Tiger Woods wins his 13th Major at the PGA Championships

By DPA

Tulsa (Oklahoma) : Golf superstar Tiger Woods said that it was “just cool” to win the 89th PGA Championships watched by his wife Elin and young daughter Sam Alexis.


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Woods carded a one-under par 69 Sunday to win with an eight-under par 272, beating fellow American Woody Austin by two shots.

The 31-year-old world number one’s victory sees him not only pocket the winner’s cheque of $1.26 million, he also won his 13th Major and his fourth PGA Championship. He had previously won the tournament in 1999, 2000 and 2006.

Asked after being presented with the trophy what it felt like to win his first Major in the presence of his daughter, who is yet to turn two months, Woods was visibly emotional.

He then flashed a broad smile and said that he was getting chills just thinking of having Sam Alexis and his wife there.

“This is just so cool, it really is…”

On another blistering hot day with temperatures reaching well into the 40 degrees Celsius, Woods played a solid round of golf with four birdies. But he also had three bogeys, which kept the competition open right to the end.

Woods also kept his record intact of never having lost a tournament in which he was leading at the start of the fourth round. On all previous 12 Major triumphs, he was at the top of the leaderboard at the end of the third round.

The victory sees him just five short of Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 Majors wins.

South African Ernie Els was third on five-under par after playing a four-under par 66 on the day.

Woods, who started the final day three ahead of Canadian Stephen Ames, benefited from missed putts from Austin and Els.

Austin, four behind Woods Sunday morning, had a 12-foot putt on the 15th for a share of the lead after Woods had just bogeyed the 14th to slip back to seven-under.

But the 43-year-old, who said before the round that he was nervous ahead of going into the final round as he had never before been in contention to win a Major, pulled his putt just wide.

He said that he had enjoyed the round.

“Actually, it was pretty exciting. I tried to get the crowd on my side and I wanted him (Woods) to hear as loud a roar as we always hear when they cheer him.”

Austin received the runners-up cheque of $765,000.

But once Austin had failed to sink the putt, Woods birdied the 15th to go two clear at the leaderboard again.

“I knew after messing up on the 14th, that I needed to earn my way out of it. I am pleased that I managed to do that.”

Els, meanwhile, had even more reasons to rue missed chances as he missed easy putts on the seventh, ninth and 11th holes that would have put even more pressure on Woods.

The South African, who birdied the third, fifth, eighth, 10th, 13th and 14th had said before the round that he needed to make a 63 on the day to stand a chance. He came very close, but a couple of bogeys kept his score to 66.

“I am happy with the way I played, to score that on the final round is great. But I look back at the putts on the seventh and ninth and the bogey on the 16th and that in the end killed any chance that I had.”

Fourth place went to American Arron Oberholser and Australian John Senden, who were the only other players to finish under par.

Oberholser carded a one-under par 69 on the day for his total of a one under-par 279, while Senden played a 71 on the day for his 279 total.

The round of the day though belonged to the Asian Tour’s Hong Kong-based Englishman Simon Dyson, who showed the way with a near-perfect round of 64, which included four birdies on the front nine and three on the back.

He bogeyed the par-four 10th to finish the round on six under for the day and even par for the tournament.

The 29-year-old, who has five professional victories in his career and whose previous best-finish at a Major was a tie for 34th at the 2005 British Open, tied for sixth place.

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