Woods revels in Sawgrass win

The way he celebrated with caddie Joe LaCava told you everything about how much Tiger Woods’ fourth win of 2013 and two-shot victory at The Players Championship at Sawgrass meant to him.

With Woods and Sergio Garcia level, the tournament looked to be heading for a play-off until the Spaniard put two tee shots in the water at the 17th hole.

Woods was watching from the sofa of the scoring hut as challenging Garcia twice made a mess of the infamous 17th island green, being aggressive and going for the tight flag close to the water.

And with Swede David Lingmerth, who was in the final pair with Garcia, missing a birdie putt on the signature 17th to move level with Woods, it meant Woods’ par on the 18th was enough for him to take victory with a round of 70.

Woods said: “I’m getting better. This was hard. The conditions got tricky. I had a hard time reading the putts. The greens were dicey.”

Garcia also found the water on 18 and finished six shots back.

Crestfallen Garcia said: “You have to be disappointed, not so much with 18, but with 17. I got going nicely from the 11th onwards, I felt I was hitting the ball better, felt calmer and got too confident on 17. I’d hit so many good shots in a row and I under-hit it.”

The 25-year-old Lingmerth finished in a share of second with Americans Kevin Streelman and Jeff Maggert.

Woods returned to the top of the world rankings in March but his three previous wins this year had been on courses he has traditionally been successful on.

“I was in control and hit the worst shot I could hit on the tee at 14 and made a double but I just stayed patient,” he said.

But, having won at Sawgrass in 2001, this was just a second victory at The Players Championship, sometimes called ‘the fifth major’ in the United States.

Woods and Garcia were involved in a row during the rain-interrupted third round after the Spaniard felt that Woods was to blame for crowd noise that interrupted his swing.

But they were kept apart in the final round as Lingmerth joined them in a share of the lead after 54 holes.

Speaking after the third round, Garcia said of Woods: “He’s not my favourite guy to play with. He’s not the nicest guy on Tour. So it will good for both us not to play together again.  We don’t like each other. It doesn’t take a rocket engineer to figure that out. He is who he is. I am who I am. It’s best we’re not playing together again.”

Woods picked up three shots on the front nine of the final round and moved two clear of the field with a birdie on the 12th, only to find the water from the tee and drop two shots on the 14th.

Woods picked up a win on his 300th appearance on the PGA Tour, just as he did on his 100th and 200th.

But just as he gave the chasing pack an opening, Maggert put the ball in the water on 17, Lingmerth missed his chance on the same hole and Garcia fell apart.

Woods added: “I was in control and hit the worst shot I could hit on the tee at 14 and made a double but I just stayed patient and told myself that was my only bad swing all day.

“Apart from that tee shot I really played well. I’m just trying to get better and I’ve had a good start to the year.”

England’s Lee Westwood had yet another frustrating day with the putter as he finished six shots back, while Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy rallied with four birdies on the back nine to also finish on seven under par.

Tiger Woods – In the bag – TPC Sawgrass

Driver: Nike VR Tour (8.5 degree; Graphite Design DI 6X shaft)
Fairway woods: Nike VR Pro Limited Edition 3-wood (15 degree; Mitsubishi Diamana Blue Board 103X shaft) and Nike VR_S Covert 5-wood (19 degree; Mitsubishi Diamana Blue Board 103X shaft)
Irons: Nike VR Pro Blades (3-PW; True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts)
Wedges: Nike VR Pro (56 and 60 degree; True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts)
Putter: Nike Method 001
Ball: Nike One Tour D
Footwear: Nike TW ’13
Glove: Nike