Woods Retains Open Title

• Sunday, 23 July 2006
• Mark Robinson
• 0 Comments

World number one Tiger Woods of the USA broke down in tears on the final green at Hoylake, after clinching his third Open title by two strokes from compatriot Chris DiMarco. In a rare outpouring of emotion, he tearfully embraced his caddie Steve Williams to celebrate his first Major victory since the death of his father Earl from cancer earlier in the year.

Woods finished at 18 under-par for the four days, and becomes the first golfer to retain the famous old Claret Jug since Tom Watson achieved the feat in 1983. The 30 year-old was never in any trouble during his final round, the joint-best score of the day, and he now moves up to tied third on the all-time list of Major championship winners. His eleven Majors put him level with Walter Hagen and behind only Bobby Jones and Jack Nicklaus. If only professional Major wins are considered then he is, alongside Hagen, second only to Nicklaus.

Woods did not drop a stroke until the 12th hole, and responded in typical fashion by firing three consecutive birdies on the 14th, 15th and 16th just as it seemed that he might be coming back to the field. The highlight of his final round was a 15 foot putt on the 5th green, which gave him an eagle and started to put daylight between himself and the rest of the challengers.

DiMarco battled bravely to a final round of 68 and a -16 finish. His round was not without its share of heroics, including a successful 25 foot birdie putt on the 13th, a 35 foot putt for par on the 14th, and an extraordinary chip and putt for birdie on the par-5 16th - after he had found a horrible spot short of the green with his approach.

The rest of the challengers to Woods faded rather tamely. South African Ernie Els, the 2002 champion, could not find much inspiration and struggled to a decent but unspectacular round of 71, securing third place. American Jim Furyk fought back from a miserable start to clinch fourth after also scoring 71, while Spain's Sergio Garcia was once again blighted by putting problems. He never recovered from three-putting the 2nd and 3rd greens and eventually had to settle for a tie of fifth place at -11 following his round of 73. Norway's Marius Thorp carded a 71 of his own, clinching the Silver Medal for the leading amateur player by seven shots.

Woods has answered many of his critics this week. Many claimed the tightness of Royal Liverpool would not suit him, and that the relatively short length of the course would neutralise his ability to overpower some of the other players. However, he displayed a rare amount of patience and excellent course managment skills over all four days to secure his first Open away from the wide-open spaces of St Andrews.