Woodstock, Oct 07: Tiger Woods' 39th PGA Tour victory was really never in doubt Sunday. Woods started the day leading by two over Vijay Singh and three over Tim Herron. And Woods let both contenders make the mistakes as he played conservative golf.
Over the first two holes, both Singh and Herron bogeyed. That not only increased Woods' lead, but it solidified Woods' decision to stay with a methodical and conservative game plan.
"Today was just being conservative," Woods said. "I didn't have to try and shoot a low number today. I knew that if I shot one (over), maybe two at the most, that would get the job done. As it turned out, after nine holes, I figured probably even par for the day would win, probably win by one, but it ended up by being more than that."
Woods didn't make birdie until the short par-4 fifth hole, but would give it back on the ninth. With that bogey, Woods' lead would shrink to one slim stroke.
Herron bogeyed the 10th to slip to two back, but regained that shot when he made a birdie on the par-5 12th hole. Woods made his second and final birdie of the day on the 12th and extended the lead to two again.



Both Herron and Woods would make a multitude of bogeys over the last five holes, Herron with four and Woods with three, although Herron did manage a birdie on the 17th.



"Timmy was making a run, but it was so difficult to try and make a lot of birdies," Woods said. "But overall the golf course is playing so difficult, if you get too aggressive, you can run the ball off those edges and be 30, 40 yards away from the flag with a good shot, so you had to be kind of conservative, and then hopefully you could get the hot putter going. The pins were much tighter to the sides than they were yesterday, and with the firm greens it made it even more difficult to try to get it close."


Bureau Report