Woods stumbled a little down the stretch when he made his first bogey of the weekend on the par-5 16th hole, but then watched as Bo Van Pelt followed with a bogey of his own and two more bogeys on the final two holes to give Woods a 2-shot win over Van Pelt and Adam Scott.
A 2-under par 69 Sunday gave Woods a four-round total of 8-under 276, eight shots higher than what McIlroy shot in winning last year’s U.S. Open on a course that played much softer and easier than it did during the recent spate of sweltering heat.
“I figured it was going to come down to probably the last five or six holes,” said Woods, who along with Van Pelt started the day one stroke behind third-round leader Brendon de Jonge, who faded with a 6-over par 77. “It ended coming down to the last three holes where the tournament swung.”
The victory, following a similar one in May at The Memorial and a 5-stroke runaway win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, was the 74th of Woods’ storied career, allowing him to pass Jack Nicklaus after tieing his fellow legend at Nicklaus’ tournament inOhio.
“Well, I’ve had a pretty good career,” said Woods, who will now go after Sam Snead’s record of 82 PGA Tour wins, beginning with a tournament this week at Snead’s longtime course at The Homestead. “To do it at 36, I feel like I have a lot of good years ahead of me.”
Woods acknowledged that he heard the whispers last year and earlier this year that his career was in jeopardy and his days of dominance were in the past. There were even doubts about Woods — and there still might be until he wins his 15th major — when he faded on the weekend at last month’s U.S. Open.
“A lot of media people didn’t think I could win again, and I had to deal with those questions quite a bit,” Woods said. “It was just a matter of time. I could see the pieces coming together. Sean [Foley, his swing coach] and I were working, and we see what’s coming and we can see the consistency.”
Asked if his confidence had waned, Woods said, “Of course the confidence wanes because I wasn’t able to practice and I was hurt for a long time. When you’re changing [swings], and have a totally different release pattern, it’s going to take some time.”
