Oct. 25, 1999
Woods wins 6th tour stop of season
By Hunki Yun
The Orlando Sentinel
(KRT)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — All Tiger Woods was missing was
the hard hat and the lunch bucket.
For Woods, winning has become as routine as a 9-to-5 job, punching
in on Thursday and walking away Sunday night with the trophy and
yet another winner's check for a hard week's work.
“I think by winning here this week,” said Woods, who
shot a 1-over 73 Sunday, “it goes to show you that all the
hard work that I've done is starting to come together now.”
Woods finished at 17-under to win his second National Car Rental
Golf Classic at Walt Disney World Resort. Ernie Els shot 71 to
move into second, one shot behind. Third round co-leader Bob Tway,
who played with Woods, shot 76 to finish tied for third with Franklin
Langham, three shots back.
The victory, worth $450,000, gave Woods $4,716,585 for the year,
opening a margin of nearly $1.2 million over David Duval, the
1998 Classic champion.
With two events left, the Tour Championship and the American Express
Championship, Woods already has shattered the single-season money
record of $2,592,031, set by Duval last year.
With a combined first prize of $1.9 million the next two weeks,
Woods could earn more than $6 million this year.
In addition, he can add to his current total of six tour wins,
the most of any player since Tom Watson won six in 1980. But the
23-year-old Woods isn't ready to look ahead yet.
“I don't think you really sit back and take a look at the
whole season until your season's over,” said Woods, who also
won an event on the European tour in May and likes to say he has
won seven times this year.
“I'm throwing in Germany,” he said, “because that
was a good victory to beat their best field over there.”
The Atlanta Braves or New York Yankees would have loved to have
Woods' winning percentage in the five months since his win in
Germany. He has won six of the nine events he has started, including
his second major, the PGA Championship.
“It makes you feel that you're on the right track,”
said Woods, who continues a run of six events in six weeks with
the Tour Championship, which begins Thursday. “To do it a
few times, it definitely reiterates the fact that I am working
on the right things.”
All that practice and hard work came through in his blue-collar
final round, in which Woods had to grind on virtually every shot.
It wasn't pretty, but Woods managed to hit one fewer shot than
Els, doing whatever was necessary to win.
“He's one shot better than the rest of the field,” said
Els, who had his best finish since winning the Nissan Open in
February. “It's a concern for the rest of us.”
Al Davis said it best when it came to describing Woods' latest
triumph.
“Just win, baby,” said the owner of the Oakland/Los
Angeles Raiders, and just win was what Woods did on a tough day
for all the players in the field, as the wind kicked up and dried
out the undulating greens of the Magnolia course.
Add difficult hole locations, on tops of crests and on slopes,
and putting became an adventure.
“The greens were just incredibly fast,” said Woods,
who had three three3-putts. “I saw Brad Faxon -- the best
putter in the world -- almost hit a putt off the green on 12.
And if he can almost putt it off the green, you know it must be
tough.”
The challenge to Woods came from both his playing partner Bob
Tway, who led by two shots heading to the 10th tee, and from the
group ahead, where Els tied Woods with a birdie on the 13th hole.
Els lost chances to win the Classic in his first appearance by
hitting into the water on 14 and three-putting the difficult 17th
green, falling out of the lead with each miscue.
“It's always harder when someone's in front of you,”
said Woods, who has won 10 of 11 times he has led or tied for
the lead going into the final round. “Because you really
can't see what they're doing.”
But Woods was able to hold on with four consecutive pars to finish,
including a difficult two-putt on the final green.
“That putt has to go up over a crest and then down,”
said Woods, who lagged to two feet before tapping in. “You
have to harness all your energies into that one putt. I was lucky
enough to hit it with good speed and leave myself an uphill putt.”
It was a relieved Woods who posed with Mickey and Minnie while
his colleagues contemplated their own careers.
“Nobody can touch this guy right now,” Els said. “He
has gone to another level where I don't think the rest of us can
really find right now. It is hard to explain.”
The way Woods is going, he may be pointing a lot of players to
the help-wanted section.
(c) 1999, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).
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