Of all the golfing miracles we've seen this year from Tiger Woods, arguably the most impressive happened in semi-darkness here at Firestone last night. Taking little more than three and a half hours to complete 17 and a half holes, he finished with a birdie to win by 11 strokes in defence of the $5 million WGC/NEC Invitational.
It was a triumph in which the champion's score of 21 under par had rather special significance. "At the turn, I promised Stevie (Williams, his caddie) that I would get to 21 under, because I knew that was his favourite number," said Woods afterwards. "And when I asked him for a fresh glove on the 18th tee, he gave me one with 21 written on it."
All Woods had to do was birdie the last. This became quite a challenge, however, as the towering pines were barely distinguishable down both sides of the fairway.
But Woods did the most important part by landing his drive in the middle of the fairway. Then, as spectators strained to pick out the little white sphere, he hit a majestic eight-iron shot of 168 yards to within a foot of the hole. As only he could do it, the world's greatest player had brought his assignment to a spectacular conclusion.
The chances of the tournament being completed on schedule seemed hopeless when sombre skies eventually delivered their cargo of thunder, lightning and torrential rain. It meant play had to be suspended for two hours 56 minutes. And when it resumed at 5.0 p.m. local time, Woods and Hal Sutton in the last pairing, were still only on the first green.
If anybody was hurt by the extraordinary circumstances of the closing holes, it was Welshman Phillip Price who seemed certain to claim the $500,000 second-place prize money on his own. But bogeys at the 15th, 16th and 18th, pushed him into a share of second place with Justin Leonard for $437,500, costing him $62,500.
"I was anxious all day," he said afterwards. "To be honest, I was too nervous to do myself full justice, but it has been a great learning experience."
Still, it was a wonderful performance by a player whose previous biggest cheque was for u £111,000 sterling when finishing second to Jose-Maria Olazabal in the Benson and Hedges tournament earlier this season. As a late qualifier, ranked 75th in the world, Price certainly proved his worth with a closing 69 for an aggregate of 270 - 10 under par.
There wasn't enough sunshine to create shadows as evening closed in, only a murky closing to an overcast day. But there was no depriving Woods of his third WGC event since the series, with beautiful Wedgewood trophies, was inaugurated last year.
In fact only Darren Clarke, with a sensational victory in the Andersen Consulting last February, deprived him of four-in-a-row. And, as it happened, Clarke finished as the best of the three Irish challengers on this occasion, though a share of 17th place for $83,000 was somewhat modest by his standards.
When Woods shot a third-round 67 on Saturday, he smashed the existing tournament record for 54 holes by three strokes and claimed a nine-stroke lead over his closest challengers, Sutton, Price and Phil Mickelson on nine under.
With birdies at the first and second holes, Sutton pressurised him early on. Then, after a two-shot swing at the short seventh, which Woods bogeyed and his rival birdied, the gap was closed to five strokes. But that was as close as it got for the remainder of the day.
As Sutton ran out of steam, Price took up the challenge when a chip-in birdie at the sixth brought him to 11-under-par. Two holes later, he had climbed to 12-under, only to lose his composure under the heightened tension of the finishing holes.
