Tiger closes out final round at THE PLAYERS
Tiger Woods carded five birdies and closed with an even-par 72 on Sunday in the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
Woods finished with a 72-hole total of 3-over 291 and tied for 69th.
“I had a mixed bag all week,” Woods said. “A lot of really, really good stuff out there, some mediocre and some bad.”
Rickie Fowler won the tournament, defeating Sergio Garcia and Kevin Kisner in a playoff.
Paired with Dustin Johnson, Woods parred the first two holes, then birdied the par-3 third, where he knocked his tee shot five feet from the cup. Tiger followed with a nice up-and-down par save at the fourth hole, then two-putted from 35 feet at the par-4 fifth.
At the par-4 sixth, Woods hit a nice approach shot 20 feet from the pin and narrowly missed his birdie putt, the ball refusing to drop. Tiger hit a poor drive at the par-4 seventh that found the front lip of a pot bunker. Woods blasted out of the sand, wedged onto the green and two-putted for a bogey from 15 feet.
He two-putted the par-3 eighth for par from 35 feet, then made a scrambling par at the par-5 ninth, missing the green with his third shot and two-putted from a collection area behind the green to make the turn in even-par 36.
Playing in calm, steamy conditions, Woods hit a beautiful second shot on the par-4 10th, the ball stopping three feet from the cup for an easy birdie. He made it two in a row with a two-putt birdie from 40 feet at the par-5 11th. At the par-3 12th, Tiger drained a 35-foot downhill birdie putt to get back to even-par for the tournament.
But the positive momentum evaporated at the par-4 14th, where Tiger hooked his drive into the water, came up short of the green, hit a poor chip and wound up two-putting from 25 feet for a triple-bogey.
“It can turn quick here,” Woods said. “It’s just the nature of this golf course.”
Woods two-putted the par-4 15th from 40 feet for a par, then birdied the par-5 16th, where he hit a nice second shot to about 15 feet from the pin and two-putted. Tiger two-putted the par-3 17th hole for par, then bogeyed the par-4 18th, where he blocked his drive way right into the trees, punched out, wedged onto the green and two-putted from 15 feet.
Woods made 18 birdies thoughout the tournament.
“We’re progressing,” Woods said. “Let’s just keep progressing, keep putting pieces together, keep chipping away at it. We had some glaring weaknesses at the beginning of the year. Those are now gone and we can start cleaning up some other stuff, too.”
Next week, Tiger will be in Las Vegas to host his annual Tiger Jam, which benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation. He will not compete again until the Memorial Tournament on June 4-7. However, Tiger is planning a visit to Chambers Bay Golf Course, site of next month’s U.S. Open, in the near future.
“From what I hear, it’s a golf course we need to take a look at a few times before the week,” he said.
