Golf

A gutsy win

Despite a bout of food poisoning, Tiger Woods leaves Bay Hill field 11 shots behind.

By BOB HARIG, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 24, 2003

ORLANDO -- He spent the morning in the bathroom and the afternoon looking for a place to hide. Nobody wanted to be on a golf course less than Tiger Woods on Sunday. Yet he still found a way to make everybody else sick -- with envy.

A bout of food poisoning had Woods in serious distress, and steady rain threatened to wash out the proceedings. None of it could keep him from winning his fourth straight Bay Hill Invitational.

Not only did Woods win, he did so in record fashion, by 11 strokes over Brad Faxon, Kirk Triplett, Kenny Perry and Stewart Cink. It was the largest margin of victory in 25 years of the tournament.

Nobody challenged Woods, even though he frequently winced in pain and went to his knees to gather himself.

With a five-stroke lead entering the final round, victory was but a formality, despite illness.

"When he's got a seven- or eight-shot lead, he's not going to throw up all over himself," Faxon said.

The only reason he didn't had more to do with the fact there was nothing left. "Every single tee shot hurt because my abs were sore from last night," Woods said. "I was just dry-heaving today."

His girlfriend, Elin Nordegren, cooked pasta Saturday night and within 30 minutes, Woods said, he became ill. On Friday, Nordegren collapsed outside the Bay Hill clubhouse due to food poisoning. She had to be taken to the hospital.

Woods considered going there, too.

"The problem is, it's so easy to check into a hospital, but getting out is the hard part," he said. "I didn't know if they were going to let me go, so I decided not to do that. I got very lucky it rained instead of being hot and humid, as dehydrated as I was from throwing up and the other thing that was going on, too."

Woods said had he not been in contention, he would not have played.

"I was hoping it would get called off before we started," he said. "I heard the thunder this morning and I said, 'Oh, perfect.' They called up and said we were on time, so I decided to come on over."

If you didn't know he was ill, you could never have told by his game. He made an eagle and two birdies and was the only player in the field to get around the course Sunday without a bogey. In fact, he played his last 44 holes without a bogey.

A 68 gave Woods a 72-hole total of 269, 19 under par, and he became the first to win the same event four straight years since Gene Sarazen won the Miami Open in 1930.

"Being sick like that, it was impressive that he played well," Cink said. "It was mind-boggling watching the way he played."

After offseason knee surgery, Woods, 27, has returned to the PGA Tour and won three times in four starts, with a tie for fifth at the Nissan Open. He has 37 PGA Tour victories, and with the $810,000 he won at Bay Hill, he is atop the PGA Tour money list with $2.841-million -- or nearly $1-million ahead of third-place Ernie Els, who got a huge head start on Woods when he won the first two tournaments of the year.

"He's so fixed on what he's doing," tournament host Arnold Palmer said. "When you get that fixed, you can overcome things. That's the character he's built himself into."

Woods improved to 28-2 when holding a 54-hole lead in a PGA Tour event, and the sloppy conditions made it difficult for anyone to make a run at him.

"When you're five shots behind starting the round with a day as tough as this, it's perfect for him," Faxon said.

Woods will play in this week's Players Championship, then take a week off before pursuing his third consecutive Masters title. First, there's a more immediate concern.

"I'm going to take the next couple of days off, not do a whole lot, and try to get healthy again," he said.

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