Woods hangs in there to win a fourth NEC Invitational

AKRON – Tiger Woods won his fourth WGC-NEC Invitational Sunday when he carded a final round one-over par 71 to beat fellow American Chris DiMarco by one shot.

Woods finished at six-under par 274 for the 7.5 million-dollar tournament. Woods’s victory netted him 1.3 million dollars.In the seven years the WGC-NEC has been held, Woods has lifted 5.3 million dollars in prize money.It was also his 10th win in 20 WGC events.The 29-year-old looked far from being the world’s number one golfer when he went off in the last group with joint third-round leader Kenny Perry.Twice he missed three-foot putts for pars as he slipped behind Perry “Let’s say I have had better putting days,” Woods said.Perry suddenly started to collapse as he reached the turn, dropping five shots in six holes, while Woods got himself together and birdied the 16th to move one ahead of DiMarco, who had already finished.Needing only a par to clinch victory, Woods smashed his drive 413 yards into the right trees.But with only 78 yards to the flag, he was able to punch the ball between them and run it up onto the green to assure victory.For DiMarco, it was a case of deja vu.It was Woods who beat him in a playoff at the Masters, aided by a sensational birdie putt on the 16th hole in the final round.”Bridesmaid is getting old, I can promise you that, especially when I’ve played good enough to get there and not gotten it.This one really pisses me off,” said DiMarco, who carded a final round two-under 68.”I felt like I played good enough to win the Masters.I felt like I played very good golf today.This is good.Maybe it will light a fire under me.”Ireland’s Paul McGinley flirted with the lead, briefly joining Woods and Perry atop the leaderboard, but the Dubliner was finding too much rough to stay in contention.Then three putts from seven feet on 11 spelled disaster.For a fleeting moment, a birdie at Firestone’s infamous 667-yard par-5 16th put him back at the top of the leaderboard.But Woods, in the final group, also birdied to take sole place at the top.Then McGinley found the trees from the tee on the 17th and could only bogey the hole.The Irishman finished sharing third place with Fiji’s Vijay Singh and American Ryan Palmer and collected about 400,000 dollars for his efforts.”The three-putt on 11 put me out of the ballgame.It was a day for battling and I really battled.I just left myself too much to do,” said the Dubliner.Sergio Garcia’s hopes vanished at the 14th.The 25-year-old Spaniard, who was only two shots off the lead at the start and at one time got to within one, drove into the right rough.He then hacked his ball into the left rough.From there he dropped it into the bunker guarding the left of the green.He blasted out onto the fringe and two-putted for a double to crash to two-under.Stuart Appleby lost his chance when he needed a drop to get relief from a car path at the 13th.The Australian dropped the ball.It caught the edge of the path and as it rolled away his caddie, Joe Damiano, picked it up and handed it back to him.But the ball had not gone two club lengths before Damino touched it.Appleby collected a two-stroke penalty to slip from four-under par, and within one of the then lead, to two-under.A double bogey at the par five 16th confirmed the demise of Appleby.-Nampa-AFPWoods’s victory netted him 1.3 million dollars.In the seven years the WGC-NEC has been held, Woods has lifted 5.3 million dollars in prize money.It was also his 10th win in 20 WGC events.The 29-year-old looked far from being the world’s number one golfer when he went off in the last group with joint third-round leader Kenny Perry.Twice he missed three-foot putts for pars as he slipped behind Perry “Let’s say I have had better putting days,” Woods said.Perry suddenly started to collapse as he reached the turn, dropping five shots in six holes, while Woods got himself together and birdied the 16th to move one ahead of DiMarco, who had already finished.Needing only a par to clinch victory, Woods smashed his drive 413 yards into the right trees.But with only 78 yards to the flag, he was able to punch the ball between them and run it up onto the green to assure victory.For DiMarco, it was a case of deja vu.It was Woods who beat him in a playoff at the Masters, aided by a sensational birdie putt on the 16th hole in the final round.”Bridesmaid is getting old, I can promise you that, especially when I’ve played good enough to get there and not gotten it.This one really pisses me off,” said DiMarco, who carded a final round two-under 68.”I felt like I played good enough to win the Masters.I felt like I played very good golf today.This is good.Maybe it will light a fire under me.”Ireland’s Paul McGinley flirted with the lead, briefly joining Woods and Perry atop the leaderboard, but the Dubliner was finding too much rough to stay in contention.Then three putts from seven feet on 11 spelled disaster.For a fleeting moment, a birdie at Firestone’s infamous 667-yard par-5 16th put him back at the top of the leaderboard.But Woods, in the final group, also birdied to take sole place at the top.Then McGinley found the trees from the tee on the 17th and could only bogey the hole.The Irishman finished sharing third place with Fiji’s Vijay Singh and American Ryan Palmer and collected about 400,000 dollars for his efforts.”The three-putt on 11 put me out of the ballgame.It was a day for battling and I really battled.I just left myself too much to do,” said the Dubliner.Sergio Garcia’s hopes vanished at the 14th.The 25-year-old Spaniard, who was only two shots off the lead at the start and at one time got to within one, drove into the right rough.He then hacked his ball into the left rough.From there he dropped it into the bunker guarding the left of the green.He blasted out onto the fringe and two-putted for a double to crash to two-under.Stuart Appleby lost his chance when he needed a drop to get relief from a car path at the 13th.The Australian dropped the ball.It caught the edge of the path and as it rolled away his caddie, Joe Damiano, picked it up and handed it back to him.But the ball had not gone two club lengths before Damino touched it.Appleby collected a two-stroke penalty to slip from four-under par, and within one of the then lead, to two-under.A double bogey at the par five 16th confirmed the demise of Appleby.-Nampa-AFP