November 15 -- Tiger Woods gave his tens of thousands of Aussie fans what they hoped for -- Tiger-like shot-making and a wire-to-wire two-stroke victory at the Australian Masters.
Woods fired a 4-under 68 in Sunday’s final round for his seventh win of the season and put an exclamation point on the enormous hype that his $3 million appearance fee generated.
Shotmaking. While he stormed to an early lead, Woods did not coast to the win. His third-round struggles led to an even-par 72 and a share of the lead.
Indeed, Woods noted all week that Kingston Heath Golf Club’s design, not its length, would require every shot he had.
"We play a lot of tournaments in the (United) States where you hit driver as far as you can down there and then hit some kind of iron shot and have it plug net to the flag," Woods said to reporters after his win. "But (on) this golf course you have so many options...off the tee, near the greens, you can throw it up [with a chip] or you put it down to the ground.”
Sandbelt courses like Melbourne’s Kingston Heath “bring back shotmaking,” added Woods, who was up to the task in his final round.
For sure, Kingston Heath requires keen strategic thinking as well. "You have more options here than on a normal links golf course,” Woods said. “You can think around the greens, you can use different clubs and I hit chip shots from the putters to four iron all the way down this week to lob wedge.”
Woods finished the week at 14-under 274 (66-68-72-68). Runner-up Greg Chalmers of Australia topped American Jason Dufner and Frenchman Francois Delamontagne by two strokes.
Taking control. Beginning with a birdie on the first hole and taking the lead with a birdie at the fifth, Woods made the turn at 3-under and never looked back.
Tiger credited his flat stick as much as any other club for his victory.
After mishitting a 9-iron to the the ninth green, Woods drained a long putt. “I was able to keep some of the momentum I had built up over the first eight holes,” he said.
Despite the ban on cameras and cell phones, Woods’ usual encounter with a photographer on 13 led to a bogey. But Tiger brought a roar from this 25,000 adoring fans when he almost nailed a 6-iron approach to the 16th green.
"I was trying to hit a nice high cutting six ... and [hoped] it would bite because I knew that I probably carried it about three yards too far," said Woods.
In response to a reporter’s query about how good the shot had been, Woods smiled.
"If it had gone in,” he said, “I would probably have had a smoke.”
While Woods was winning in Australia, Michelle Wie and Cristie Kerr were putting on a show down in Mexico. Read about Wie and Kerr, as well as Jiyai Shin’s efforts to wrap up player-of-the-year honors at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.
Watch Tiger Woods almost hole his approach shot from the 16th fairway during the final round of the Australian Masters:
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