Tiger finishes with 4-over 74 Sunday at Honda
Tiger Woods finished in style Sunday with an eagle at the par-5 18th hole, but it was small consolation after a rough final round in The Honda Classic at the Champion Course at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Tiger, who started the tournament by shooting three-straight rounds of even-par 70, closed with a 74 Sunday and wound up tying for 37th at 4-over 284, 13 shots behind winner Michael Thompson. For the fourth day in a row, he incurred a penalty stroke — three on Sunday — and simply wasn’t sharp in the challenging cool and breezy conditions.
“I just made too many penalties this week,” said Woods. “Today is a perfect example. I didn’t play that poorly. I had two water balls and a lost ball. Take those away, and I missed two short birdie putts, and it was actually a decent score. So just got to clean up my rounds.”
Woods, who began the last round eight strokes off the lead, knew he needed a fast start to make a move and didn’t start poorly, playing the first five holes in 1-under. Paired with Robert Streb, Tiger birdied the 538-yard, par-5 third hole, reaching the green in two and two-putting from 42 feet.
But after a long two-putt par at the par-3 fifth, he ran into trouble again at the 479-yard, par-4 sixth. Woods blocked his drive way right and was unable to find his ball, his second lost ball in as many days. He eventually carded a double-bogey 6.
“We were looking in the wrong spot,” Woods said.
Tiger bogeyed the 226-yard, par-3 seventh, missing the green to the right and failed to get up-and-down. He hit a beautiful approach shot to the 427-yard, par-4 eighth, the ball stopping three feet from the cup. But typical of his day, he was unable to convert.
Woods flagged another superb approach shot to the 388-yard par-4, ninth from 146 yards, leaving himself a six-foot downhill birdie putt. This time, he rolled it in to make the turn in 1-over 36.
With winds gusting between 10 and 20-miles per hour, Tiger burned the left edge of the cup with a 10-foot birdie putt at the difficult 508-yard, par-4 10th hole. However, he stumbled again at the 428-yard, par-4 11th, where he drove into the right rough and came up short of the green on his second shot from 150 yards, the ball splashing in a fronting hazard and leading to another double-bogey.
At the 427-yard, par-4 12th, Woods hit his tee shot into the right fairway bunker, knocked his second shot into the front-right greenside bunker, blasted to seven feet and missed his par putt. Tiger parred 13 and 14, then three-putted the 176-yard par-3 15th hole from 36 feet for a bogey, running his birdie attempt six feet past the cup.
Woods found water again off the tee at the 434-yard, par-4 16th hole, but was able to salvage a bogey. He made a good two-putt par from 55 feet at the 188-yard par-3 17th, making a five-foot putt coming back.
At the 556-yard, 18th hole, Tiger gave the huge crowd something to cheer about. After a big drive, he flushed a towering 3-iron onto the green from 232 yards and the ball finished 10-feet from cup. Woods drained it to end the week on a positive note.
What significance did the eagle have for him?
“Lowers my score by two,” Woods said. “That’s about it.”
For only the third time in his professional career, Tiger carded four double-bogeys during the tournament in a non-major. Previously, he did it in the 2005 Players Championship and the 2007 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
“I felt good with what I did, though,” said Woods. “It’s just penalty shots.”
Woods will look to turn things around next week in the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at the TPC Blue Monster at Doral in Miami, Fla. He has won the event six times.
