Tiger Woods has moved up to fourth in the world after producing one of the shots of his life en route to winning the Jack Nicklaus’s Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio late last night.
After getting to within one stroke of Rory Sabbatini, the leader, with a birdie at the 15th, Woods birdied the par-three 16th with a moment of genius to set him on his way to his 73rd victory on the PGA Tour in the United States - equalling Nicklaus’s mark and moving joint second behind Sam Snead (82).
Having gone through the green with his tee-shot, the former world No 1 played the ultimate flop shot from out of rough, landing the ball on the green and watching it wind its way down the slope before dropping into the hole.
“I knew if I hit it short it would have been down and left, if I hit it long it was in the water,” Woods said.“The lie wasn’t all that great, I had to take a cut at it and it came out just perfect.”
With a shaken Sabbatini bogeying the 16th, Woods led by one and promptly conjured up another birdie at the 18th for a 67 in a nine-under-par total of 279 and victory by two strokes.
Advertisement
Woods climbs from ninth a week before he heads to San Francisco for his attempt to win a fifteenth major. He is four behind Nicklaus’s record - and has been since the 2008 US Open. Woods - ten years younger than Nicklaus when he recorded his last win - said: “It’s been pretty nice and to do it at age 36, it’s not too shabby. I’ve been very proud what I’ve done so far in my career and I feel I’ve still got a lot of good years ahead of me.”
It was a reminder of the talent that Woods still possesses. “I hit the ball great today,” Woods said. “That’s what was so exciting about today is I didn’t really miss a golf shot. I hit the ball just as good as I have in years. That was fun when I needed it the most.”
World rankings
1 Luke Donald 10.43pts, 2 Rory McIlroy 9.06, 3 Lee Westwood 7.91, 4 Tiger Woods 6.79, 5 Bubba Watson 6.16, 6 Matt Kuchar 5.95, 7 Justin Rose 5.75, 8 Hunter Mahan 5.49, 9 Jason Dufner 5.25, 10 Martin Kaymer 5.04, 11 Steve Stricker 5.01, 12 Phil Mickelson 4.96, 13 Webb Simpson 4.88, 14 Charl Schwartzel 4.78, 15 Louis Oosthuizen 4.74, 16 Zach Johnson 4.67, 17 Adam Scott 4.66, 18 Rickie Fowler 4.57, 19 Jason Day 4.52, 20 Dustin Johnson 4.45.
Other leading Europeans
Advertisement
21 Graeme McDowell, 22 Sergio Garcia, 25 Peter Hanson, 27 Ian Poulter, 29 Paul Lawrie, 32 Martin Laird, 33 Francesco Molinari, 34 Thomas Bjorn, 35 Nicolas Colsaerts, 38 Carl Pettersson, 42 Alvaro Quiros, 46 Simon Dyson, 47 Fredrik Jacobson, 48 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, 49 Robert Karlsson, 53 Anders Hansen, 55 Rafael Cabrera Bello, 58 Paul Casey, 59 Robert Rock, 62 Miguel Angel Jimenez, 63 Matteo Manassero, 76 Darren Clarke, 79 Joost Luiten, 81 Pablo Larrazabal, 84 Alexander Noren, 87 Michael Hoey, 88 Brian Davis, 93 Richie Ramsay, 96 Padraig Harrington, 98 Stephen Gallacher, 99 Bernd Wiesberger, 100 David Lynn.