Tiger Woods closes gap for #1 through a nervy win at Farmers Open
Tiger Woods came into the fifth day of play with a six-shot lead over nearest challengers Brandt Snedeker and Nick Watney and with just 11 holes to play, it would have taken an unlikely sequence of events to deprive the world number two.
However he was far from his fluent best and even though he dropped four stokes in three holes from the 15th, it did not threaten to derail his charge to victory and he finished on 14 under par overall – four strokes clear of last year’s winner Snedeker.
“It got a little ugly towards the end,” admitted Woods in a short interview shown on Sky Sports 2.
“I just lost my concentration a little bit.”
Play was brought into a fifth day due to severe fog wiping out all but five minutes of action on Saturday and realistically Woods just needed to keep his composure to land his first PGA Tour victory of the season.
The 37-year-old parred his first five holes on Monday with the minimum of fuss before birdieing the 13th after two-putting from 52 feet.
But he dropped back immediately afterwards when he found a greenside bunker with his lay-up and then double bogeyed the par-four 15th after being forced to take a penalty drop.
Woods dropped another shot on the 17th and missed a 15ft birdie putt on the last – but it mattered little, his level-par 72 enough for victory.
Snedeker had just five holes on Monday to try and put some sort of pressure on Woods, but he could produce no late heroics and had to settle for a final-round 69 and a tie for second place second place alongside Josh Teater, who also carded a three-under-par round on Monday.
Watney was perhaps the best placed to challenge Woods but four bogeys in 10 holes undermined his assault and he finished in joint fourth, alongside Jimmy Walker on nine under.
Mcllroy has held number one spot since his USPGA Championship victory last August, but his advantage is now down to 3.14 points and could narrow further before he next plays at the WGC-Accenture Match Play in Arizona on February 20
The top 64 at the end of next week earn places in Tucson.
Latest leading positions in the world golf rankings:
- Rory McIlroy 12.43pts
- Tiger Woods 9.29
- Luke Donald 7.94
- Justin Rose 6.63
- Louis Oosthuizen 6.60
- Adam Scott 6.08
- Brandt Snedeker 5.74
- Lee Westwood 5.69
- Bubba Watson 5.26
- Jason Dufner 5.15
Tags: Brandt Snedeker, Farmers Open, Golf, Golf Rankings, Nick Watney, Tiger Woods
