Date: March 30, 2009
Author: Sportal and PA Sport

Tiger wins at Bay Hill

Tiger Woods completed his comeback from knee surgery by winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational in dramatic fashion at the final hole at Bay Hill on Sunday. Woods landed the 66th PGA Tour title of his career and his sixth victory at Bay Hill in just his third event since returning from reconstructive knee surgery nine months ago. The world No.1 and defending champion started the day in second place, five shots behind overnight, seven-under-par leader O&aposHair, but he clawed back that deficit in 15 holes and took the lead at the 16th. There was still a twist in the tail as Woods bogeyed the 17th to fall back into a tie at four-under-par heading to the last. Both players found the fairway off the 18th tee but while O&aposHair sent his second shot to inside 39 feet, his rival put the pressure on by placing his second 16 feet from the hole. O&aposHair sent his putt to three feet, leaving Woods to putt for the title. He had needed a 25-foot birdie to see off Bart Bryant on the same hole 12 months ago, with O&aposHair watching him as his chance had gone earlier in the round. This time O&aposHair had to watch again with much more on the line as, in near darkness, Woods drained his putt to take the title and seal another famous victory, nine months on from his last triumph in the US Open at Torrey Pines. “It feels good, it feels really good,” Woods said. “It feels good to be back in contention again and to feel the rush and to have to deal with everything coming down the stretch.” “It&aposs been a while, obviously since the US Open that I&aposve had to deal with the back nine on Sunday and it was good.” Australian John Senden rocketed into contention with four consecutive birdies on the front nine, but late two late bogeys cost him any chance of victory, and relegated him to a tie for fourth place with Nick Watney, Pat Perez and Scott Verplank at one-under-par. Robert Allenby capped off a good tournament to finish in a tie for 11th, while James Nitties finished strongly to move up a tie for 22nd. Mathew Goggin came in a tie 30th place, while Stuart Appleby and Peter Lonard tied for 52nd and Aaron Baddeley finished well back in a tie for 66th. Meanwhile, on the Nationwide Tour, American Bubba Dickerson won the Louisiana Open, with Scott Gardiner the best of the Australian contingent in a tie for 15th. In Europe, Dane Soren triumphed in the Andalucian Open by three strokes from Scotland&aposs David Drysdale. Australia Matthew Millar finished in a tie for 29th at one-under par. PGA Tour, Final Round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Bay Hill Club, Orlando -5: Tiger Woods 68 69 71 67 -4: Sean O Hair 67 65 71 73 -2: Zach Johnson 72 69 68 69 -1: Pat Perez 70 70 70 69, John Senden (Australia) 70 69 73 67, Scott Verplank 70 69 71 69, Nick Watney 67 71 73 67 E: Daniel Chopra 68 71 72 69, Jason Gore 65 70 74 71, Kenny Perry 70 71 72 67 +1: Robert Allenby (Australia) 71 65 74 71, Ben Crane 70 69 75 67, Lucas Glover 71 71 69 70, Padraig Harrington 70 68 73 70, Kevin Na 69 70 76 66, Webb Simpson 70 71 70 70 +2: Bob Estes 74 67 71 70, Lee Janzen 67 71 73 71, Ryuji Imada 70 66 73 73, Brandt Snedeker 73 70 67 72, Vaughn Taylor 70 68 74 70 Also: +3: James Nitties (Australia) 70 71 74 68 +5: Matthew Goggin (Australia) 70 72 71 72 +9: Stuart Appleby (Australia) 67 72 80 70, Peter Lonard 72 72 77 68 +13: Aaron Baddeley (Australia) 75 68 76 74 PGA Tour, Final Round of the Louisiana Open, Le Triomphe Country Club, LA -10: Bubba Dickerson (won playoff) 71 64 69 70, Brian Vranesh 70 69 69 66 -9: Chris Anderson 70 71 67 67, Jonas Blixt 68 72 66 69, Matt Bettencourt 66 71 73 65, Matthew Borchert 68 69 70 68, Geoffrey Sisk 71 65 72 67, Vance Veazey 70 69 67 69 -8: Drew Laning 68 66 72 70, Bob May 68 70 71 67, Bob May 68 70 71 67, Garth Mulroy 67 68 72 69, Michael Sims 64 72 71 69, Scott Sterling 67 69 68 72 -7: Steve Allan (Australia) 70 68 67 72, Kris Blanks 69 72 69 67, Miguel Angel Carballo 68 70 70 69, Scott Gardiner (Australia) 70 67 71 69, Neal Lancaster 67 68 72 70, Ted Schulz 69 68 70 70, Roger Tambellini 69 71 68 69, Brennan Webb 73 66 69 69 Also: -3: Gavin Coles (Australia) 69 71 69 72 European PGA Tour, Final Round of the Andalucia Open, Real Club de Golf de Sevilla, Spain -14: Soren Kjeldsen 68 72 62 72 -11: David Drysdale 70 67 66 74 -10: Francesco Molinari 72 68 68 70, Graeme Storm 70 66 73 69 -9: Alastair Forsyth 74 64 68 73 -8: Andrew Coltart 68 73 69 70, Rhys Davies 75 67 68 70, Marcel Siem 68 67 73 72 -7: Thomas Aiken 70 72 69 70, John Morgan 70 73 69 69 -6: Chris Doak 66 73 74 69, Anders Hansen 72 70 71 69, Soren Hansen 75 69 69 69 -5: Thomas Bjorn 68 70 71 74, Carlos Del Moral 70 67 69 77, Stephen Dodd 68 72 72 71, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano 68 70 71 74, Ignacio Garrido 71 71 69 72, Miguel Angel Jimenez 74 65 73 71, Thomas Levet 70 71 70 72 Also: -1: Matthew Millar (Australia) 70 70 75 72