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| February 6, 2006 | Monday | Muharram 7, 1427 |
Woods stuns Els in sudden death play-off
DUBAI, Feb 5: Tiger Woods finally drew his line in the sand when he won the Dubai Desert Classic for the first time on Sunday defeating great rival Ernie Els in a sudden death play-off.
Woods clinched it at the first extra hole after Els had dumped his second shot into the lake guarding the 18th green.
It was a second playoff win in two weeks for Woods after he lifted the Buick Invitational last Sunday in his first tournament of the year.
And it takes his worldwide career playoff record to an incredible 12 wins against just one loss (to Billy Mayfair at the 1998 Nissan Open).
Both Woods and Els finished on 19-under par 269 after the world No.1 closed with a 69 and the fifth ranked South African came in with a 67.
Woods then split the fairway down the dogleg, par-five closing hole used for the playoff, a layout he desribes as “quirky”.
Next up, Els, a three-times former winner here and the defending champion, looked aghast after hitting an errant drive into sandy scrub.
The American was safely on in two in light rough at the back of the green and then Els with a bad lie on packed sand sent his ball into the water agonisingly short of clearing the obstacle.
Els took a drop and was on in four but far from the hole, and Woods chipped close and two putted for the championship.
Els, back to top form after five months on the sidelines last year to recover from a knee injury, said that he had not done what he had intended to do with the drive on the play-off hole.
Els looked like he was on the way to a record fourth win in the European PGA Tour event as he came from two behind joint third round leaders Woods and Dane Anders Hansen to take a two stroke lead over the field after birdies at the third, fourth and eighth.
But he failed to capitalise over the back nine as Woods began to rediscover his driving touch just when he needed it most.
They both could have lost out however to Australian lefty Richard Green.
A winner here in 1997, Green sunk three lengthy putts in a row from the 15th to take a one stroke lead going into the 18th. But he hit a poor drive into trees and that cost him the title as he limped in with a bogey six.
Both Els and, in the following group Woods, produced birdie finishes to edge ahead of the Melburnian and force the playoff.
Green had to settle for third place one stroke off the pace with Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez and Hansen tied for fourth a further stroke back.
Final round scores:
269 - Tiger Woods 67-66-67-69, Ernie Els 68-66-68-67 (Woods won sudden death playoff at first extra hole)
270 - Richard Green 64-69-69-68
271 - Anders Hansen 68-63-69-71, Miguel Angel Jimenez 69-67-66-69
272 - Retief Goosen 64-67-70-71
273 - Darren Clarke 68-68-70-67, Henrik Stenson 67-70-68-68
274 - Nick Dougherty 67-66-70-71, Emanuele Canonica 69-68-71-66
275 - Raphael Jacquelin 68-71-68-68, Niclas Fasth 67-68-73-67
276 - Jyoti Randhawa 71-68-66-71, Bradley Dredge 70-66-68-72, Johan Edfors 69-67-72-68
277 - Christopher Hanell 71-71-67-68, Richard Sterne 69-69-70-69, Paul Casey 67-69-71-70
278 - David Lynn 66-74-71-67, Simon Dyson 70-71-66-71
279 - Stephen Gallacher 70-69-68-72, Damien McGrane 68-68-73-70, Thongchai Jaidee 70-71-69-69, Peter Lawrie 69-66-69-75, Paul Broadhurst 69-69-67-74, Paul Lawrie 71-70-70-68.
FBR Open scores
SCOTTSDALE (Arizona): Leading third-round scores on Saturday from the 5.2 million-dollar FBR Open:
197 - JB Holmes 68-64-65
198 - JJ Henry 67-61-70, Ryan Palmer 68-66-64
200 - Justin Leonard 69-66-65, David Toms 68-66-66
201 - Camilo Villegas 68-67-66, Dean Wilson 69-66-66
202 - Rory Sabbatini 69-69-64, Scott Verplank 69-66-67
203 - Jonathan Byrd 70-65-68, Steve Lowery 65-68-70
204 - Henrik Bjornstad 67-69-68, James Driscoll 66-72-66, Joe Ogilvie 67-70-67, Tom Pernice 69-70-65, Kenny Perry 72-65-67, Kirk Triplett 67-69-68
205 - Thomas Levet 67-72-66
206 - Brian Davis 69-68-69, Geoff Ogilvy 67-72-67, Jesper Parnevik 70-69-67
207 - Trevor Immelman 69-69-69
208 - Daniel Chopra 73-65-70, Nathan Green 69-70-69, Bernhard Langer 71-68-69, Justin Rose 69-68-71, Vijay Singh 71-68-69
209 - Carlos Franco 70-70-69, Fredrik Jacobson 70-68-71, John Senden 69-72-68
210 - Robert Allenby 70-67-73, Alex Cejka 65-73-72, Rod Pampling 68-73-69
213- Hidemichi Tanaka 69-70-74
215 - Shigeki Maruyama 70-71-74.—Agencies
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