Woods has never lost any tournament as a pro when leading by more than one shot going into the final round. The only historical hope for anyone Sunday was that Woods twice failed to win with a share of the 54-hole lead, both times at East Lake.
But that hope didn't last long.
Calcavecchia birdied the first hole to get within two shots, and while that was as close as anyone got to him all day, there were a few nervous moments.
Woods took bogey on No. 2 when his short par spun out of the cup, then his wedge to the third flew over the green and into a bed of pine straw. It looked like a sure bogey, which would cut his margin to one, but he hit a beautiful flop shot 8 feet and the putt caught just enough of the lip to drop in for par.
The pivotal shot, if there was one, came on the par-3 sixth hole. The tee was all the way back, a 200-yard carry over the lake, and Woods hit his tee shot to 3 feet for birdie. He slapped hands with caddie Steve Williams walking off the tee, and the rest became a formality with a few peculiar twists.
Johnson, who flirted with a 59 on Saturday to get back in the mix, made three straight birdies and was standing over a 30-foot eagle putt on the ninth that would have pulled him within two shots of the lead. But he was interrupted by the thud of a ball landing on the front of the green, and Johnson's caddie looked back toward the fairway waving his hand.
It was Woods' second shot from the left rough, from 286 yards away. Johnson ran his putt 4 feet by the hole and three-putted for par, and Woods got up-and-down for birdie to stretch his lead to five.
Woods hustled to the green to apologize, and everyone left with smiles.
The only drama remaining was how low Woods could go, a record that likely will never be broken at East Lake given the unusual circumstances. The greens were nearly died a few weeks ago from record heat and a drought, and while the tour staff did an admirable job getting them playable for the Tour Championship, they were soft and slow, and the pins were kept away from the barren spots around the edges of the greens.
It was target practice from the opening shot, reflected it in the record scoring.
- Text Size:
- Small Text
- Medium Text
- Large Text
