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Tiger Woods wins Arnold Palmer Invitational

Monday, 30 March 2009
Fergus Bisset
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Tiger Woods and Steve Williams

With a birdie at the final hole, Tiger Woods confirmed his return to the pinnacle of the game. As the 15-foot putt dropped, Tiger celebrated a one-shot victory over Sean O’Hair in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard.

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It was Woods’ first victory since returning from knee surgery but it’s his sixth title at Bay Hill. With the win, he re-secured his position at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking and has leapt from 110th to 12th place on the FedEx Cup standings.

It’s the second year running that Woods has won at Bay Hill with a birdie on the closing hole, and this one was clearly special.

"It feels good to be back in contention, to feel the rush," Woods said. "It's been awhile, but God, it felt good."

It was Woods’ 66th career PGA Tour victory and kept up his record of having won a tournament in the three months leading up to the Masters in all but one year of his professional career.

It was a tough day for Sean O’Hair. He struggled to find birdies and, when he fired into the water on the 16th, Tiger was right back in the tournament. "It's just a little bit disappointing that I couldn't close it out," O'Hair said.

Zach Johnson closed with a 69 to finish in third.

Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard
Bay Hill Club and Lodge, Florida
Mar 26-29, purse $5,800,000, par 70

1   Tiger Woods (USA)   68   69   71   67   275   $1,080,000
2   Sean O’Hair (USA)   67   65   71   73   276   $648,000
3   Zach Johnson (USA)   72   69   68   69   278   $408,000
T4   John Senden (Aus)   70   69   73   67   279   $236,250
T4   Nick Watney (USA)   67   71   73   68   279   $236,250
T4   Pat Perez (USA)       70   70   70   69   279   $236,250
T4   Scott Verplank (USA)   70   69   71   69   279   $236,250
T8   Kenny Perry (USA)   70   71   72   67   280   $174,000
T8   Daniel Chopra (Swe)   68   71   72   69   280   $174,000
T8   Jason Gore (USA)       65   70   74   71   280   $174,000

Note: Players in bold signifies Titleist ball usage only