Tiger seals return to winner’s circle

Woods ends 30-month winless drought with five-shot victory at Bay Hill

Hello again, world: Tiger Woods’ victory at Bay Hill was his first in 924 days on the PGA Tour

Tiger Woods ended a 30-month winless drought on the PGA Tour by claiming the Arnold Palmer Bay Hill Invitational.

The former world No.1 picked-up his 72nd tour title – and his first since the BMW Championship in 2009 – with a five-shot win over Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell in Florida.

Leading by one shot going into the final round, Woods looked back to his brilliant best in the final round and harnessed tough scoring conditions with ease, whilst his nearest rivals all fell by the wayside.

The win was the 36-year-old’s first on the PGA Tour in 924 days and catapulted him to sixth place on the Official World Golf Rankings with the first major of the season, the Masters, beginning a week on Thursday.

“This is pure joy,” said a delighted Woods afterwards. “If you look at my results, I had the lead in Australia, had the lead in Abu Dhabi, I was there in contention at Pebble, and I was in contention at the Honda. I’ve been close for a number of tournaments now. It was just a matter of just staying the course and staying patient, keep working on fine‑tuning what we’re doing, and here we are.”

Woods’ game has been rocked over the past few years by an infidelity scandal, which ultimately cost him his marriage, and a host of injuries. As such, he admitted it was nice to finally be back in the winner’s circle again.

“It’s not like winning a major championship or anything, but it certainly feels really good,” he said. “I just felt that I’ve been making steps in the right direction. It just had not shown up for all four days yet. And I’ve been so close to putting it together.”

Watching Woods dominant final round performance was very much reminiscent of the days of old when his very presence at the top of the leaderboard would make his closest challengers capitulate.

Indeed, he was gifted the perfect start when his playing partner McDowell double-bogeyed the opening hole to hand Tiger an immediate three-shot advantage.

Others, including Ian Poulter and Ernie Els – who needed a strong finish in order to boost his fast-faading hopes of earning a spot in the field for the Masters – were also unable to eat into Woods’ lead and it quickly became clear that this was going to be a victory procession for the 14-time major-winner.

The timing of the victory will have been extra sweet for Woods as it comes ahead of former swing coach Hank Haney’s ‘tell all’ book about his time working with Tiger being published this week.

The attention now shifts to the Masters where Woods will do battle with the likes of Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy as he aims to win his fifth Green Jacket.

Woods’ most recent major victory came in 2008, where he famously hobbled to the US Open title at Torrey Pines. Since then, he has missed four of golf’s marquee tournaments and finished in the top ten six times.

Despite the fact he has not won at Augusta since 2005, his record there makes for somewhat impressive reading. Indeed, since he made his debut in the Masters as an amateur in 1995, he has finished outwith the top ten only four times and has been no worse than tied-sixth every year since 2005.

Meanwhile, in other news, Arnold Palmer – the host of the Bay Hill tournament – was hospitalised yesterday afternoon with high blood pressure.

He is believed to have taken ill as a result of new medication that he has been taken and, unfortunately, was unable to attend the prize-giving ceremony.

Palmer’s long-time business manager Alastair Johnston said: “It wasn’t anything to do with any ailments or any discomfort he felt. The blood pressure was at a level where the doctor involved suggested that he go immediately to get more intensive evaluation at the hospital.”

The seven-time major champion was kept in overnight as a precaution.

Bryce Ritchie is the Editor of bunkered and, in addition to leading on content and strategy, oversees all aspects of the brand. The first full-time journalist employed by bunkered, he joined the company in 2001 and has been editor since 2009. A member of Balfron Golfing Society, he currently plays off nine and once got a lesson from Justin Thomas’ dad.

Editor of bunkered