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Woods wins for fourth time this season and ends Sawgrass hoodoo

To the four: Tiger Woods racked up his fourth title of 2013 courtesy of a two-shot win at TPC Sawgrass

Tiger Woods won his fourth title of the season at the Players Championship – and, in doing so, ended his poor record at TPC Sawgrass.

The world No.1 carded a final round of two-under-par 70, which contained five birdies, a bogey and a double-bogey, to hold off compatriots Kevin Streelman and Jeff Maggert and little-known Swede David Lingmerth to win the game’s unofficial fifth major for only the second time in his career.

Woods’ only previous victory in the tournament came in 2001 and, in the time since, he had managed only one other top ten at the Pete Dye-designed course in Florida.

However, he put any demons he might have about the venue to rest with a deserved win which extended his lead at the top of the world rankings.

“I hadn’t played really well here since 2000, 2001,” said Woods afterwards. “This golf course has been a little bit tricky over the years, and I’m not the only one who’s struggled with it. It’s a tough course. Fortunately, I think this year I’ve been playing really well, and the last tournament I played in, I played really well.
“So coming here I was pretty confident in what I was doing. I was hitting the golf ball well. And the way I was playing at Augusta, I was shaping the golf ball both ways and controlling my trajectory, and I thought that was important coming into this week.”

The win was the 78th of Woods’ PGA Tour career and puts him within four of Sam Snead’s all-time record.

It also continued a remarkable streak which has seen Woods win on his 100th, 200th and now 300th starts on the tour.

Woods’ cause was helped in no small part by a back nine implosion by Sergio Garcia who frittered away six shots on his final two holes to blow his hopes of winning the championship for a second time.

Tied with Woods for the lead when he reached the famous 17th, the Spaniard conspired to dunk not one but two shots in the water, racking up a wretched quadruple-bogey seven, before carding a double at the last.

Talking about the 17th, Garcia said: ‘That hole has been good to me for the most part. Today it wasn’t. That’s the way it is. That’s the kind of hole it is. You’ve got to love it for what it is.”

Scotland’s Martin Laird continued his love affair with TPC Sawgrass. After finishing runner-up to Matt Kuchar last year, the Glaswegian was tied for fifth this time around after a joint ‘best of the day’ 67 in his final round.

“That’s one of the best rounds I’ve played all year and one of the best rounds I’ve played in a while,” said the 30-year-old.

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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.