Posted by Jason Sobel
If you stuck around and watched TV coverage of the WGC-CA Championship for three hours and 45 minutes on Sunday afternoon, you were handsomely rewarded by 6:45 p.m. ET. That's about the time Tiger Woods, who started the day with a four-stroke lead and extended it to seven at one point, started to sweat ever so slightly.
Laying up with an iron off the tee on the par-4 18th hole -- and again with his second shot that he knocked down the fairway -- Tiger watched playing partner Brett Wetterich, three shots behind, strike an approach to within a few feet of the pin. Woods countered by hitting his third shot to the back right of the green, which just happened to be the same spot from which Mark Calcavecchia putted INTO THE WATER just a few hours earlier.
All of a sudden, those of you taking a nap in front of the TV (or even -- gasp! -- watching that little basketball tournament on another network), could sit up and take notice, on the edge of your seat as the plot thickened at Doral.
For about two minutes.
Woods masterfully lagged his 52-foot par putt to within about two feet, Wetterich missed his shorty ... and remote controls around the country began clicking to bigger and better things.
As Tiger tapped in for his sixth career title in eight editions of this event -- at six different venues, no less -- we were left with a profoundly symbolic ending to a tournament that was all his since Friday afternoon. That is to say it was impressive, yet boring.
Much was made about the Tiger Woods/Roger Federer relationship this week, with both players competing in South Florida and watching each other ply their respective crafts, and Woods' victory was eminently Federer-like. He gradually dismantled the course and discouraged the competition while making things look easy.
"Conditions were not easy today. I had to grind it out," Woods told NBC after the round. "It was a struggle."
Yeah, suuuuure, Tiger. Tell that to any of the 71 world-class players who finished behind you on Sunday. When most guys struggle in a final round, they find themselves explaining away their gaffes, later sitting up at night with thoughts of missed putts on their minds. When Woods struggles, he wins by two.
This isn't any sort of major revelation -- I mean, really, the moral of the story here is that Tiger Woods is better than everyone else at golf ... duh! -- but it does serve as proof once again that when Tiger has his A-game, he's always going to win. And when he doesn't have his A-game, like on Sunday, well, there's a good chance he's going to win then, too.
Who's in my five? A few days ago, I posed the question to readers as to which five current players you'd pick to save your life. I appreciate all the responses. Now here's mine -- and it's hardly anything revolutionary: Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, Jim Furyk and Geoff Ogilvy. Oh, and that Tiger guy, too. Can't forget him.
The point of my piece was, though, that I couldn't imagine anyone would pick Henrik Stenson in this scenario, despite the fact that the Swede is currently the fifth-ranked player in the world. And you know what? Nobody did.
The prosecution rests.
