Sport
Tiger Woods victory at Bridgestone Invitational sets him up as favorite for PGA Championship
He birdied the 10th hole, then offset that with a three-putt bogey at the 14th hole. But by then most of the field was thinking about catching flights to Rochester instead of catching Woods.
For those betting Woods won’t win next week at Oak Hill, keep in mind that he has already won both the Bridgestone and the PGA Championship in the same year three times in his career (2000, 2006, 2007).
In the 19 times in which he has won his last start before a major, he has followed up with a win four times: 2000 U.S. Open (after winning The Memorial), 2001 Masters (Players), 2006 PGA (Buick) and 2007 PGA (Bridgestone).
The victory was Woods’ 79th on the PGA Tour, drawing him within three of Snead’s record 82 triumphs.
“The total body of work is pretty good,” Woods said. “One of the things I’m proud of, obviously, is how many times I’ve won, plus won World Golf Championships and how many years I’ve won five or more tournaments in a season. What is it, like eight or nine times? Ten? That’s not bad, either.”
Lest anyone think he’ll have difficulty surpassing Snead’s total, consider that Woods is over 10 years younger (he’s 37 1/2) than Snead was when he won his 82nd and final event, the 1965 Greater Greensboro.
Woods won the Bridgestone, and it’s forerunner the NEC Invitational, about every way imaginable: overcoming a crazy shot that went onto the clubhouse roof, putting out in almost total darkness, running away early, outdueling a foe down the stretch.
