Tiger Woods claws World Match Play title

CARLSBAD, Califor-nia:  Tiger Woods always knew the final piece of his World Golf Championships collection would be the toughest for him to win.

David Toms made sure of that. Leading by as many as five holes, Woods recovered from a few shaky shots and held off a gritty charge by Toms to win the Match. Play Championship, making him the first player to capture all four of the WGC tournaments. “This is the hardest to win,” Woods said. “Yeah, it’s physically gruelling, but I think it’s more mentally gruelling because of the ebb and flow of match play.  If we had to do this every week, every pro’s playing career would be about 10 years.” Woods won for the 36th time on the PGA Tour and earned US$1,050,000. Since returning from his two-month break for knee surgery, he has won twice and tied for fifth in three tournaments.
And he’s passing on an appearance fee worth more than $2 million to play in Dubai. Toms earned US$600,000. Despite losing, he enhanced his reputation as a player who squeezes everything out of his game until the very end. Woods won three straight US.  Junior Amateur titles and three straight US. Amateurs, but was 0-4 in match-play tournaments as a pro. Adam Scott earned US$480,000, the largest check of his career. Peter Lonard won US$390,000.