Tiger Wins Bay Hill And First PGA Tournament In Over Two Years
Tiger Woods is back.
The drought is over for Tiger Woods. And he did it in pretty familiar fashion as he sealed a comfortable win by 5 shots over playing partner Graeme McDowell.
Thirty months, specifically 924 days, after his last PGA TOUR win, Woods returned to the winner’s circle on Sunday at Bay Hill, winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard.
“It does feel good; it feels really good,” Woods told NBC after his win. “The conditions were tough. These pins — Arnie took it to us today.”
Woods shot a 2-under 70 to finish at 13 under. The five-shot victory was the largest on the PGA Tour since Rory McIlroy won the U.S. Open last year by eight strokes.
“Watch out, boys on the PGA TOUR,” NBC analyst Johnny Miller said. “Tiger is back.”
Woods’ last win was the 2009 BMW Championship and it should be no surprise he ended his drought at Bay Hill, a place he’s now won at seven times. Sunday’s win was the 72nd career win.
It was a relatively stress-free Sunday for Woods. He started the day with a one-stroke lead over McDowell, then shot 3 under on the front side to extend his lead. McDowell, meanwhile, opened with a double bogey. He fought back but missed some key putts down the stretch that might have put pressure on Woods, eventually finishing with a 2-over 74.
“I just never really got close enough to him today,” said McDowell “I’m not going to be disappointed in any way about today. I got beaten by the better man.”
As he walked up the 18th fairway, victory securely in hand, Woods wore a huge smile as the large gallery walked up behind him.
Woods now moves to seventh in the FedExCup standings, with Johnson Wagner taking over the No. 1 spot.
There was something of a sour note though as Arnold Palmer was unable to present the trophy as he would normally do. He was taken to hospital during the afternoon through a problem with high blood pressure. It was something I spotted as he was parked by the 16th tee box in his golf buggy. He did seem to be playing with his hand a little but he shook the hands of the players who went through for a while before driving away. Hopefully, he’s just going through a routine check up and everything will be OK.
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