US PGA Tour: Tiger Woods returned to the winner's circle at Bay Hill last night saying he relished the "fun" of being in contention once again on the back nine on a Sunday. Woods completed his return from knee surgery by winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational for the sixth time and for the third time at the final hole in Orlando.
On a dramatic day that had begun with the world number one and defending champion five shots back of overnight leader Sean O’Hair, Woods landed the 66th PGA Tour title of his career in just the third event he had played since returning last month from reconstructive knee surgery last summer.
A final-round 67 sealed with a 15-foot birdie putt at the 72nd hole gave him a one-stroke win over O’Hair who buckled under the pressure of playing with Woods on the last day and shot a 73.
Asked how his rivals dealt with playing against him in that situation, Woods said: “I’m trying to beat them just how they’re trying to beat me. It doesn’t change.
“It’s just about being there and somehow timing it right and making putts at the right time and pull off shots at the right time.
“We’re all trying to do it. It’s just fun.
“Some guys put themselves in contention more times than others, but still, we’re all trying to win tournaments.”
Only Sam Snead with 82 victories and Jack Nicklaus with 73 have won more times on the PGA Tour, and this was Woods’ 19th win coming from behind after 54 holes, matching his largest comeback at the 2000 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
Woods drew level with Ben Hogan’s 64 career wins at Bay Hill 12 months ago when he sank a 25-foot birdie putt to defeat Bart Bryant and emerge from a five-man group of overnight co-leaders that had also included O’Hair.
Though the circumstances were different this time around, Woods said returning to the heat of last-day competition felt just the same as ever.
He said: “I hadn’t been in the mix since the US Open, so it was neat to feel the heat on the back nine again, and got myself into the hunt and into contention.
“It’s like Stevie (Williams, his caddie) was saying out there, this feels like we hadn’t left. You can understand sometimes when some of the older players haven’t been in contention in a while and they come back and then all of a sudden they put themselves in contention and then they win.
“You just remember how to do it. It hasn’t been that long for me, but you just have that feel of what to do and it’s a matter of getting it done.”
Collated Scores
275 Tiger Woods 68 69 71 67
276 Sean O’Hair 67 65 71 73
278 Zach Johnson 72 69 68 69
279 Nick Watney 67 71 73 68, Pat Perez 70 70 70 69, John Senden (Aus) 70 69 73 67, Scott Verplank 70 69 71 69
280 Kenny Perry 70 71 72 67, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 68 71 72 69, Jason Gore 65 70 74 71
281 Kevin Na 69 70 76 66, Ben Crane 70 69 75 67, Robert Allenby (Aus) 71 65 74 71, Lucas Glover 71 71 69 70, Webb Simpson 70 71 70 70, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 70 68 73 70
282 Bob Estes 74 67 71 70, Vaughn Taylor 70 68 74 70, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 70 66 73 73, Lee Janzen 67 71 73 71, Brandt Snedeker 73 70 67 72
283 Hunter Mahan 67 71 74 71, Chad Campbell 68 74 69 72, George McNeill 70 72 72 69, James Nitties (Aus) 70 71 74 68, Charles Howell III 71 68 74 70
284 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 71 68 74 71, Corey Pavin 72 70 70 72, Mark Wilson 67 71 74 72
285 Justin Rose (Eng) 75 67 73 70, Tim Herron 66 72 74 73, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 70 72 71 72, Stewart Cink 70 71 72 72, Johnson Wagner 69 75 72 69, Cliff Kresge 74 68 71 72
286 Steve Marino 73 68 75 70, Paul Goydos 74 70 74 68, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 74 71 72 69, Steve Lowery 69 71 77 69
287 Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 71 69 73 74, Brian Gay 68 74 72 73, Tom Lehman 72 73 72 70, Heath Slocum 69 75 72 71, J.B. Holmes 73 69 72 73, J J Henry 68 71 79 69, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 71 73 71 72, Mike Weir (Can) 71 72 72 72
288 Jeff Overton 66 73 75 74, Chris DiMarco 73 70 71 74, David Toms 71 73 71 73, Rocco Mediate 68 76 70 74
289 Jerry Kelly 69 73 76 71, Brad Faxon 70 72 75 72, D.A. Points 73 70 73 73, Marc Turnesa 72 73 74 70, Peter Lonard (Aus) 72 72 77 68, Tommy Armour III 70 74 76 69, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 67 72 80 70
290 Jeff Klauk 74 70 76 70, Vijay Singh (Fij) 74 70 77 69, Bill Haas 70 75 76 69, Bill Lunde 72 73 72 73, Todd Hamilton 72 68 75 75
292 Boo Weekley 72 70 73 77, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 72 71 76 73
293 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 75 68 76 74, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 70 74 76 73, Skip Kendall 68 73 75 77, Kevin Streelman 71 72 76 74
295 Brian Davis (Eng) 71 73 76 75, Oliver Wilson (Eng) 72 70 78 75
296 Woody Austin 72 72 76 76
299 Bart Bryant 71 74 75 79
