Date: September 11, 2007
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Tiger’s 63 sinks Badds

A flawless final-round 63 by Tiger Woods has given him a two-stroke victory over Australian Aaron Baddeley at the BMW Championship in Illinois. Woods, who began the final round one stroke behind, carded eight birdies in ideal scoring conditions at Cog Hill, which was still soft after recent rains. He broke clear with four birdies in five holes on the back nine to match the course record and finish at 22-under for his sixth victory of the year, and the 60th of his career on the US PGA Tour, just two less than the great Arnold Palmer. Woods also went to the top of the points table in the new FedEx Cup play-off series, which concludes with the Tour Championship next week. Baddeley, who led Woods by one stroke with seven holes remaining, shot 66 for second place on 20-under 264, with American Steve Stricker (68) two shots further back in third. Justin Rose, who played the final round with Woods, had a decent day, carding 68, but he was never in the hunt after starting five shots back, finishing equal fifth. Woods, meanwhile, picked up four birdies on the front nine, but could not break clear of Stricker and Baddeley, all three making the turn locked at 18-under. It seemed for a long time that nobody on the leaderboard could miss from inside 15 feet, as all three leaders reeled off a hat-trick of birdies at the seventh, eighth and ninth holes. Woods fell one behind when Baddeley birdied the par-five 11th, but the world No.1 then took control in emphatic fashion. He sank a 50-foot monster at the par-three 12th, and also birdied the par-four 13th, the par-five 15th and par-four 16th, before parring the final two holes. The big loser was Phil Mickelson, who took the week off, dropping from first to third on the points list, behind Woods and Stricker, setting the scene for a great battle. Final Round of the BMW Championship (par 71) -22 Tiger Woods 67 67 65 63 -20 Aaron Baddeley (Australia) 68 65 65 66 -18 Steve Stricker 68 66 64 68 -14 Adam Scott (Australia) 69 69 67 65 -13 Tim Clark 68 69 67 67, Justin Rose 65 69 69 68 -12 Stewart Cink 66 73 68 65, Camilo Villegas 65 69 71 67 -10 Sergio Garcia 68 70 69 67 -9 Ian Poulter 68 72 69 66, Rory Sabbatini 69 72 68 66, Carl Pettersson 71 68 69 67, Jonathan Byrd 64 69 71 71 Also: -8 Nathan Green (Australia) 67 71 67 71 -6 Stuart Appleby (Australia) 68 68 71 71 -4 Robert Allenby (Australia) 75 68 69 68, Rod Pampling (Australia) 73 72 66 69 E John Senden (Australia) 71 75 71 67 +4 Nick O&aposHern (Australia) 70 73 74 71, Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 78 73 68 69