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For Tiger Woods, the next stop is someplace no player in PGA Tour history has been.
With a three-stroke triumph in the inaugural Zozo Championship in Japan, Woods won his 82nd career PGA Tour title, tying Sam Snead as the all-time victory leader.
Woods’ next victory – assuming there is one – puts him atop the mountain alone.
“Just crazy,” Woods said of his achievement. “I’ve been consistent most of my career and put myself up there with a chance to win on a number of occasions. Sometimes I didn’t but today was one of those days I pulled it out.”
Woods finished at 19-under par, holing a birdie putt on the final green to punctuate his victory. Two months shy of his 44th birthday, Woods is a vastly different player than the one who won his first event in Las Vegas in 1996.
“Physically I can’t do any of the things I used to do. My body can’t do what it used to do,” he said. “I certainly can think my way around the golf course. … I know how to play.”
U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland, who played the final 36 holes with Woods, watched it from close range.
“It’s unbelievable,” Woodland said. “That was pretty special.”
Woodland, who finished fifth, and Woods may have both played themselves onto the U.S. Presidents Cup team. Woods will announce his four captain’s picks next Monday and has hinted he wants to be a playing captain.
“I think the player definitely got the captain’s attention,” Woods said.
It was a remarkable achievement for Woods on several levels, not the least of which was how he started the Zozo Championship. After a relatively flat performance in a skins game last Monday, he bogeyed his first three holes in Thursday's opening round and looked rusty.
Suddenly, though, he began holing putts and what could have been a crushing start turned into a nine-birdie 64 that staked Woods to a share of the first-round lead. From there, he controlled the tournament’s storyline.
He tacked on a second-round 64 and let others jockey for position behind him while he worked through a 29-hole Sunday. When play was suspended Sunday evening, Woods led Matsuyama by three strokes with seven holes remaining.
Woods did not start well in the final-round restart Monday, making a bogey at the 12th hole when he chunked a 6-iron into a greenside bunker, allowing Matsuyama to creep to within two strokes.
Moments after Matsuyama missed a short birdie putt that would have narrowed the margin to one, Woods responded with a birdie that pushed his lead to three strokes again. Matsuyama birdied the 16th to get to within two with two holes to play but Woods methodically finished off his record-tying victory with near-flawless execution on the closing holes.
It was the 25th time Woods has taken at least a three-stroke lead into the final round and the 25th time he has converted it into a victory.
Before the tournament, Woods revealed that he had intended to have surgery on his left knee in late 2018 but delayed it because he was playing so well at the time. He said his performance fell off last summer due to issues with his knee and, consequently, his oblique as he grappled with the injury.
The first PGA Tour event played in Japan had its challenges due to the weather. Having endured the effects of three recent typhoons, Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Chiba was inundated with approximately 8 inches of rain on Friday, leaving the course unplayable.
Spectators were not allowed on site when the second round was played on Saturday. Fans returned on Sunday when players ground through a long day, completing the third round and getting more than halfway through the final round before a suspension pushed the conclusion to Monday morning.
RESULTS | MONEY LIST
Staff and Wire Reports