AKRON, Ohio, 29 August 2006 — Tiger Woods birdied the fourth playoff hole to beat Stewart Cink here Sunday in the $7.5 million World Golf Championships Bridgestone Invitational.
Woods’ triumph came 10 years to the day after he turned professional, and made the elite WGC event the first that the superstar has won five times.
It wasn’t easy, but in the end he did enough to record his 11th victory in 21 WGC starts.
Woods closed with a two-under-par 68 to tie Ryder Cup teammate Cink, who shot a 69 for 10-under 270, one shot ahead of Jim Furyk.
“I was lucky even to be in a playoff,” Woods said. “I was not hitting it well the last two days. I was struggling, just trying to piece it together somehow.
“Wins like this show what you have inside, because you don’t really have it physically, and you somehow find something,” Woods added. “That’s not always easy, but I’ve done it before and been successful, so I’ve just kept drawing on my experiences.”
Woods now has 52 PGA Tour victories and has won his past four starts, beginning with the British Open and including the Buick Open and PGA Championship.
At least Cink made it a fight, overcoming a three-shot deficit on the final three holes to force the playoff.
At the third extra hole, the par-four 18th, Cink saw an eight-footer for par just trickle past. Woods had missed his par putt from a similar length, his ball stopping right on line but agonizingly short, and Cink knew he would never get a better chance. Based on past experience, he thought his putt would break sharply right-to-left.
“I was there last year or the year before, on the same line or maybe two feet closer, and my putt snapped left,” Cink recalled. “Golfers, we don’t forget anything. We might forget our anniversary now and then, but we don’t forget any shots.
“I just did what I know how to do, and that’s pick a line and commit to it and trust it. I had an image of the ball breaking to the left and it never really did.
“That was my real chance right there. I couldn’t convert and that’s why he’s got the trophy.” Woods admitted he got a big lift from Cink’s miscue. “I got a huge boost of momentum because I shouldn’t have been there,” Woods said.
At the next, the par-four 17th, he shrugged off driving rain to stick an eight-iron 10 feet under the hole and went on to improve his tour playoff record to 10-1.
It is the only event Woods has won five times, while he has been victorious four times each in four other tournaments, including the Masters.
He said he was just sorry his father Earl, who died of cancer in May, couldn’t see his current hot streak.
“To see the way he battled through what he went through certainly inspires everyone,” Woods said. “He was never supposed to live as long as he did. I’ve never wanted to not fight on a golf course, so you can see where I get it from.” Woods started the day a stroke behind Cink, and made three birdies in four holes starting at the 10th to open a three-shot cushion with five to play. But he missed a five-foot par putt at the 16th to open the door and Cink birdied the same hole from 15 feet for a two-shot swing.
With a suddenly hot putter, Cink also birdied the 17th, this time from 20 feet, to tie it up, before they both parred 18 to go to extra holes.
“It took a lot of patience because I just couldn’t buy the putts out there,” said Cink, who had only one birdie all day until the 16th hole. “I’m pretty proud of the way I played.” When Woods turned professional in 1996, Cink predicted he would not win enough money in the two months left of the season to avoid a trip to qualifying school. Instead, Woods won twice in his first seven starts.“I stopped making predictions about Tiger at that point and I’m not going to do it now,” he said.
