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Tiger Woods wins Buick Open

Monday, 3 August 2009
Fergus Bisset
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Tiger Woods secured his fourth win of the season and his 69th on the PGA Tour with a three shot victory at the Buick Open over Australians Greg Chalmers and John Senden.

The World Number 1 began the week slowly with a one-under-par 63 but then blistered back to the top of the pile with rounds of 63 then 65 on Friday and Saturday. Woods then cruised the final round in a three-under-par 69 to take the Buick Open title for the third time. He has led 50 times going into the final round of a tournament and has held on to win 47 of them.

Only two men – Jack Nicklaus with 73 and Sam Snead with 82 – have more PGA Tour victories to their name than Woods, though Tiger is seven years younger than Jack was when he reached 69 titles and eight younger than Snead. Going back to the Open Championship of 2006, Tiger has won 21 of his last 39 tournaments on the PGA Tour.

“This one feels good,” he said of his third Buick Open title. “I was so far back after round one that I was fortunate enough to put two good rounds together.”

Roland Thatcher shot the round of the day on Sunday with an eight-under-par 64. It rocketed him from mid-table mediocrity into a tie for second place with Greg Chalmers and John Senden of Australia.

In a tournament reportedly fighting for its life, the fans turned out in force at Warwick Hills. The galleries clearly impressed Tiger.

“I’ve never played in front of fans like this.” He said. “Hopefully we get to come back to this area.”

Buick Open
Warwick Hills G&CC, Michigan
July 30 – Aug 2, purse $5,000,000, par 72

1   Tiger Woods (USA)   71   63   65   69   268   $918,000
T2   Greg Chalmers (Aus)   66   68   69   68   271   $380,800
T2   John Senden (Aus)   64   66   71   70   271   $380,800
T2   Roland Thatcher (USA)   70   64   73   64   271   $380,800
5   Y.E. Yang (Kor)       65   69   71   67   272   $204,000
T6   Ben Crane (USA)       68   71   65   69   273   $177,225
T6   Michael Letzig (USA)   67   65   68   73   273   $177,225
T8   Woody Austin (USA)   68   71   65   70   274   $132,600
T8   Bob Heintz (USA)       70   68   66   70   274   $132,600
T8   Vaughn Taylor (USA)   65   68   69   72   274   $132,600

Player scores listed in bold signifies Titleist ball usage only