ORLANDO, Fla. — Graeme McDowell is a confident guy, but he knew he met his match yesterday.
McDowell, who began the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill trailing Tiger Woods by one shot, felt good about his chances of overtaking Woods.
He had, after all, done it before — in 2010 at the Chevron World Challenge, an unofficial short-field event that Woods hosts every year. McDowell chased Woods down, erasing a four-shot lead.
Yesterday, it didn’t take long for McDowell to realize he was dealing with a different — better — Woods than he was in 2010.
“I happened to run into a resurgent Tiger Woods today,’’ McDowell said. “Of course I believed I had a chance today, but I just never really got close to the guy. He played well and deserved to win.’’
McDowell doomed himself with a double bogey on the first hole to fall three shots back, but he rallied to cut the deficit to two shots with a dramatic eagle on No. 6, where he made a 51-foot putt.
He would never get closer than two shots, though, and shot a 74 to Woods’ 70 to finish 8-under, five shots back.
* Ernie Els, who began yesterday three shots behind Woods, played a tournament within the tournament. He was vying to qualify for the Masters, needing at least a top three finish to do it, and failed when he finished tied for fourth.
He was doomed by a bogey on the 17th hole, where he hit his tee shot into a muddy bank of a pond.
“You go into a week, fourth place, you’d probably take it,’’ Els said. “But it was a bit bittersweet. I had a lot of chances and kind of blew it a little bit. I wasn’t good on the greens and that’s the disappointing thing.’’
Els, who’s played the Masters every year since 1994, needs to win in Houston this week to get into Augusta.
* Woods finished ranked first in greens in regulation for the week, hitting 79.2 percent of them. … Woods’ average margin of victory in his seven wins here is by 3.86 strokes. … He’s a collective 108 under par in his 15 pro starts at this event.