LA JOLLA, Calif. – The atmosphere was electrically-charged, the stuff major championships are usually made of, the stuff true sports junkies crave.
When Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson made their separate walks from the practice putting green to the first tee to form the final group of yesterday’s Buick Invitational final round at Torrey Pines, the energy was pure heavyweight title bout.
All that was missing as each player walked along the roped-off path jammed with fans screaming as if they were worshipping rock stars was the blaring rap music boxers usually play as they make their way to the ring.
The build-up to this dream match-up was pure soap opera, with recent controversial comments from Mickelson about Woods’ “inferior” equipment to hurt feelings to apologies and finally to a showdown between the two on the golf course.
If only the final result and action leading up to it matched the pre-battle anticipation and hype.
It didn’t.
Tiger Woods was too good, blowing away Mickelson and the rest of the field en route to a four-shot victory at 16-under-par in his first tournament back from Dec. 12 left knee surgery.
Woods’ accomplishment itself provided enough drama and elicited enough awe to make up for Mickelson’s out-with-a-whimper performance.
For Woods, his return to competition, the fact that his knee held up for 72 holes and the victory made for a week that he conceded was “a pretty great feeling.”
Even Woods, who often doesn’t let you in on his emotions, conceded that the added juice to yesterday’s final round stoked him.
“You could feel the added buzz and that the fans were excited about the possibilities that could happen for the day,” Woods said.
“Phil’s misunderstood comments led to a certain buzz around the golf course,” said Arron Oberholser, a former collegiate rival of Woods’ who was in contention all tournament. “Everybody wanted to come out and see if they were going to come to blows. People came to see Tiger and Phil duke it out. It definitely added something to the mix.”
Brad Faxon, the third of the final-group threesome who finished third, said of the Woods-Mickelson issue, “I think [Woods] used it as fuel – as if he needs any more.”
Asked if he answered any questions with his command comeback performance, Woods said, “I answered my questions.”
Shooting 66-68-68 in his final three rounds, all on the more-difficult South Course and all low rounds of the respective days, Woods finished at 16-under-par, six shots better than his ballyhooed final-group rival Mickelson, who shot even-par yesterday.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better start,” Woods said.
Woods never let Mickelson, Faxon or anyone else come close to even putting a scare into him yesterday as he kept increasing his lead.
“Tiger put on the pressure with a birdie early [No. 2] and never faltered,” Faxon said. “It looked like he had been playing for weeks in a row. Every part of his game was on.”
Woods’ defining shot of the day was a 200-yard knockdown 4-iron from under a tree on No. 15 that was punctuated by a birdie putt to give him a five-shot lead. When the ball disappeared in the cup, Woods delivered his first fist pump of the day, a sure sign that he knew it was over.
It this had been a heavyweight bout inside different ropes, the fight would have been stopped.
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PGA BUICK INVITATIONAL SCORES
At San Diego; Torrey Pines Golf Courses; South Course 7,568 yards, par 72; Purse: $4.5 million