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| March 25, 2003 | Tuesday | Muharram 21, 1424 |
Landmark success for Tiger Woods
ORLANDO (Florida), March 24: Tiger Woods overcame food poisoning to turn a five-shot lead into an 11-stroke victory here Sunday, making PGA history between dry heaves by winning his fourth Bay Hill Invitational in a row.
Woods fired a bogey-free four-under par 68 final round in rainy weather to finish at 19-under par 269, leaving runner-ups Kirk Triplett, Stewart Cink, Kenny Perry and Brad Faxon adrift. Australia’s Aaron Baddeley was sixth at 281.
The rout matched the third-largest victory margin of Woods’ career, following his 15-stroke romp at the 2000 US Open and the 12-stroke triumph at the 1997 Masters for his first major title.
Woods also became only the third player to win the same tournament four years in a row, the first since Gene Sarazen at the Miami Open in 1930. Walter Hagan also shares the mark after winning the PGA Championship from 1924-1927.
But he did it the hard way, fighting through nausea caused by a home cooked pasta meal only two days after his girlfriend, model Elin Nordegren, collapsed at the 4.5 million-dollar event with her own bout of food poisoning.
Woods, whose victory paid 810,000 dollars, said he considered checking himself into a hospital but did not want to risk missing the final round no matter how ill he felt.
The victory was the 37th career PGA triumph for Woods and his third in four starts this year. Rivals could only wonder at how to stop Woods when he is healthy after the spanking he gave them here while queasy and heaving.
Faxon, with a front-row view of Woods’ pains as his playing partner, offered the leader some stomach-settling medicine during the round.
Woods, 27, is a huge favorite at next week’s Players Championship and at next month’s Masters, where he could become the first man to ever win three years in a row at Augusta National Golf Club.
Woods has finished a combined 65-under par over the past four years during his triumphs at Bay Hill, an event near Woods’ home that is hosted by golf legend Arnold Palmer.
South Africa’s Ernie Els, touted as a rival to Woods this season after a hot start, faded to a 5-over 77, finishing in a share of 38th that was 19 strokes off Woods’ pace.
Els did blame a sore hand for his troubles but it was clear that his four titles and two runner-up showings meant little with Woods sidelined after knee surgery.
Leading scores
269 - Tiger Woods
280 - Kirk Triplett, Stewart Cink, Brad Faxon, Kenny Perry
281 - Aaron Baddeley
282 - Jeff Sluman, Jerry Kelly, J.L. Lewis
283 - Ben Crane, Pat Perez, Ty Tryon, Jeff Brehaut, Steve Flesch, Stephen Ames, Billy Andrade, Jonathan Kaye
284 - Tim Petrovic, Scott Verplank
285 - Vijay Singh
286 - Adam Scott, Stephen Leaney, Nick Faldo, Carl Pettersson
287 - Niclas Fasth, K.J. Choi, Peter Lonard, Colin Montgomerie, Craig Parry
288 - Alexander Cejka, Darren Clarke, Ernie Els.—AFP
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