Sport
Tiger Woods: The recovery begins
Tiger Woods 3rd At Australian Open As Greg Chalmers Wins.
Tiger Woods (pictured), gone for the most of the year and rarely on the leaderboard even when he was playing, faced an eagle putt late in the final round at The Lakes that would have given him a share of the lead.
Woods missed.
Moments later, three groups behind him, Greg Chalmers hit 7-iron to 18 inches on the par-3 15th for a birdie that put him back in control, and ultimately led to a one-shot victory over John Senden. With a par save from the bunker on the final hole, Chalmers closed with a 3-under 69 to put his name on the Stonehaven Cup trophy for the second time.
Woods now has gone two full years since his last win at the Australian Masters, yet he headed south to Royal Melbourne for the Presidents Cup with reason for optimism.
Two bad tee shots slowed his charge, one of them a questionable decision. Yet there also was a birdie on the second-toughest hole to keep alive his hopes, a chip-in for eagle on the 14th hole when nothing less would suffice, and three solid rounds that gave him his first real chance of winning in nearly a year.
Woods closed with a 5-under 67 and finished alone in third. It was his highest finish since a playoff loss last December to Graeme McDowell at the Chevron World Challenge, and his best result against a full field since his last win in Melbourne.
“I felt great,” Woods said. “It’s nice to finally be healthy again.”
