NO-WIN SITUATION
Wood has everything but the victory in comeback
PALM HARBOR, Fla. — The Tiger Woods comeback is almost complete. The only thing missing: a victory.
Woods has checked virtually every box in his return from a fourth back surgery except a trip back to the winner’s circle.
For most of this week in the Valspar Championship at the Innisbrook Resort, it looked like Woods might be en route to his elusive 80th career victory. In each of the first three rounds, he progressed, shooting 70, 68 then 67 in Saturday’s third round.
That left Woods at 8-under entering Sunday’s final round on the Copperhead Course, just one shot behind leader Corey Conners, a PGA Tour rookie from Canada whose tank of magic ended up running dry after three rounds of leading the tournament as he sagged to a finalround 77.
In his career, Woods had been within one shot of the lead through 54 holes 69 times and won 62 times — good for a remarkable 89.9 percent success rate.
As good as Woods looked all week, though, he was unable to summon his legendary closing power Sunday, falling one shot short of victory, an honor claimed by Paul Casey, who finished 10-under to Woods’ and Patrick Reed’s 9-under.
“I was close,” Woods said. “Unfortunately, today wasn’t quite as sharp as I would like to have had it, but I had a good shot at winning this golf tournament. A couple putts here and there would have been a different story.”
Woods’ week of promise finished in a rather anticlimactic way with a pedestrian finalround 1-under 70.
He did not, however, go quietly.
After 12 consecutive pars in the middle of the round, which had him stuck on 8-under for what felt like hours, Woods electrified the huge crowds following him when he buried a 43-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to get to 9-under and needing a birdie on 18 to tie Casey and force a playoff.
“I loved his putt on 17,” Casey said. “That was amazing. I’m sure he was disappointed he didn’t get the victory. I actually thought he was going to win today before the round started. I thought it was just teed up beautifully for him. I said a couple times if I don’t win this thing, I actually want Tiger to win it. But I’m glad it’s this way.”
Woods ripped a 2-iron to the middle of the fairway on 18, leav- ing himself 185 yards to the flag. His 7-iron approach shot landed to the fat of the green, 39 feet away from the cup and a playoff. But his birdie putt came to a disappointing rest some 2 feet short of the hole.
“I gave myself a chance going to 18, and one thing you can’t do is leave it short,’’ Woods said. After a week of promise, it was not to be. Not on this day. But …
“I’m seeing the normal Tiger, the Tiger I’ve known for 24 years,” Ernie Els said Sunday. “He just went through a tough time there and he’s now back. He’s swinging hard. He’s swinging with confidence. I’ve been watching him swing, and he’s really got it in good positions. He’s putting well, his short game looks really sharp, and he’s got energy.
“He’s got the right energy. This time, he’s physically fine and he’s actually swinging the club as good as I’ve seen him back in the day. And with that, knowing that his back is going to be fine, you have a future now.”
That future undoubtedly includes more victories — possibly as soon as this week, when he plays the Arnold Palmer Invitational, a tournament he has won eight times.
Woods began his day with a birdie on the par-5 first hole to get to 9-under and take a share of the lead. The buzz at Innisbrook was major championshiplike. It felt like game on.
But Woods could never spark his round and gain momentum, failing to drain any big putts until the one on 17. The only blemish on his card was a bogey on No. 4. It was only his third bogey in the past three rounds.
It’s been 1,680 days since Woods last won a tournament, dating back to August 2013 at the WGC-Bridgestone.
But if you paid any attention to his performance this week, it’s abundantly clear Woods is poised to put an end to that dubious streak soon — possibly as soon as this week at Bay Hill.
If not Bay Hill, then — dare we say — at next month’s Masters.