09-11-2006, 02:39 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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| Woods seals his 50th PGA success
FOURTH ROUND LEADERBOARD: US unless stated
-24 T Woods
-21 J Furyk
-20 J Durant
-19 V Taylor, S Verplank, S O'Hair Selected others:
-17 V Singh (Fij)
-14 M Weir (Can)
Tiger Woods clinched his 50th PGA Tour win with victory in the Buick Open. Quote:
Tiger Woods clinched his 50th PGA Tour win with victory in the Buick Open.
The world number one sealed his latest title with a 24-under par total, with fellow American Jim Furyk taking second place in Michigan three shots behind.
Woods took a break after his emotional Open Championship win two weeks ago, but maintained his Hoylake form with four straight rounds of 66.
Third place at Warwick Hills went to another American, Joe Durant, who shot a 67 to finish on 20-under par.
Woods refused to be distracted on the penultimate hole when an apple was thrown onto the green as his tricky putt for a birdie slid well past the hole.
He maintained his composure to save par, and made another birdie at the 18th - making it a personal-best 28 for the week - to add another Buick title to his victory in 2002.
It was his fourth win in 11 tournament starts in 2006 - he took several weeks off following the death of his father Earl in May.
Woods, 30, becomes the youngest player to reach a half-century of PGA Tour wins, reaching the mark in his 196th event.
Just six other players - Snead, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Byron Nelson and Billy Casper - have achieved a half-century.
"It's pretty cool to get to 50 wins. You never in your wildest dreams think it could happen," said Woods, who has been a professional for less than 10 years.
"I've had a lot of just really wonderful things happen to me on tour in my career and I've been very blessed.
"I started out just hoping to get my card, I was able to do that and, lo and behold, I got on a nice little run there. It's been just a great ride really."
American legend Sam Snead holds the record number of tour wins with 83 and when asked if he could get to that Woods replied: "Hopefully, hopefully. It's a long way away and that's a big number.
"You know it's going to be a lifetime, a career basically, to get to that point and attain something like that. It's not going to happen next year. It's going to take a long time.
"It took me 10 years to get here and hopefully I can continue playing well over the next 10, 20 years."
Woods, who has triumphed 68 times in 241 tournaments worldwide, has now won 43 times from the 48 events in which he has held at least a share of the lead going into the final round.
He also made it 21 out of 21 in US Tour events that he has won from being at least two strokes ahead with 18 holes to play.
Furyk, who is likely to partner Woods at next month's Ryder Cup, said: "We haven't seen an equal of that in the last I don't know how many years.
"Definitely my era hasn't seen it. He's a tough guy - he's the guy to go out there and beat and it's exciting for me or the other players to go out and try to apply some pressure.
"You want to be trying to beat the best and it's just very difficult.
"Obviously when he gets the lead, he finds a way to he puts the ball in the fairways, he puts the ball on the green, makes some pars and birdies. He's not giving much up."
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Buick Open - Aug. 3 - Aug. 6 2006
Buick Open - Aug. 3 - Aug. 6 2006 
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