Woods and Sorenstam one more time
Limping Tiger beats local hero to win in a playoff Swede a perfect 10 after pulling out two-stroke victory
Two tournaments, two tight finishes, two repeat champions. Make that repeat, repeat, repeat . . .
Tiger Woods had to play the 18th hole five times yesterday before defending his title at the Dunlop Phoenix tournament in Miyazaki, Japan. It was his seventh victory of the year. An ocean away, in West Palm Beach, Fla., Annika Sorenstam defended her title in the LPGA’s final event of the year, the ADT Championship. It was Sorenstam’s 10th victory this season and it put her over $ 2.5 million ( U. S.) in winnings for the third time. But it wasn’t easy for either player.
Sorenstam made a key birdie on the 16th hole and then hit laser shots into the toughest greens at Trump International for a three- under 69 and a twoshot victory.
“ I’m more than pleased,” Sorenstam said. “ I don’t want to use the word relieved, because it means so much to win this championship, but it’s been a tough week. To top this great season off with a win against the best players in the world, it just doesn’t get much better than this.”
Liselotte Neumann, whose victory in the 1988 U. S. Women’s Open was an inspiration to Sorenstam as a teenager in Sweden, overcame a three- putt bogey on the ninth and a seveniron into the water on No. 10 that led to double bogey. She rallied with three birdies on her next five holes to regain a share of the lead, but she knew she was in trouble when she heard the crowd cheer behind her on the 16th green and saw Sorenstam retrieving her ball from the cup. Needing a birdie to force a playoff, Neumann ran her putt from off the front of the green about six feet by, then missed it coming back for a bogey and a 70. She finished two shots behind, along with Michele Redman and Soo- Yun Kang, who each shot 68 and had an outside chance to win if Sorenstam were to stumble.
“She’s hard to catch,” Neumann said. “ You just know she won’t make too many mistakes, and you know you have to make birdies.” Woods had an even harder road to victory. He birdied the fourth hole of a playoff with Japan’s Kaname Yokoo at the Phoenix Country Club.
“ That was stressful, very stressful,” said Woods, who won the Dunlop title by eight strokes last year. “ There was pressure on me because I was leading going to the final round and there was pressure on him playing before the Japanese people in his home country.” Woods reached the green at the par- 5 18th — the fourth hole of the playoff — in two shots and two-putted for birdie. Yokoo missed a 12- foot birdie putt that lipped the cup.
“ It was a see- saw battle,” said Woods. “ It was a matter of who blinked first.” Woods saved par on the first playoff but twisted an ankle on his tee shot. He limped though his remaining playoff holes on 18, making birdie on each of them. Woods is scheduled to play in the PGA Grand Slam in Hawaii this week but said he wasn’t sure if his ankle would be strong enough. “ I hope I’ll be able to play. I’ve got a couple days off but if I can’t go, I can’t go.” Woods, who had a one- stroke lead over Jim Furyk going into the final round, shot a two- over 72 to match Yokoo ( 69) at eightunder 272. Furyk shot a 73 to finish third at six under.
Sorenstam has won 43 times over the last five years, and is third on the LPGA’s all- time list with 66 victories, 22 behind Kathy Whitworth’s record of 88.
“ I’m still 22 away, and it sounds like so much,” she said. ‘‘ But then again, I’m on my way.”