Tiger Woods birdied the final hole to take the Bay Hill Invitational by one stroke from fellow American Phil Mickelson. Woods carded 69 for 15-under 273, while Mickelson shot 66 for 274. It was Woods first win on the US Tour this year, and earned him $63,000. Grant Waite finished four strokes further adrift in third, with Greg Norman, Vijay Singh, Steve Lowery and Sergio Garcia a further shot off the pace in tied fourth.
Woods had started the day in the lead, and after 5 holes was tied at the top of the leaderboard with Sergio Garcia, until Garcia carded a triple bogey at the par 5 sixth, to leave Woods with a clear lead. Woods was 13 under after 8 holes and looked to be coasting, three strokes ahead of Mickelson who was playing one hole ahead of the world number one, but a series of birdies along the back nine left the pair tied on –14 with Mickelson in the clubhouse and Woods coming down the last.
Woods hit his approach to 15 feet from the cup and, with tension high, holed a curling putt to avoid a playoff and kick start his season. The timing of the win will not be lost on his fellow professionals with the Players Championship coming next week, and the first major of the season, the US Masters, in three weeks time.
Filed by Dónal Moriarty
