Tiger finishes tied for third at Turkish Airlines Open

Tiger Woods finished strong on Sunday, but it wasn’t enough to catch 23-year-old Frenchman Victor Dubuisson in the final round of the European Tour’s first Turkish Airlines Open at The Montgomerie Maxx Royal in Antalya, Turkey.

Woods, who entered the final round tied for third and six strokes behind Dubuisson, closed with a 5-under-par 67 and shared third with Justin Rose at 20-under 268. Dubuisson shot 69 and posted a winning score of 24-under 264.

Teeing off in the second-to-last threesome with Henrik Stenson and Alejandro Canizares, Tiger once again got off to a solid start with birdies at the par-4 third, par-5 fourth and par-4 sixth holes. However, Woods missed the green with his approach shot at the par-4 seventh, then hit a poor chip that resulted in a bogey.

Tiger parred the eighth and ninth holes to make the turn in 2-under 33.

On the back side, Tiger made a costly bogey at the par-5 11th. His second shot came up just short of the green, but he hit another bad chip about 40 feet from the hole and three-putted. Woods regained the lost stroke with a birdie at the par-5 13th.

Wearing his traditional red shirt on Sunday, Tiger kept fighting until the finish. He reeled off three consecutive birdies at the par-4 15th, par-3 16th and par-4 17th holes to pull closer to Dubuisson, but it wasn’t enough. Woods parred the par-5 18th hole to shoot a 3-under 34 on the back.

Although Woods recorded 23 birdies in the last three rounds, he didn’t do enough damage on the five par-5s. After playing them in 4-under on Saturday, he was only 1-under Sunday.

Tiger will conclude his 2013 season by playing and hosting the Northwestern Mutual World Challenge from Dec. 5-8 at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif.