Woods surpasses Jack Nicklaus’ winning tally with victory at AT&T

Tiger Woods passed Jack Nicklaus on the all-time PGA Tour victory list as he won the AT&T National at Congressional.

It was Woods’ third PGA Tour victory of the season and 74th of his career, winning by two shots from compatriot Bo Van Pelt after a final round of 69 to finish on eight-under par.

Woods is now second on the all-time winners’ list behind Sam Snead, who recorded 82 victories.

“To do it at 36, I feel like I have a lot of years ahead of me,” said Woods, who moves to the top of the FedEx Cup standings and US Money List with his third win in just seven starts.

“I remember there was a time when people were saying I could never win again. That was, I think, six months ago and here we are.”

Overnight leader Brendon de Jonge had a disastrous final round playing with Woods and Van Pelt, shooting six-over par to finish in a share of 11th on one under.

Woods began the day one shot behind and took advantage of the Zimbabwean’s collapse. He birdied the fifth and ninth and then when it looked like he was in trouble among the trees left of the 12th fairway, he hooked his second shot around a tree that was close enough to his swing path for him to warn the gallery that his 9-iron might snap. It didn’t, and the result was spectacular as the ball improbably found the putting surface.

But when he and fellow American Van Pelt both bogeyed the 16th, it was all square at eight under with two holes remaining.

But Van Pelt dropped a further shot at each of the final two holes, allowing Woods, who followed up his win at the Memorial Tournament in Ohio last month, to seal victory by two strokes with a pair of pars.

Van Pelt was level for his final round to finish second on six under, one clear of Australia’s Adam Scott.

Scotland’s Martin Laird finished tied-11th while England’s Greg Owen finished tied-17th.