Golf

Buick 'just a win' to Woods

Tiger's first PGA win in nearly a year confirms only that he has regained his consistency.

By BOB HARIG
Published January 26, 2005

KISSIMMEE - The victory was anything but vintage Tiger Woods. He didn't hit the ball particularly well, got away with a poor swing at the most crucial moment of the tournament and seemingly got up and down from all over Southern California to win the Buick Invitational.

But how the victory is viewed is another story, even if he doesn't necessarily see it the same way.

It was Woods' first win on the PGA Tour in nearly a year, his first stroke-play victory on tour in 15 months. And it vaulted him to No. 1 on the PGA Tour money list for the first time since October 2003.

But Woods said Tuesday it brought him no sense of relief, no feeling of vindication.

"It was just a win," Woods said during an appearance for Nike at Reunion Country Club. "It's not near as important as Japan. That was the one."

Woods was referring to his November victory at the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament, an eight-shot win that was deemed to be the place where his ongoing swing changes finally took hold.

A short time later, Woods won the Target World Challenge, an elite tournament of 16 players but an unofficial title. Then he started the 2005 season with a tie for third at the Mercedes Championships and his win Sunday.

All of a sudden, he has three wins in four starts and hasn't finished out of the top 10 in months.

"There's certainly momentum," Woods said. "I felt I was building on each and every experience at a tournament. I think I've had some pretty good finishes. Since NEC (in September), I've played some solid golf. To play that solid for that long is very exciting."

Woods has not been out of the top 10 during that time and had three runner-up finishes. Going back to May, he has been out of the top 10 just twice, at the U.S. Open and PGA Championship.

"To play that long being that consistent is the whole idea, to give myself enough looks at winning," he said. "Toward the end of the year, some of those looks turned into wins."

And that is what Woods hopes to continue doing. He will take most of the next month off, then likely return for the Nissan Open and the Match Play Championship. There have been rumblings that he might play the Ford Championship at Doral in Miami (March 3-6) because he is not playing the conflicting Dubai event on the European Tour.

Asked if his goal was to return to No. 1, the spot taken from him by Vijay Singh in September, Woods said: "To be honest with you, not really. It's winning tournaments and winning them consistently and frequently. That's the goal. That's how I got to No. 1. That's how I stayed at No. 1 for X number of years. That's the only way you can get there and stay there is winning golf tournaments. Winning takes care of all that. ... No. 1 ranking, player of the year. It's getting out there and winning championships and at the end of the week holding that trophy up. That's a pretty cool feeling."

Woods got to experience it again Sunday, his 41st PGA Tour title. But it came only after a shaky second shot to the final green in which he came up 30 yards short of the pin but managed to find a sliver of grass between a pond and the rough. Had the shot gone straight, he'd have been in the water.

For the week, Woods hit just 25 fairways, the fifth-worst driving performance of his career, but made up for it with a hot putter, needing 106 putts for the tournament. That was the sixth-best putting performance of his career.

[Last modified January 26, 2005, 00:13:15]