Tiger Woods surged past Vijay Singh to seize his fifth straight
PGA title in superb style at the Deutsche Bank Championship.
World No. 1 Woods erased a three-shot deficit in three holes,
took sole possession of the lead after five and rolled to his fifth
win in as many starts with an eight-under-par 63 for 16-under
268.
He extended a winning streak that included the British Open and
PGA Championship - titles that brought his total of majors to 12 -
and took his tally of victories in 2006 to seven.
Singh, who had opened the tournament with rounds of 70-71, had
gone into the third round five shots off the pace but fired a
course-record 61 that gave him a three-stroke lead heading into the
final round.
Singh carded a creditable 68 on Monday, but by the time he
nabbed a birdie at the seventh hole he was playing catch-up.
"I didn't play the front nine as good as I wanted to and Tiger
played unbelievable," Singh said. "I hung in there and thought I
had a shot on the back nine."
A front nine of six-under-par 30 included two eagles and put
Woods on top by three shots.
Singh was even through nine, and even as Woods went through a
stretch of seven straight pars, Singh couldn't mount a charge.
Woods picked up two more shots at 15 and 17 as he claimed his
53rd career PGA Tour victory, placing him fifth on the all-time
list.
Singh started with six pars before a birdie at the seventh. A
bogey at nine dropped him back to 11-under.
Three birdies coming in, on 12, 15 and 18, got Singh to 14-under
270.
When he won here in 2003, Singh temporarily ended Woods' reign
as the No. 1 player in the world and got the best of him in a
final-group showdown.
Woods appeared bent on revenge from the start as he eagled both
the par-fives on the front nine.
Woods added birdies at three and five to get to 14-under at the
turn.
The tournament turned into a duel between Woods and Singh, with
only 26 players finishing under-par and no other player reaching
double-digits under-par.
Brian Bateman closed with a 66 to finish third at eight-under
276.
Australian Robert Allenby (68) and England's Justin Rose (72)
tied for fourth at seven-under.
(AFP September 5, 2006)