Tiger Woods Eases to Buick Open Win

Tiger Woods might not have fixed his problems off the tee, and his continued struggles in that area of his game will almost certainly encourage his doubters to keep beating the "It's clear Tiger is on the downside of his career, even if we don't have any proof!" drum.

And Woods, as he's done with unimaginable frequency during his 14-year professional career, will keep winning.

The Buick Open was Tiger's first tournament since missing the cut at the British Open in mid-July. He spent last week working on his swing in Florida with coach Hank Haney, and for the fourth time this year, Woods played 72 holes better than anyone else in the field. He finished 20-under, three clear of Roland Thatcher, John Senden and Greg Chamlers, none of whom ever threatened the lead.

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But unlike his previous victory (he won the Memorial in June), Tiger's driver was uncooperative for most of the weekend. He hit just 10 fairways over the final two rounds (36 percent). Yet he scrambled his way around the property, playing from deep rough and behind trees, somehow finding ways to give himself makable par putts. Which, predictably, he made. In fact, he was converted 41 of 41 looks inside five feet for the week, which goes a long way in mitigating his ability to consistently find fairways.

Tiger began Sunday with a one-shot lead over Michael Letzig, and his final 18 holes were typically Woodsian: he parred his way around the course, avoided major mistakes, and forced the field to play catch-up. Never happened, and the strategy has now worked 36 of 37 times, the only failure coming in 1996 when Ed Fiori came from behind to beat Woods at the John Deere Classic.

So Tiger wins the Buick Open for the third time (he's never finished worse than 11th at the event), and all is right in the golfing universe, at least for the time being. He will tee it up at Firestone next week before heading to the PGA Championship.


Woods will tweak his swing in preparation for the final major of the year, but if he continues to miss fairways by 20 and 30 yards, he won't have a shot at Hazeltine, which will play 7,674 yards, the longest set up in major championship history. (By comparison, Warwick Hills, site of the Buick Open, came in around 7,200 yards, considered a pitch and putt by PGA Tour standards.)

But here's the thing: Tiger combined to hit 19 of 28 fairways (69 percent) on Thursday and Friday, and he went 14 of 14 during his Sunday finish at the Memorial. It's not like he can't do it, he's just been wildly inconsistent. More than usual, in fact.

But as CBS analyst Peter Kostis pointed out during the final-round telecast, Tiger's never far from putting it all together: "I don't think he has any swing issues at all. It's address and grip issues."

There are worse fates.

For now, Woods has his 69th career PGA Tour victory (third all-time, four back of Jack Nicklaus and 13 behind Sam Snead), and moves into first place in the FedExCup standings. And if all goes well, he'll have his 15th major victory in two weeks. No idea how the doubters will spin that.