Appleby wins by a stroke as Tiger settles for fourth
Tiger Woods shot the joint best round of the day at Victoria golf club, Australia, yesterday, but that was only enough to see him finish in fourth place as local favourite Stewart Appleby equalled Woods’ round of six-under-par 65 to take victory at the JBWere Masters.
Returning to the home of Woods' last victory, before revelations about his personal life saw his game hit the skids, the defending champion finished seven-under for the tournament. The 14-time major winner’s fourth place finish at least matched his best performances of the year so far, though those previous peaks came at the considerably more prestigious Masters and US Open.
Woods certainly caught fire as the round reached its climax, eagling the 15th and then the 18th for his strongest finish of the year. But while the world No. 2 will be encouraged to have finished in such extravagant style, his continuing inability to produce consistently fine play must be a concern to the 34-year-old.
Winner Appleby finished 10-under-par for the tournament, finishing a stroke ahead of fellow Aussie Adam Bland, who had led going into the final day; fellow countryman Daniel Gaunt was in third place on eight-under.
Of the better known local players, Geoff Ogilvy and Robert Allenby were both tied for eighth place, as was Columbia's Camilo Villegas, shooting his third consecutive round of one-under-par 70.
And after a brief return to excellence on Friday, when he shot six-under 65, Spain's Sergio Garcia reverted to less encouraging ways at the weekend, going six-over 77 on Saturday. The 30-year-old finished one-under yesterday, one-over for the tournament to tie for 28th place.
But even if it was Woods' late charge that caught the attention, the startling finish wasn't enough to claim a first victory in 2010. Though the man can no doubt take solace from the fact that he was being paid $3m just to turn up, victory would have ended the most egregious losing streak of Woods career.
And the grim reality is that while Woods is insistent that he still expects to break Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major victories, winning a regular tournament continues to remain beyond his grasp for now.
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