Woods - back in winning form (Getty Images).
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Tiger Woods sent out an ominous warning ahead of this month's Open at Sandwich
as he cruised to a five-stroke victory in the 100th Western Open at Lemont in
Illinois.
The world number one had a last round of 69 to finish on 21 under par at 267 -
five clear of Rich Beem, who shot 67 on a weather-interrupted final day.
Jim Furyk carded the round of the day - a seven-under-par 65 - to finish tied
for third alongside Mike Weir and Jerry Kelly on 274.
Two weather delays slowed Woods down but he built his lead to 10 strokes on
the back nine before Beem played a five-hole stretch in five under to halve the
margin.
"I just tried to shoot about three of four under par on the front nine and
just basically put it out of reach," Woods said.
"I did that for the good part of it, then Rich got it going on the back nine
and made it interesting."
The win saw Woods improve to 29-2 when holding at least a share of the lead
after the third round.
It was his 38th tournament win and put to rest any talk of a slump.
"Just like I kept telling you guys, I was close to putting things together,"
Woods added.
He had finished in the top 10 just once in his previous five starts but posted
his PGA Tour-best fourth win of the season and became the first player in PGA
history to win at least four events in five straight years.
"I was just told that on the green today, I didn't know that," he said.
"That is pretty nice to have that happen.
"That means I've been consistent, I've been able to not only be consistent
but also to close the deal, too.
"That's where you ultimately want to be."
Beem was the only player who made a run at Woods, birdying the 10th, 12th and
14th holes around an eagle at the par-five 11th.
But he missed a birdie putt at the 15th and played the final four holes in one
over.
"I'm proud as punch for the way I did everything this week," Beem said.
"Unfortunately, we've got a guy who's superhuman out here.
"There's going to be times when he does this to fields, but that's OK."
Woods has now removed any doubts that he is ready for The Open, which begins
on July 17 in Kent.
"I was playing well going into Augusta," he added. "I felt my game was
right there where it needed to be and it didn't really show up until
Saturday."
Final-round scores and totals (Par 72, USA unless stated): 267 Tiger Woods 63 70 65 69
272 Rich Beem 69 71 65 67
274 Mike Weir 67 70 69 68, Jim Furyk 71 66 72 65, Jerry Kelly 66 72 68 68
275 Cliff Kresge 67 68 69 71, Robert Allenby (Aus) 69 67 68 71
276 Chad Campbell 67 73 69 67, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 69 74 67 66, Dudley Hart
73 65 70 68
277 Vijay Singh 71 70 70 66
278 Scott McCarron 69 71 68 70
279 Ben Curtis 71 71 69 68, Charles Howell III 70 69 71 69, Luke Donald 73 65
72 69, David Toms 65 69 74 71, Kirk Triplett 69 69 71 70, Skip Kendall 70 72 70
67
280 Jose Coceres (Arg) 72 69 71 68, Chris Smith 71 69 70 70, Scott Verplank 70
65 73 72, Tom Byrum 70 70 67 73, Robert Damron 68 69 70 73
281 Ian Leggatt 70 69 73 69, Carlos Franco (Par) 68 72 72 69, Craig Barlow 72
71 72 66
282 Heath Slocum 67 70 74 71, John Senden 71 72 69 70, Glen Day 69 71 66 76
283 David Gossett 71 70 71 71, Jeff Brehaut 74 69 70 70, Joey Sindelar 71 71
73 68, Tommy Armour III 72 68 74 69, Dan Forsman 69 73 68 73, Billy Mayfair 71
69 70 73, Phil Mickelson 70 69 68 76
284 Craig Perks 73 66 70 75, J.J. Henry 69 73 71 71, Peter Lonard (Aus) 74 66
68 76, Steve Flesch 70 72 69 73, Duffy Waldorf 69 74 68 73, Stephen Ames (Tri)
70 72 72 70
285 Mike Small (Gbr) 73 70 73 69, Hidemichi Tanaka (Jpn) 70 69 72 74, Bob
Estes 70 73 70 72, Justin Leonard 70 70 71 74, J.L. Lewis 68 72 76 69, Andrew
Magee 71 71 71 72
286 David Frost 71 71 72 72
287 Jonathan Byrd 71 71 70 75, Tim Clark (Rsa) 71 71 72 73, Jason Gore 67 70
78 72, Pat Bates 73 70 68 76, Carl Paulson 70 71 73 73, Kenichi Kuboya (Jpn) 69
71 73 74
288 Darron Stiles 69 73 75 71
289 David Sutherland 70 70 75 74, Tom Lehman 69 73 74 73, Jesper Parnevik
(Swe) 73 70 73 73
290 Hunter Mahan 75 68 73 74, Matt Kuchar 70 72 73 75, Donnie Hammond 68 71 76
75, Vance Veasey 64 75 78 73, Anthony Painter 70 72 73 75
292 Thomas Levet (Fra) 70 72 78 72, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 69 72 76 75
293 Pat Perez 69 74 74 76, Dean Wilson 75 67 76 75, Paul Goydos 73 70 72 78
295 Andy Miller 74 68 79 74
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