tiger wins at dubai

the sunbabe wan

Tiger Woods landed the Dubai Desert Classic after beating Ernie Els on the first hole of their sudden death play-off, after the two tied on 19 under par after the final round on Sunday.

Woods had started the day tied for the lead with Denmark's Anders Hansen, but South African Els was looking in great touch as he notched a flawless round of 67.

Els hit five birdies on his unblemished round of five under par, including a birdie on the 18th to keep his nose in front, while Woods was struggling.

The world number one was not hitting the ball well throughout his round but, just as he did at the Buick Invitational last week, he still managed to battle through to the victory.

Woods went through the front nine on level par after a birdie and a bogey, but birdied the 13th on his way home and made a late surge to birdie the 17th and 18th and force a play-off with Els.

Australian left hander Richard Green was the hard luck story of the tournament, as he held a one-shot advantage over Els going down the last.

However, the 1997 winner took a nervy six on the final hole when a birdie would have won him the tournament, while a par would have given him a place in the play-off.

As it was, defending champion Els took on Woods in the sudden death affair, which saw them play the 18th again in the first hole of the play-off.

Els had been playing smoothly all day but hit his tee shot into the trees, and his adventurous second was just a couple of feet short as it splashed into the water.

With that went all hope for the South African of defending his trophy, and Woods duly parred the hole to land the £225,000 first prize and keep up his record of only ever losing one play-off.

”I didn't have anything starting out, I was struggling pretty bad and I thought I just have to hang on to something,” Wood told Sky Sports after landing his second victory in two tournaments after a lengthy absence over Christmas.

”I was hanging on with my short game and hoping to find a swing somewhere along the way.

”There was not much right with my swing and it was not a fun way to play golf at the start but I started to find something towards the end.

”I've come close a couple of times here and somehow I got lucky - today I was very fortunate.

”Its always special to get to go head-to-head with Ernie. He was ahead of me making birdies all day and I was just looking to catch up.

”My list of things I need to work on is a lot shorter than it was this time last year so that's a lot more hopeful for the rest of the year."

J.R.HARTLEY

i was disgusted with els playoff, i thought he could have eassily layed up from his drive and still gotten birdie, especially knowing tiger had gone off the back, i wantd him to win so badly but i felt like he just threw it away with a silly mistake,
anyway maybe it's a good sign that els closed in on the tiger during the 72 holes, proved he's back on scene.
great to see dazza clarke doing so well