			79-72--151		+	11
114. Angel Cabrera			81-70--151		+	11
118. Jeff Quinney			78-74--152		+	12
118. Fred Funk			76-76--152		+	12
118. John O’Leary			75-77--152		+	12
118. Ted Purdy			76-76--152		+	12
118. Eric Axley			75-77--152		+	12
118. Chris DiMarco			79-73--152		+	12
124. Søren Hansen			74-79--153		+	13
124. Steve Elkington			75-78--153		+	13
124. Ryan Moore			79-74--153		+	13
124. Nick Watney			78-75--153		+	13
124. Thongchai Jaidee			80-73--153		+	13
124. Nick Dougherty			79-74--153		+	13
124. Andres Romero			81-72--153		+	13
124. Charl Schwartzel			77-76--153		+	13
132. Robert Gaus			78-76--154		+	14
132. Tim Clark			82-72--154		+	14
134. Jose Maria Olazabal			75-80--155		+	15
134. Stephen Leaney			77-78--155		+	15
134. Kevin Burton			79-76--155		+	15
134. Mark Brooks			79-76--155		+	15
134. Johan Edfors			79-76--155		+	15
134. Scott Hebert			79-76--155		+	15
140. Butch Sheehan			82-74--156		+	16
140. Jerry Kelly			79-77--156		+	16
142. William Amundsen			76-81--157		+	17
142. Matt Call			81-76--157		+	17
144. Bob McGrath			80-78--158		+	18
144. Chip Sullivan			78-80--158		+	18
144. Denis Watson			74-84--158		+	18
144. Bubba Watson			79-79--158		+	18
144. Don Yrene			80-78--158		+	18
149. Micah Rudosky			83-76--159		+	19
150. Erik Wolf			83-77--160		+	20
151. Gregory Bisconti			82-79--161		+	21
152. Matt Seitz			83-81--164		+	24
WD. Rocco Mediate
WD. Jyoti Randhawa
WD. Richard Sterne
WD. Anthony Wall
DQ. Sergio Garcia

Posted: 8/12/2007

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