Woods captures third Buick Open title

FLINT – World number one Tiger Woods fired a three-under 69 to capture the Buick Open by three strokes, claiming his 69th PGA Tour title on Sunday.

Woods, who earned his fourth win of the season, improved to 36-1 when he holds the lead after 54 holes in a tournament.Woods won the Buick Open for the third time finishing at 20-under 268. Three shots adrift were Roland Thatcher, who fired a 64, and Greg Chalmers (68) and John Senden (70).’It certainly could be had this morning,’ Woods said. ‘There was very little wind. This afternoon it played a little bit trickier but you could still shoot a good number today. You just had to be patient out there, but also stay very focused because there were certainly a lot of distractions.’South Korea’s Y.E. Yang (67) finished another shot further back at 16-under 272. Woods’ win comes just two weeks after he missed the cut at the British Open.’It was just nice to come back after only playing two days in Europe,’ Woods said.’It’s always fun for us to come here and play. The fans were just so enthusiastic all week, but today was certainly special. Everyone was just so jacked up for us to play.’ On Sunday, he chased down and caught Thatcher who finished in a much earlier group.Woods made a birdie at number four to take the sole lead and he doubled his lead with a short birdie putt on number seven.When he did miss a fairway he was able to scramble for par and he did it often on Sunday. His ball landed behind a tree at the par-five 13th. He needed something special to reach the green in two. But his next shot landed in the water.Taking his drop about 60 yards from the hole, Woods rolled his fourth shot within three feet of the hole and eventually made par.’I hung in there and just grinded my way around,’ he said. He posted a birdie on 16 to seize a three-shot lead. That ended his streak of eight-straight pars.Woods parred the final two holes to add to his wins at Warwick Hills in 2002 and 2006.- Nampa-AFP