Ailing Tiger thanks fellow pros for tribute
TIGER Woods offered a heartfelt thanks to his fellow golfers for their tribute on Sunday, when many donned the 15-time Major champion’s signature Sunday red and black for the final round.
Woods suffered a car accident last Tuesday and was being treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles with a fractured right leg and a shattered ankle, calling into question the future of the 45-yearold’s historic career.
An 82-time PGA Tour winner, Woods famously wears a red shirt and black trousers on Sundays.
“It is hard to explain how touching today was when I turned on the TV and saw all the red shirts,” Woods said in a Twitter post shortly after the conclusion of the World Golf Championships event in Florida.
“To every golfer and every fan, you are truly helping me get through this tough time.”
With his win on Sunday, rising star Collin Morikawa joined Woods as the only two golfers to win a major championship and a World Golf Championship event before turning 25 years old.
Morikawa, 24, took time after his victory to thank Woods directly.
“Tiger means everything to me,” Morikawa said.
“He had the crash and thankfully he’s alright, and hopefully he has a quick and great recovery, but I don’t think we say thank you enough.
“So, I want to say thank you to Tiger. Sometimes you lose people too early. Kobe (Bryant), I lost my grandpa about a month ago, and you don’t get to say thank you enough. “So, thank you, guys.”
Morikawa shot a three-under 69 to finish at 18-under 270 and win by three strokes over Billy Horschel (70), Brooks Koepka (70) and Norway’s Viktor Hovland (67).
The Cal product won for the fourth time since turning professional in 2019, taking the lead into the final round for the first time in his career.
“It shows that I can come out here and compete, but what a week,” Morikawa said on the NBC broadcast.
“I was working on so much over the past couple of weeks. I got tips from Mark O’Meara and Paul Azinger, and it got me through this week. My game felt so good, and I’m just so excited right now.”
Scottie Scheffler (68) finished alone in fifth place at 14-under, with South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen (69), Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy (71) and Webb Simpson (72) tied for sixth place at 12-under.
After a bogey at the second hole on Sunday, Morikawa got his final round on track, going four-under over a stretch of eight holes from
Nos 5-12.
The 2020 PGA Championship winner, who also won at Muirfield Village, last year, never relinquished the lead after moving into the top spot on Saturday with a run of six birdies over nine holes.