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Woods seals second title of the season at WGC-Cadillac Championship

Back to his best: Tiger Woods continued his incredible record in World Golf Championships this weekend

Tiger Woods claimed his second PGA Tour title of the season – and his 76th in all – courtesy of a two-shot win in the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral.

The 37-year-old held off Ryder Cup team-mate Steve Stricker to land his 17th career World Golf Championship title, with former US Open champion Graeme McDowell a further shot adrift in third place.

Woods’ victory helped him narrow the gap on world No.1 Rory McIlroy, who posted his first top ten of the season by finishing in a tie for eighth. Tiger can overtake the Northern Irishman and climb to the top of the standings for the first time in 29 months if he is able to win his next event, the Arnold Palmer Bay Hill Invitational in a fortnight’s time.

The way he played at Doral, you wouldn’t put it past him. With the help of a putting tip earlier in the week from, ironically enough, runner-up Stricker, Woods managed an incredible 27 birdies in four rounds en route to a fifth win in his last 19 strokeplay events on the PGA Tour and a 14th victory in Florida.

Even more remarkably, this latest win in what was his 283rd PGA Tour start now means that Tiger has won 27% of his events on the world’s most lucrative golf circuit.

“I played well this week,” acknowledged Woods, who won at Doral for the fourth time. It was also the fifth time that he has won a WGC event wire-to-wire. “I figured I needed to play under-par through the first 12 holes and I was able to do that.”

Woods also extended his proud record of never having lost an event on the PGA Tour when holding at least a two-shot advantage going into the final round. He is now 17 for 17 in that regard.

“I feel like my game is becoming more efficient and most consistent day in day out. I’m very pleased with the progress I’m making with Sean ,” he added.

“To play that well this entire well on a difficult course is great and being able to flush the ball again was good. I made my share of putts this week and that was great, too. especially the ‘into the grain’ putts.”

Woods is now only six wins short of Sam Snead’s record of 82 PGA Tour victories. However, it is his pursuit of Jack Nicklaus’ haul of 18 majors that remains most compelling.

Currently sitting on 14 majors, Woods will have an opportunity to narrow the gap on Nicklaus to just three when he tees it up in the Masters in just over a month’s time and he’ll be going there brimming with confidence after his impressive start to the season.

“Any time you can win prior to Augusta is nice and is something I’ve been able to do a couple of times now in my career,” said Woods. “The way I played this week is how I know I can play. To have been able to bring that out this year, contend and turn them into ‘W’s is great.”

Woods also acknowledged the part that Stricker played in his victory at Doral.

“I’ve been putting a lot home but it hadn’t felt right,” he said. “So to have Stricks help me out this week was great. He basically got me back into the same position as I was at Torrey Pines when I won earlier in the season and it felt really good. Luckily, I was able to carry it through the entire week.”

Scotland’s Scott Jamieson gave a good account of himself at Doral, finishing in a tie for 23rd. Dubai Desert Classic champion Stephen Gallacher finished in a share of 53rd with Ryder Cup hero Paul Lawrie tied for 58th.

 

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Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor

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