Woods wins for first time in Australia
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Sunday, November 15, 2009; 5:02 PM
MELBOURNE, Australia -- Tiger Woods gave the record crowds at the Australian Masters everything they could have wanted with his victory Sunday, except a definitive answer when he would return.
"I promise it won't be as long," Woods said to yet another warm ovation.
Woods took the lead for good with a 7-iron to within four feet for birdie on the fifth hole, and he hardly missed a shot the rest of the way for a 4-under 68 and a two-shot win over Australia's Greg Chalmers.
He won for the seventh time this year, and the 82nd time worldwide in his career. Woods now has a trophy from every continent where golf is played. Australia, the 13th country where he has won an individual event, had been the missing link.
"I've never won down here, so now I have won on every continent, except for Antarctica," Woods said. "I haven't played the Antarctica Four-Ball yet. But to have won on every playable continent, it's something I've always wanted to do. And now I've done that."
It had been 11 years since Woods last competed in Australia, at the 1998 Presidents Cup. Since then, he has won 13 majors and 72 times around the world, becoming the face of golf and one of the most famous athletes in the world.
More than 100,000 fans who passed through the gates of Kingston Heath gave him rock-star treatment.
Woods put on quite a show.
One day after he lost his swing and nearly fell out of contention, Woods hit every fairway and only ran into trouble when a photographer standing too close clicked twice in the middle of his swing, leading to his lone bogey.
Starting the day in a three-way tie for the lead, Woods began his final round with a 3-wood to the par-5 first hole that landed next to the hole and rolled 30 feet away, producing the first of many roars from thousands of fans surrounding the green, some of them perched in trees.
After his birdie on the fifth, he followed with his most exquisite shot of the day - from 82 yards away to a firm green just over a ridge, the pin on a slope feeding toward a deep bunker. Playing a 56-degree wedge for a flatter shot, it bounced 30 feet from the flag, checked slightly and trickled down the slope to 2 feet.
"It came off perfect," he said.
