Casey looks mighty, but Tiger steals the show
Ontario upstart Conners loses his grip on Valspar on final day, Rob Longley writes.
The roars PALM HARBOR, FLA. rumbled across the fairways in waves from the time Tiger Woods strode brisk and confident to the putting green of the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook.
They continued to the first green where a birdie put him closer to the hunt, then got crazy loud when Woods snaked in a 43-footer to move within a stroke of the late lead at the Valspar Championship.
Make no mistake: Tiger Woods is back. Not all the way — yet — but he is undeniably back.
You could feel it in the wide smile and tip of the cap coming up to the 18th green and sense it in his words of confidence after.
You could see it in his Sunday best, the trademark red shirt that always seems brighter when he is in contention.
At the end, as good as it was, you were left wanting for more.
“To me, I was close — really close,” an enthused Woods said after finishing one stroke back of tournament champ Paul Casey, who posted a winning score of 10-under 274 after shooting a final round 6-under 65 almost an hour-and-a-half earlier, then settled in for a different form of Tiger watch.
“I had a chance to win today, I really did,’’ said Woods, who had a 1-under 70 Sunday to finish at 9-under 275.
Full credit to the 40-year-old Casey, who blistered the difficult Copperhead layout with 65 for just the second PGA Tour win of his career.
The afternoon was far less of a success for Canadian Corey Conners. Playing in the final group, the PGA Tour rookie surrendered his third-round lead with a bogey on the first hole, then struggled all the way to a 6-over 77 and tie for 16th at 3-under. The only other Canadian making the cut was Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., who finished with a 3-under 68 on Sunday to place 12th overall at 4-under 280.
The Tiger haters will have to live with the fact that feel-good stories and young gun stars take a shove when Woods, the undisputed star of the show, is a factor.
He may be 42 and he hasn’t won a PGA Tour event in 1,680 days, but if he’s back the game just got a lot more interesting.
He can still bomb it and countless players marvelled at swing speed that reached 208 kilometres an hour on Saturday.
“I felt very comfortable,” Woods said. “I’ve been here a few times and I think my game was quite solid the entire week. My game is progressing. These are nice building blocks. It’s getting close.”
From the star-studded field to the massive crowds — a tournament record for the least heralded of the Florida stops on the PGA Tour — to renewed TV ratings, it felt like a 15-year throwback.
After birdieing the first and bogeying the fourth, the massive galleries that trailed him from the start ached for more from Woods. With each near miss, the anticipation built through a run of 12 consecutive pars before he dropped the monumental birdie putt on 17.
With Casey watching — and no doubt praying — from the range, Woods ripped a 185-yard seveniron to hit the 18th green, giving him a chance to force a playoff. But a tricky double-breaking 40-foot putt came up two feet short, leaving him in a tie for second with Patrick Reed.
It was a considerably rougher go for Conners, the 26-year-old from Listowel, Ont., who had the unlikely shot of going wire-to-wire in a field that included Woods, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy.
A missed approach on the first that rattled in the trees short and right of the green made getting settled a challenge and after three rounds in the 60s, the promising young pro couldn’t manage a single birdie.
“I proved a lot to myself, got a lot of confidence in my game that I could get myself in the mix,” Conners said.
“Hopefully next time, I can finish it off better.”
It was never going to be easy for Conners, who had no choice but to be swept up in the Tiger mania.
In the final pairing alongside Olympic champion Justin Rose, Conners heard the roars and could almost feel the ground rumble from the group in front as Woods remained in the hunt for his first win since the 2013 Bridgestone Invitational.
There were also some un-golf like barbs and chants of “U.S.A., U.S.A.,” following a Conners bogey, but with hundreds of Canadians in the gallery at the course some 40 kilometres northwest of Tampa, “you could hear a lot of the roars yesterday and the same thing today,” Conners said.
“I kind of knew what to expect. I felt a lot of support all week and the Canadians out here on the course were amazing. I just wish I could have played a little better.”
As does Woods, although like Conners he’ll leave with the wind in his sails. Woods plays the Arnold Palmer Invitational next week at Bay Hill in Orlando, Fla., and no doubt has an eye on the Masters in Augusta next month. “I had a good shot,” Woods said. “A couple of putts here and there and it could have been a different story.”
The good news is that the story is a developing one. Based on an electric Sunday afternoon, it’s one that’s got a good chance of getting significantly better.
With his victory secure, Casey probably put it best.
“I’m excited to see him play again,” the veteran Brit said.
“I just so want the young guys to see what we saw for such a long time. It would be really, really cool.”