While the young guns provided a window into the future, Tiger Woods showed them just who owns the AT&T National.
As the “greedy host†he promised to be, Woods took the lead with a 20-foot birdie on the 16th and then parred the final two holes for his 68th PGA Tour victory.
Hunter Mahan equalled the course record set by Anthony Kim Thursday with a final-round 62. That was good for second place.
Both Mahan and Kim are seen as challengers to Woods’ top ranking. But not just yet as the world number one continued his successful comeback from a knee operation that sidelined him for eight months.
However, Woods’ mind is probably thinking of Britain, for more than one reason. First, his good friend, tennis king Roger Federer won Wimbledon for his record 15th Grand Slam. Then there is the British Open – the season’s third major.
Woods is still waiting for the golf equivalent of Federer’s achievement – his 15th major. It failed to come at his first comeback major, the US Masters. Then Woods was unable to defend his US Open crown at Bethpage Black last month.
The British Open at Turnberry is his next chance at a major as he pursues Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18.
It is only a matter of translating his Tour form to the majors, something Woods has plenty of experience doing, except this year, in which he has so far won the last tournaments he had played before the majors.
On the European Tour, German Martin Kaymer won the France Open at Le Golf National when he beat England’s Lee Westwood in a play-off.
Both players finished on 13-under 271 for the tournament after Westwood stormed into a contention with a final round of six-under 65.
However, Westwood found water in the play-off and bogeyed while Kaymer, who closed with 68, birdied the 470-yard, par-four 18th for victory.
It was Kaymer’s third title on the European Tour and lifted him into the top 20 of the world rankings.
Englishman Ian Poulter was third, three strokes behind, after his closing round of 67 while Denmark’s Anders Hansen (66) and Swede Peter Hanson (70) were tied for fourth on 275.
Ireland’s Padraig Harrington, the British Open champion who defends his title in two weeks time, failed to make the cut after opening rounds of 72 and 75.
Meanwhile, South Korean Yi Eun-jung almost had nothing to show after squandering a six-stroke lead but held on in the play-off to win the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic in Ohio.
Yi beat Morgan Pressel on the first play-off hole for her first LPGA victory, having started the day four shots ahead and then increasing it to six with a couple of birdies out of the gate.
However, Pressel slowly chipped away at her lead and ended on four-under-par 67 to tie Yi, who made even-par 71, on 18-under 266. Yi made birdie in the play-off while Pressel tapped in for par after narrowly failing to hole a birdie putt.
Michelle Wie continued her solid form in her first season as a full-time LPGA pro with a career-best 64 for a total of 268. She was tied for third with Lee Seon-hwa and Kim Song-hee.
World number one Lorena Ochoa, of Mexico, was tied for eighth with two other players on 270.
For Yi, the victory was a significant improvement on her recent form in which she failed to make the cut in four of seven starts in 2009. Her previous best finish was 26th at the Corona Championship.
