Host With the Most

By John Hawkins
Photos by Darren Carroll July 13, 2009

Ten years from now, or even in 10 months, Tiger Woods' 68th PGA Tour victory is unlikely to pack any particular historic relevance. He didn't make a 16-footer at the buzzer by the light of the moon, as was the case when he won at Bay Hill in March. He didn't need to go 91 holes on a torn ACL and microfractures in his shin, which made last year's U.S. Open triumph the ultimate testament of Woods' toughness and willpower.

He beat Hunter Mahan by a stroke with a 13-under 267 at the AT&T National, an event that exists primarily because Woods is the tournament host. Since this was the first time Tiger actually presented a trophy to himself, ground was broken, but as big deals go, that ground amounted to a patch of small potatoes. All three of Sir Eldrick's 2009 victories have come at invitationals with legends on the box cover—Arnie, Jack, himself—in his final start before a major. Again, this would mean something if Woods had won at Augusta National or Bethpage.

So there have been bigger Ws, more dramatic Ws and more timely Ws. At Congressional CC on Fourth of July weekend, the significance was subtle, the statement delivered without an exclamation point, the context provided by the two guys who finished immediately behind him. After five years of stops and starts, Mahan has made it abundantly clear he is ready to become one of the game's best young players. A final-round 62 (matching the course-record score posted by Anthony Kim three days earlier) on a U.S. Open venue with nearly every pin set on danger's edge? You must be kidding.

If it wasn't the round of the year, it was the best round nobody saw coming. "I certainly didn't see that score out there," Woods said of Mahan's eight-under Sunday. "I birdied the 10th and had a three-shot lead, make one bogey, then all of a sudden it's tied. I'm like, 'What the hell happened?' "

What happened was Mahan took a blowtorch to the old ballyard. He hit 16 greens in regulation and made six birdies on the back nine, more than anyone in the final seven pairings made all day. You have to look long and hard to find anyone who drives the ball better than the sleepy-eyed Texan, and though he has always been poor around the greens— Mahan is one of the poorer chippers on tour—there are a lot of days when that doesn't matter. Especially in the last month.

In a four-start stretch that began with a T-14 at the Memorial, Mahan has finished higher each week. He was in the thick of the Monday mix at Bethpage before ending up T-6, went 63-64 on the weekend in Hartford (T-4), then made Woods sweat all the way home last Sunday. Tiger's 20-footer for birdie at the par-5 16th proved to be the difference, a putt that found the mark just as Mahan arrived on the range to prepare for a playoff that never happened.

The dude has made a few of those over the years. "I grabbed something to eat and was watching with Elin [Woods' wife] and their kids," Mahan said. "He missed [a birdie attempt] on the 14th, and I yelled, 'Yes!' in a joking manner. It was funny because you usually don't see him miss putts."

Tiger spent the day with Kim, with whom he shared the 54-hole lead. As final pairings go, this was the sexiest matchup of the '09 season, a fitting treat for the massive galleries that turned out for the third edition of this tournament. Every hole on Congressional's front nine was surrounded by thousands of spectators, something you never see on the PGA Tour, the humanity so thick you basically had to park somewhere to see anything, then skip a couple of holes and hope nobody was following you.