Date: September 17, 2007
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Record-breaking Tiger storms home

Tiger Woods shot the lowest score of his career to blow away the field and win the Tour Championship by eight strokes on Sunday. Woods led throughout the final round, carding a four-under-par 66 in pleasant conditions at East Lake in the final event of the new FedEx Cup play-off series. He finished with a 23-under-par 257, two strokes better than his previous best total of 21-under at the 2000 NEC Invitational. Australian Robert Allenby matched Woods&apos final-round 66 but could only finish a massive 16 strokes behind the world No.1. Geoff Ogilvy had a disappointing 74 to finish a further stroke back at six-under, while Aaron Baddeley carded a 71 to finish at two-under and Adam Scott was even. Woods also smashed the Tour Championship record low score, the same time as securing the fourth victory in his past five starts and emphatically clinching the FedEx Cup title. It was his 61st victory on the US PGA Tour, just one behind Arnold Palmer on the all-time list. “It&aposs been just a phenomenal week. I just hit shot after shot and when I got on the greens my speed was good all week,” Woods said. Woods started the final round with a three-shot advantage over Calcavecchia and was a little shaky early on with a bogey at the par-three second followed by a 10-foot par save at the third. However, he soon found his stroke, picking up three birdies in four holes starting at number six to go four shots clear at the turn. The back nine was pretty much a lap of honour as he added three more birdies before bogeying the 17th. That did not stop him from shattering the tournament record by six strokes. Woods not only collected $11.9 million for winning the FedEx Cup, but also received $1.5 million for winning the tournament. Woods decided after a mediocre performance at The Open in July to modify his swing and spent the following week at home working on the changes. When he turned up at the Bridgestone Invitational the following week, his revamped technique was the talk of the range. Astute judges said it looked better than ever and so it has proved – he has finished no worse than second since. It remains to be seen whether Woods can carry his form into next year but his peers can only hope he does not. Final Round of The Tour Championship (par 70) -23 Tiger Woods 64 63 64 66 -15 Zach Johnson 71 66 60 68, Mark Calcavecchia 65 66 63 71 -14 Sergio Garcia 68 64 64 70 -11 Scott Verplank 66 68 67 68, Hunter Mahan 65 68 65 71 -10 Tim Clark 62 69 70 69, Vijay Singh 68 68 65 69 -9 Camilo Villegas 67 68 70 66, Rory Sabbatini 68 68 67 68 -7 Robert Allenby (Australia) 68 71 68 66, Jim Furyk 71 69 67 66, Justin Rose 69 71 66 67, Stewart Cink 67 66 71 69, Padraig Harrington 63 70 67 73, Woody Austin 65 65 69 74 Also: -6 Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 68 70 62 74 -2 Aaron Baddeley (Australia) 69 70 68 71 E Adam Scott (Australia) 65 66 71 78