Woods relishes drama of yet another win

ORLANDO, Florida: Tiger Woods went into Sunday's final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational tied for the lead with four other players. As he strode out to the first tee he didn't look like a man who was worried about the outcome.

With hundreds of his fans packed around his route to the tee, Woods stood tall as he marched through the crowds to begin what would be his seventh successive victory worldwide.

Woods exudes confidence but it is tempered with intense focus - he has star quality that draws in huge crowds, but never allows his fame to distract him from the details that make him the No 1 golfer in the world and one of the best ever.

This time it was not until the last shot of the day, a 24 foot putt for a birdie on the 18th, that Woods had the victory in his grasp and he visibly relished the drama.

"It is about knowing that you have the opportunity to end the tournament and it is in your hands, not anyone else's," said Woods after his 64th PGA Tour victory.

"Whether you do it or not remains to be seen and it is like having the ball with a few seconds to go - do you want it or do you not want it? I would much rather have it my hands than anyone else's," he said.

It had not been a smooth path to victory on Friday, though. Woods was seven shots off the lead down in 20th place after failing to find his form in the opening two rounds.

Swing tweaked

The day's work does not end for Woods when he hands in his scoresheet. Every day this week he has honed his swing and put himself through the gym routine that ensures his impressive physique.

"This week, swing-wise, I didn't really have it and I was trying to manage my game around," he said before noting how Ben Hogan, whose total wins he matched with Sunday's victory, showed the way a top player needs to constantly work on his swing.

"Ben was able to understand his swing probably more than most players could ever understand theirs and he knew how to fix it.

"He was one of the first guys ever to do a lot of swinging in the room at night in the hotel, trying to figure it out for the next day.

"That's the whole idea of trying to understand your game so you can fix it on the fly. I made some good adjustments when I was playing on Saturday and today I could feel something coming on and made a quick adjustment and got back to dialed in again, which felt great," he said.

Woods has won so many times that it would be easy to imagine he takes another triumph in his stride, but the way he celebrated with genuine passion indicated success still gives him a buzz.

"It feels good, it really does. It's why you work all those tireless hours, it's why you log your miles, bust your tail in the gym. The reason is to be in that position right there, to fail or to succeed but to be in that position time and time again.

"Trust me, that's the rush you get, to be in that position," he said.

Another win, another milestone for Woods. Already past Arnold Palmer's 63 wins, now he is level with Hogan and the only surprise for the world No 1 is that he reached this point so quickly.

"When I first started my career there is no way I could ever have dreamt that I would be here right now. Hopefully, if I had a great career and it panned out over a number of years I might get to that number, but certainly not this quick."

Agencies

(China Daily 03/18/2008 page22)