Casey edges Woods, Reed by 1
victory in came five-year Florida Englishman tantalizingly at drought. the on Sunday Valspar Paul close Casey as Championship to Tiger ending surged Woods his to
behind putts Woods, here Casey, and who lamented there” finished that a one could “couple stroke have of led His to his solid 80th performance, PGA Tour victory. however, provided further proof that he is a force again after last April’s spinal fusion surgery on his lower back.
“Unfortunately I just didn’t quite feel as sharp as I needed to with my irons, played it,” Woods a little told conservative reporters at Innisbrook because of Resort in Palm Harbor. “It showed in my amount (two) of birdies today. “I’ve been here before a few times, so I felt very comfortable. As a whole I felt very good about what I did this week.” The old Tiger magic was mostly missing on Sunday as the 14-times major champion tried to record his 80th PGA Tour victory, and his first since 2013. Missing, that is, until the par-three 17th, where Woods perfectly read and then executed a 43-foot birdie putt, his ball curling deliciously into the center of the cup as the gallery went berserk.
But Woods could not replicate the magic at the par-four 18th, where he missed a difficult 40-foot birdie putt that would have forced a playoff with Casey.
Woods carded 70 and had to settle for second with fellow American Patrick Reed (68), who made an embarrassing bogey at the last when his first putt, through the fringe, failed to make it up the hill and rolled all the way back to his feet.