Tiger Woods wins again at Torrey Pines in the same week he is dating Lindsey Vonn. The best week ever for the golfer means a major championship is within reach.
Tiger Woods is having a fantastic week.
The superstar golfer won the Famers Insurance Open tournament on Monday after shooting an even-par 72 in the final round and reports last week pegged his new girlfriend as Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn. Nice being Tiger Woods.
The golfer won for the75th time in his career and the eighth time at Toerry Pines, setting a PGA Tour record. He has won seven tournaments at the course as well as his 2008 U.S. Open. Woods also has won seven times at Bay Hill and at Firestone.
"I'm excited the way I played all week," Woods said. "I hit the ball well -- pretty much did everything well and built myself a nice little cushion. I had some mistakes at the end, but all my good play before that allowed me to afford those mistakes."
The 75 wins puts Woods seven behind Sam Snead for the all-time lead and shows his dominance at the San Diego public course. Woods had two bogeys and a double bogey over the end of the round, but no one could catch him after he posted a 14-under par to end the tournament.
"I don't know if anybody would have beaten him this week," said Nick Watney, who got within five shots of Woods when the tournament was still undecided until making three bogeys on his next five holes. "He's definitely on his game."
Brandt Snedeker, last year's champion, finished four strokes back with a 10-under par, tied with Josh Teater and one shot ahead of Watney.
According to ESPN.com, it was the 23rd time Woods has won by at least four shots on the PGA Tour. Woods hit a bogey on hole 14 and had a couple of nice drives down the stretch and had a four-stroke lead heading into the 18th. Barring any major issues, the championship was hit. Woods hit wedge safely behind the hole for a two-putt par to finish the day.
"I think he wanted to send a message," said Hunter Mahan, who shares a swing coach with Woods. "I think deep down he did. You play some games to try to motivate yourself. There's been so much talk about Rory (McIlroy). Rory is now with Nike. That would be my guess."
The last time Woods won at Torrey Pines was the last time he hoisted a major after beating Rocco Mediate in a playoff to capture the U.S. Open for his 14th major. The weather was a factor back then and continued this time around, forcing play to be suspended on Saturday. Golfers had to double dip on Sunday, including Woods who played 25 holes, leaving 11 left to play on Monday's round.
According to ESPN.com, "It took Woods about 3 hours, 45 minutes to finish his 11 holes on Monday. His 19-hole win over Mediate lasted 4½ hours."
"It got a little ugly toward the end," Woods said. "I started losing patience a little bit with the slow play. I lost my concentration a little bit."
Woods has been much better working off the tee this season and showed it on Monday. So far this year he is hitting 64 percent of his fairways after making just 44 percent in 2011. Through the first three rounds at the course in 2011, Woods was tied for 44th place.
"I'm excited about this year. I'm excited about what I'm doing with Sean (Foley) and some of the things that I've built," he said. "This is a nice way to start the year."
Woods has helped erase the tough start he had to the season, when he and Rory McIlroy missed the cut in Abu Dhabi. Woods was hit with a two-shot penalty after his round for taking relief from an embedded lie on the fifth hole when the rules didn't allow for it.
"As I said, I didn't play that poorly," Woods said of his short week in the Middle East. "I played well enough to be there on the weekend, and could have gotten two more rounds competitively, but I didn't really play poorly. I thought I did a lot of good things. Just wanted to continue that this week, and I have."
Days like this were hard to come by a couple years ago after his Thanksgiving car accident and subsequent sex scandal. Woods hasn't won a major, but he is showing that form again and he is also making some moves in his love life.
Woods has made just as many headlines after winning as he did earlier in the week, as reports said that the star golfer is dating Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn. Vonn's representatives did not confirm the relationship, but the skier had some success on Saturday while competing in Europe, winning her second race in the span of a week after taking home a World Cup giant slalom.
According to reports from Fox News and others, the top golfer is dating the Olympic gold medal skier Lindsey Vonn. The report says that the two have been together since November and that they recently took a trip to Antigua in the Caribbean.
"Their busy schedules mean they don't get a lot of time together, but they constantly talk on the phone," the source said.
There were reports in the media recently that Woods was trying to get his ex-wife Elin Nordegren back, the woman with whom he split in 2010 and was forced to pay a $110 million settlement after his serial cheating and sexual addiction was exposed to the world after a Thanksgiving night incident.
Woods was exposed after crashing his SUV near his Florida home on Thanksgiving night after getting into an argument with Nordegren. It was found out later that he had slept with over 20 women, including a number of cocktail waitresses and porn stars. The 28-year-old Vonn is a four-time World Cup champion and three-time Olympian and is considered to be the best skier competing in the sport.
Woods will next be playing in the Match Play Championship next month.
