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Still in the end it was another "W" for Woods, his 56th on the PGA Tour as he beat Brett Wetterich by two but it could of been a lot closer if Wetterich could of made a pair of five footers on 17 and 18 for birdie.
More importantly was the fact that again Woods showed us that he knows what it takes to win tournaments, even if it means having to lay up on the final hole, Just think if Phil Mickelson would of done the same thing at the 18th hole at Winged Foot he would of been the defending U.S. Open champion this June.
In looking at Woods win it again proves the point on his greatness, as people were doubting his play over his back-none 43 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Woods put that round in his rear-view mirror and again came out to attack a Doral course, which had more bite to it this year due to the change of the greens and four days of wind. With the average winning score the last seven years being 19 under par, it took a score of 10 under par to win this year.
| Courses for horses There are courses that Woods does best on than others, here is a look at the courses that Tiger Woods has won the most money on: |
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| Course | # of Wins | Earnings | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firestone C.C. | 5 | $6,587,400 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Augusta National | 5 | $4,566,660 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Torrey Pines | 5 | $3,933,800 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Doral | 4 | $3,885,600 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LaCosta Resort | 4 | $3,453,150 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bay Hill | 4 | $2,950.760 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cog Hill | 3 | $2,853,907 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Muirfield Village | 3 | $2,670,148 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
So with a week before the Masters again Woods will be the favorite hands down. As you can see by the chart on the right, Doral is one of those courses that Woods seems to own but as we can see Augusta National is also a favorite of Woods which means that he will be in contention. It's still amazing to see Woods, who is in his 12th year as a professional still grinding it the way he does. No matter how much money he earns or toys he has to play with being number one is as important to him now as it was when he turned pro back in 1996. No matter what it takes Woods finds ways of winning and he is improving his winning percent as it is now at 27.45% (56 wins out of 204 professional starts), yes that's a figure that means that he wins one tournament in every four starts.
Keys to victory for Woods
He again was the dominate figure in greens hit, leading that stat this week. This is a theme in Woods victories, since 1997 in 52 stroke play victories Woods has led that stat 16 times. In his 52 starts he has only won ten times in events that he didn't finish in the top-ten in greens hit. For those wondering, in his 186 stroke play events played since 1997 he has led the greens hit category 23 times.
Here are some other keys for his victory:
- Woods played the Par 5s in 10 under par, best of anyone in the field.
- Woods was able to get it up and down 5 of 6 times from sand this week.
- Average putt for Woods on greens hit was 33 feet, best of anyone in the field.
- Woods only missed two putts inside four feet for the week and those missed putts came on Sunday.
- Woods had built up such a lead that he won even though he shot a final round 73. That ties a personal mark of highest final round in his 54 stroke play wins tying the 73 he shot in his 1999 Disney win. Woods has shot 72 in the final round five times, the last being in the 2006 Buick Invitational.
Woods's stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 30 of 56 ..... (T46th) Driving average: 288.9 ..... (9th) Greens hit: 54 of 72 ....... (1st) Putts: 119 (29.75 a rd) .... (T64th) Putting breakdown: 0-putt greens: 0 1-putt greens: 26 2-putt greens: 45 3-putt greens: 1 Play on par 3s: Even Play on par 4s: Even Play on par 5s: -10 Eagles: 1 Birdies: 16 ................ (T6th) Scrambling: 11 of 18 (61.11%)... (36th)
Scrambling measures how many times a player gets up and down for par or better on the holes where he missed the green in regulation.
What This Win means for Woods
- Again, for Woods the way he wins tournaments is to build it up during the tournament. He doesn't do as well when leading after the first round, matter of fact in the 54 stroke play victories Woods first round average is 67.9 while his second round average is 66.8 and his third round average is 67.5. Here is a look at how Woods has done with or sharing the lead after each round.
With first round lead or co-lead: 13 wins in 23 times
With second round lead or co-lead: 27 wins in 33 times
With third round lead or co-lead: 39 wins in 42 times - Woods again was the dominate figure in greens hit, leading that stat this week. This is a theme in Woods victories, since 1997 in 52 stroke play victories Woods has led that stat 16 times. In his 52 starts he has only won ten times in events that he didn't finish in the top-ten in greens hit. For those wondering, in his 186 stroke play events played since 1997 he has led the greens hit category 23 times.
- It's amazing what Tiger has done in World Golf Championship events.
He has won 13 of the 24 official WGC's he has played in and has won $17,182,500 in these events. So how would these figures compare with other things on tour.
-First of all, the 13 WGC wins, only 10 players on the PGA Tour have 13 or more wins in there whole career.
-If you add up the earnings of Woods in his 24 WGC events, he would be 24th on the career money list just below Retief Goosen who has $17,449,081 in career earnings.
-Tiger's WGC earnings is $405,742 less than the total earnings on the PGA Tour in 1963. Oh, Tiger has won $658,333 in WGC-World Cup unofficial earnings which makes up the difference.
-Since the World Golf Championships started in 1999, Woods has won at least one a year. - For the first time Woods has won an event six times. On the PGA Tour that ties the mark of Harry Vardon who won six British Opens, Alex Ross who won six North & South Opens, Sam Snead, who won six Miami Opens and Jack Nicklaus who won six Masters. The record is held by Sam Snead who won eight Greater Greensboro Opens.
- This is the 18th time that Tiger has successfully defended a title but more importantly this is the fifth time that he has won a tournament three years in a row. The other four are the Bay Hill Invitational which he won four years in a row, the Memorial, The WGC-NEC, Buick Invitational and now the WGC-CA Championship. Nobody on the PGA Tour have accomplished this feat.
- Tiger Woods has had plenty of success at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa's Blue Course. Here is a look at how he played in PGA TOUR events at Doral, site of the World Golf Championships-CA Championship.
Total Under-Par Score: 74-under (20 rounds) Total Under-Par score: on Par 5s 44-under
Front-Nine : 31-under
Back-Nine: 43-under
Total Eagles: 3 (No. 12, 2nd rd, 1998; No. 12, 4th Rd; 2005, No. 1, 3rd, 2007)
Total Birdies: 102
Lowest 18-Hole Score: 63 (9-under), third round, 2005
Highest 18-Hole Score: 73 (2-over), fourth round, 1998 and fourth round, 2007
Woods has also had remarkable success on the Blue Course's first hole. He has birdied or eagled No. 1, a 529-yard par 5, 18 of the 20 times he has played it, including the last 16 in a row (2007, Rd 3 was first eagle). - This is the 18th time that Tiger has successfully defended a title but more importantly this is the fifth time that he has won a tournament three years in a row. The other four are the Bay Hill Invitational which he won four years in a row, the Memorial, The WGC-NEC, Buick Invitational and now the WGC-CA Championship. Nobody on the PGA Tour have accomplished this feat.
