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Tiger Woods outlasts Daly at AmEx Championship
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-10 09:59
SAN FRANCISCO - In a phenomenal display of power between golf's two biggest
sluggers, Tiger Woods outlasted John Daly in the American Express Championship
because of a 3-foot putt.
Tiger Woods holds
up a trophy after winning the final round of the American Express World
Golf Championships at Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco,
California, October 9, 2005. [Reuters] |
| Woods
made up two shots over the final three holes Sunday to force a playoff, then won
on the second extra hole when Daly three-putted for bogey from 15 feet on the
16th, badly pulling his short par putt.
"I just played that second putt straight, and it went left," Daly said. "It
wasn't mean to be."
It was a somber end to a riveting afternoon along the shores of Lake Merced,
where some 20,000 fans crammed along the fairways and cypress trees were treated
to 350-yard drives and drama rarely seen this side of a major.
Woods closed with a 3-under 67 and won the American Express Championship for
the fourth time in six starts. He extended his dominance in these World Golf
Championships, winning his 10th in 19 events.
It was his sixth victory of the year, and given a swing he couldn't trust
until the end and sore ribs that required treatment, this was as impressive as
any.
Daly shot 69 and had two chances to win. He missed a 16-foot birdie putt on
the 18th hole in regulation, then had a birdie putt from 15 feet on the second
extra hole that just grazed the left side of the cup. Fans scrambled to the next
hole, none of them imagining that Daly would miss from 3 feet.
"I feel so bad for J.D.," Woods said. "You never, ever want to win a golf
tournament like that."
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