Date: July 02, 2012
Author: Omnisport

Woods salutes at Congressional

Tiger Woods surpassed Jack Nicklaus on the list for most PGA Tour career wins with victory at the AT&T National, while Australians Adam Scott and Jason Day both finished in the top 10 on Sunday. Woods trailed overnight leader Brendan de Jonge by one stroke heading into the final day but carded a two-under-par 69 to win by two and become the first golfer to clinch a third PGA Tour title this season. The American&aposs success in Maryland was his 74th career title and sits second on the all-time standings; eight adrift of Sam Stead&aposs 82 wins. Zimbawe&aposs De Jonge shot a six-over-par 77 to slide down to 11th. American Bo Van Pelt kept pace with Woods and finished outright second, one shot ahead of Scott, who finished third in his best performance since tying for eighth at the Masters Tournament in April. Scott birdied five of the opening nine holes at the Congressional Country Club to surge up the leaderboard and register a final round of four under (67), a stroke ahead of Americans Robert Garrigus (70) and Billy Hurley III (72), Venezuelan Jhonatan Vegas (71) and Korean Seung-Yul Noh (73) in fourth. Day was the next best-placed Australian, finishing in a tie for eighth with American Hunter Mahan. Despite bogeying three of his last five holes, Day produced a one-under-par 70 and secured his third top-10 performance of the season. Fellow Australians Greg Chalmers (70) and Rod Pampling (73) were next best in 17th and 22nd respectively, while recent Travelers Championship winner Marc Leishman hit seven bogeys and double-bogeyed another to close the weekend tied for 32nd. Meanwhile, Welshman Jamie Donaldson won the first European Tour title of his career with a four-shot victory at the Irish Open on Sunday. Donaldson, 36, took a one-shot lead into the final round at Royal Portrush Golf Club in County Antrim and having failed to win in 254 attempts on the European Tour, he finally seized his chance in Northern Ireland, with a six-under-par 66 taking him to 18-under overall. It was enough to finish four strokes clear at the top of the leaderboard, ahead of a three-way tie for second between Spaniard Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Paraguayan Fabrizio Zanotti and Englishman Anthony Wall.