(photo: CNBC.com)
October 27, 2019
With his stunning wire-to-wire victory Saturday at the Zozo Championship in Japan, it’s official: No golfer has ever won more PGA Tour events than Tiger Woods. After getting within one of Sam Snead’s career record of 82 PGA Tour victories at the Masters back in April, Woods (-19) tied the mark on Sunday with a 3-stroke victory over Hideki Matsuyama (-16) at the inaugural Zozo Championship at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club.
This one was as unexpected as any of the previous 81. Maybe the most unexpected. After not shooting a single score lower than 67 since March 2019, Woods opened with three in a row in Japan as he started 64-64-66 to take a three-stroke lead into the final round, which was halted two-thirds of the way through by weather with a finish pushed to Monday morning in Japan. From there, it was a wrap. It’s always a wrap when Woods has a three-stroke going into the final round of any tournament, even if it adds a bit of pressure being the leader each round.
“Five days at the top of the board is a long time, man. It was definitely stressful,” said Woods, who is now ranked sixth in the Official World Golf Rankings.
Because of crazy weather on Friday, the tournament finish was bumped to Monday morning. Woods completed 29 holes on Sunday local time (Saturday evening here in the United States) before closing out the last seven holes on Monday morning (Sunday evening here).
The coast was clear when he teed it up on Monday, though. He played the front nine in 2 under on Sunday, and after opening Monday with bogey in his first hole on the fifth day of the tournament, Woods settled in and wound up with par over the back nine. His 26 birdies led the field on the week, and he finished in the top 15 in fairways and greens hit and putts made per green in regulation.
“This was big. Hideki made it tight. It was a lot closer than what people probably thought,” Woods said. “I had a chance to get myself a cushion at 13 and 15, missed those, made one at 14. Hideki did what he needed to do to put heat on me. It came down to the last hole.”
This wasn’t Woods simply getting hot with the flat stick for a week against Matsuyama, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas. It was a legit win against a loaded field that will undoubtedly result in Woods picking himself for the President’s Cup team (he’s the captain) at the beginning of next month. Woods, 43, has four picks to spend, and he will use one on the best to ever tee it up.
“I think the player definitely got the captain’s attention,” Woods joked after the win.
Read more at CBSNews.com
