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Woods erased a one-stroke deficit over the final two holes of regulation and won an ugly three-hole playoff to become the second PGA Tour player in history to claim three majors in a season. The sport's irrepressible superstar got off to a shaky start at Valhalla Golf Club but shot 5-under-par on the back nine, tying for the lead at the 17th and forcing a playoff with a clutch putt at the par-5 18th. "It was a memorable battle today, and I enjoyed it," Woods said. "I am sure Bob did, too." Woods went 1-under over the decisive three holes, finishing a shot better than May in the first three-hole playoff in the event's history. "I think it's going to go down as one of the best duels in the game, in major championships," Woods said. "Granted, there have been some great ones, but I think this one goes up there." The format was changed from sudden-death for this year's tournament and came into play when May and Woods drained birdies with their final shot of regulation. Woods and his playing partner reached a PGA Championship-record total of 18-under-par 272 for the week. Woods already held records in the other three majors, including runaway wins this year at the U.S. Open and British Open. Far and away the top-ranked player in the world, Woods became the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in a season and the first ever to take four of five. "To have your game peak at the right times, that is what you want to have happen," he said. "I was fortunate enough to have my game at a pretty good level three of the four majors." "Three major championships and the season is not over for Tiger," Hall of Famer Tom Watson said. "It would rank up there with the best." Woods also became the first player to win consecutive PGA Championships since Denny Shute in 1937. He won last year's event by a stroke over Spaniard Sergio Garcia. With the $900,000 first prize, Woods increased his remarkable season total to $6,692,821. The title is his 12th since last year's PGA Championship win, his seventh this season and his 22nd on the tour. May, 31, began the day as an unknown but put up a valiant fight and finished as high as second for the first time in his 58-event career. His $540,000 prize more than doubled his season earnings. "I think this is fulfilling some expectations I have had for myself that other people have had for me," said May, who finished 11th on the European Tour's Order of Merit last year and is a member of the PGA Tour for the first time since 1994. May grew up in Southern California and watched as Woods broke all of his state records. He closed this event with three 66s before losing to the former child prodigy. "I am not trying to toot my own horn, but in Southern California, I was before him," said May, who added that Woods aimed to break all of his records. "I think if you shoot three 66s in a major, you should win," he added. "But you are playing against the best player in the world, and he proved that that is not good enough." May opened the playoff with a drive into the left rough at the par-4 16th. He saved par with a brilliant chip from the rough short of the green but fell a shot back when Woods sank a 16-foot birdie putt. A day of high drama and brilliant play turned ugly at the 17th, where Woods drove into the gallery and May pulled his tee shot into the rough near a fairway bunker. Woods needed to snake his second shot through a wind ow of surrounding trees. He did so as his ball hit a cart path and rolled off the back of the green. May took an uphill stance and smacked an iron into a greenside bunker. But he blasted to within three feet to save par, as did Woods. Woods took his slim lead into the final hole, which he birdied each of the first four times he played it. In fact, Woods went 14-under on 17 par-5s this week. Both players lost their tee shots left. Woods drove his ball down a cart path and was forced to take relief before blasting out to the rough on the par-5. His third shot found a greenside bunker. May went from left rough to right rough, then dropped his third shot 25 feet from the pin. "He left the door open, which was totally unexpected from Tiger to hit a drive like that," May said. "And I was just trying to hit a good, solid drive down there and just got a little lazy on it." Woods forced May to sink a birdie putt to force sudden-death when he blasted within 1 1/2 feet. May rolled the uphill, breaking putt within inches before Woods tapped in for victory. "If I would have won today, it would have been a dream come true," May said. "Not only to win a major, but to beat probably ... when he is done, the best player (ever to play)." Thomas Bjorn of Sweden finished third in his second straight major, shooting a 66 to finish at 13-under 273. He ended up behind Woods and Ernie Els of South Africa at the British Open. Two-time Masters winner Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain tied for fourth at 274 with Australians Stuart Appleby and Greg Chalmers. Franklin Langham finished at 275 and Notah Begay III at 276. "I worked out on the practice green this morning," Chalmers said. "You could have cut the air with a knife. It was very serious and it was very intense." Els had his record string of consecutive runner-up finishes in majors snapped at three, shooting a final-round 71 and tying for 34th at 285. The two-time U.S. Open champion never got into contention today, but several others did as Woods and May were joined by a host of players before the final pairing made the turn. When Woods birdied No. 8 to tie May for the lead at 13-under, Langham was within a stroke and Olazabal, Scott Dunlap, Appleby, Bjorn and Chalmers were just two behind. But the two leaders turned it on over the final nine holes as each shot 5-under. They both were at least three shots clear of the field over their final five holes. Woods opened the day with a one-shot lead but was the chaser instead of the chased for most of the day. He fell two strokes back after the first two holes when May birdied the par-4 fourth. "I never played so much golf as I did in my sleep last night," May said. "I mean, I slept great until the alarm clock went off, but all I was doing was playing these holes in my sleep." May bogeyed the par-4 sixth, but so did Woods, who fell into a five-way tie for second at 11-under. But Woods finally found his game at the par-5 seventh, where he began a run of seven birdies over 12 bogey-free holes to close the round. He would have pulled away from the field in classic Woods style if May had not played the back nine of his life, beginning a bogey-free side with three straight birdies. "We never backed from one another," Woods said. "And birdie for birdie, shot for shot, we were going right at each other. And that was just as much fun, as good as it gets right there." Woods moved within a stroke at the 597-yard, par-5 seventh, where he chipped from the fairway to a foot of the hole. He then rolled in a 12-foot birdie putt at the 166-yard eighth to tie for the lead. May played the opening nine in 1-under, settling down after the bogey at the sixth to par the next three holes and take a share of the lead into the turn. He also had the support of the crowd. "They seemed to root for me all day," he said. "It is tough out there. I turned to Tiger, I said, `Is this what you get every week?' He says, `You got it.'" Then, May looked like the best player in the world, sinking a 10-foot birdie putt at the par-5 10th, a 25-footer at the par-3 11th and rolling in a three-footer at the par-4 12th. Woods stayed within a stroke with a pair of birdies, sinking an eight-foot putt at the 10th and a 12-footer at the 12th. His only mistake in the three-hole span was a bad tee shot to the gnarly rough behind the 11th green. Both parred the 13th, birdied the 217-yard 14th and settled for pars at the 15th and 16th as May's lead stayed at one. But May may have lost the tournament at the 402-yard, par-4 15th, where he missed a five-foot birdie putt after Woods saved par from 12 feet. The lead could have been two or even three strokes. "Yeah, it was critical," May said. "It was a putt that if you get too aggressive, it could get away from you and run away." May drove into the left rough at the par-4 17th -- the most difficult driving hole on the course -- before Woods hit the best tee shot of the day at the hole to set up a tying birdie. One of the longest hitters on tour, Woods drove the ball 335 yards into perfect position on the fairway. He spun his next shot six feet below the hole and made the birdie putt to tie May at 17-under. The momentum seemed to switch as the two approached the 18th tee, but May rolled in an amazing, multi-breaking, 15-foot birdie putt at the 72nd hole to go up by a stroke. Woods answered with a clutch six-footer, forcing the playoff. "As slow as it was going, I think it was just taking tracks of maybe footprints or whatever," said May, who was playing the putt from left to right but watched it break back to the left. "It just happened to catch that right side of the hole." "You just had that sense that the way the day has been going, you just have to expect your opponent to make that putt," Woods said. "It really wasn't that much of a surprise because I knew I had to make mine to tie." | ||
