Tiger - won by two shots (Getty Images).
By Mark Garrod, PA Sport Golf Correspondent, Atlanta
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Tiger Woods is back at the top of the US Tour after an amazing eighth World
Golf Championship victory in 15 attempts on Sunday night.
The world No 1 withstood a challenge led by fellow American Tim Herron and
world No 3 Vijay Singh, the man who led the money list going into the week, to
win the American Express championship by two shots at the Capital City Club
Crabapple course in Atlanta.
It was Woods' fifth title of the year - none of them majors this time, however
- and the 52nd of his career. A career that is still only seven years old.
The victory was also the 100th for New Zealand caddie Steve Williams and Woods
said: "People have no idea how big this win is. I've been trying all summer to
get him to 100. He has meant a lot to the success I've had."
For the 34th time out of 38, Woods converted a 54-hole lead into success.
There simply is no better front-runner in the whole of sport.
Defending the title he won at Mount Juliet in Ireland last year - and where he
will now defend it again next season - Woods was two in front with a round to go
this time and, although that twice came down to one shot when he bogeyed the
ninth and 14th, he was never caught.
Herron shot himself in the foot by three-putting the 14th and 15th and also
bogeying the 16th and 18th, while Singh dropped shots at the 10th, 11th and
15th.
Woods bogeyed the last two holes himself, but knew he had the shots in hand.
He finished with a two-over 72 for a six-under-par total of 274.
Meanwhile, Padraig Harrington birdied the last three holes for a 66 and joint
sixth place, two ahead of Paul Casey, while Darren Clarke's 68 for 38th place
just kept alive his hopes of catching Ernie Els for the European Order of Merit
title.
For that to happen, however, Clarke has to win both the Madrid Open and Volvo
Masters, the last two counting events.
The World Golf Championships were introduced only in 1999, but with this
latest 1,050,000-dollar cheque, Woods has now earned a staggering 10 million
dollars from them. That is more than Jack Nicklaus in his entire 41-year,
18-major career.
Only once has Woods finished outside the top five - a first-round defeat to
Peter O'Malley in the 2002 Accenture match play - and three American Express
titles can now be added to three NEC Invitationals, one World Cup (with David
Duval) and the match play crown he grabbed in February in just his third event
back from knee surgery.
A record fifth successive money list title is not in the bag yet, though, and
will probably come down to the season-ending Tour Championship in Houston on
November 6-9.
Key to Woods' latest triumph was his switch to a new Nike Ignite driver. It
has indeed ignited things for him again - his last victory was at the start of
July.
"I wanted to take advantage of the technology advancements and I'm pretty
excited about this," said the 27-year-old, who clearly needed to do something.
He was 148th in driving accuracy.
"I started shaping the ball again and hitting some nice high draws. That's
what I wanted to see and I'm very happy with it.
"I'm just like any other golfer. I'm always going to try and find something a
little better."
In the first round he still hit only six of the 14 fairways and in the second
seven. But in the third round the count was up to 10 and, with added length as
well, his confidence was high.
So high he could not be stopped.
Singh has finished second, fourth, fifth, fourth and third on the US money
list the past five seasons, but now must try to topple Woods again to add a
first. It won't be easy.
Harrington, without a win since May, said: "That was good to come home in 31.
My game is getting back into shape.
"I worked hard on my mental game this week and overcame some of the tough
mental challenges."
In stark contrast, first-round leader Sergio Garcia dropped six strokes in the
last six holes to fall away to 12th.
Casey commented: "I was sick at the beginning of the week with a fever and
had my back strapped up on Friday. That wasn't ideal preparation and in the
circumstances to finish in the top 10, considering I thought about pulling out
after three holes on Friday, is pretty good."
Swindon's David Howell was out in a best-of-the-week 30, but had to settle for
a 68 and eight over aggregate, the same as Justin Rose. They were 28th, while
Brian Davis and Lee Westwood were one further back.
Ian Poulter had no fewer than nine bogeys in a 78 for 13 over, one worse than
Alastair Forsyth, while Colin Montgomerie (76) was 15 over, Phillip Price (75)
16 over and Mark Foster (74) 20 over and 68th of the 72-man field.
Collated final totals (USA unless stated, par 70):
274 Tiger Woods 67 66 69 72 (£632,644)
276 Stuart Appleby (Aus) 71 68 69 68, Tim Herron 66 72 67 71, Vijay Singh
(Fij) 70 70 64 72 (£244,020 each)
277 David Toms 73 72 67 65 (£141,591)
279 Padraig Harrington (Irl) 71 73 69 66, KJ Choi (Kor) 67 71 68 73 (£109,959
each)
281 Paul Casey (Gbr) 73 71 66 71, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 73 69 67 72 (£82,846
each)
282 Fred Couples 71 73 70 68, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 68 71 69 74
283 Alex Cejka (Ger) 70 76 72 65, Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 74 71 67, Jim Furyk 70 74
69 70, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 65 73 70 75
284 Niclas Fasth (Swe) 68 76 70 70, Loren Roberts 69 75 70 70, Rocco Mediate
66 72 73 73, Brad Faxon 75 71 66 72
285 Jonathan Kaye 73 69 73 70
286 Robert Allenby (Aus) 72 76 73 65, Steve Flesch 71 75 72 68, Charles Howell
76 75 65 70, Jerry Kelly 70 72 69 75
287 Bob Estes 77 74 68 68, Toshimitsu Izawa (Jpn) 70 74 72 71, Eduardo Romero
(Arg) 72 74 68 73
288 David Howell (Gbr) 74 75 71 68, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 75 74 70 69, Justin
Rose (Gbr) 75 69 74 70, Chris Riley 74 73 70 71, Mike Weir (Can) 69 73 72 74,
Kenny Perry 70 74 70 74, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 74 73 67 74
289 Brian Davis (Gbr) 71 77 68 73, Lee Westwood (Gbr) 72 71 71 75
290 Peter Lonard (Aus) 75 74 70 71
291 Darren Clarke (Gbr) 69 82 72 68, Phil Mickelson 73 77 70 71
292 Davis Love 74 77 70 71, Alastair Forsyth (Gbr) 71 77 71 73, Adam Scott
(Aus) 70 73 75 74, Fred Funk 73 74 69 76
293 Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 70 77 71 75, Shaun Micheel 72 75 71 75, Ian Poulter
(Gbr) 73 74 68 78, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 69 74 70 80
294 Hennie Otto (Rsa) 76 73 73 72, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 76 72 72 74, Nick Price
(Zim) 71 73 73 77
295 Taichi Teshima (Jpn) 77 75 70 73, Colin Montgomerie (Gbr) 74 75 70 76,
Scott Verplank 75 75 68 77
296 Craig Parry (Aus) 76 72 75 73, Phillip Price (Gbr) 70 79 72 75, Jay Haas
74 72 75 75, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 69 77 74 76, Len Mattiace 70 74 74 78
297 Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 77 80 68 72, Rich Beem 76 75 73 73, Bob Tway 73 80
70 74, Chad Campbell 74 76 73 74, JL Lewis 72 74 77 74, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 70
75 74 78
298 Kirk Triplett 74 72 70 82
299 Ben Curtis 76 76 72 75, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 73 72 72 82
300 Michael Campbell (Nzl) 82 76 75 67, Mark Foster (Gbr) 76 77 73 74
301 Scott Hoch 75 79 75 72, Chris DiMarco 76 74 76 75
302 Todd Hamilton 78 81 72 71
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