Tiger Woods Will Win AT&T National with Epic Final Round

Yesterday, rain stormed the AT&T National tournament grounds in Bethesda, Md. Tiger Woods did some storming of his own.

Woods shot a bogey-free four-under-par 67 to climb into second place on the leader board. His round of 67 was the lowest he shot at the AT&T National since the final round of his win there in 2009 (ESPN).

His best performances have come with huge crowds cheering him on. Recently, those same crowds and pressures from reviving his game have stymied one of golf’s greatest. It was only fitting that virtually no fans were on hand to witness Woods storm back from a five-stroke deficit to position himself within a shot of the championship.

Woods draws energy from the masses of fans that support and cheer him on in his most challenging moments. He shot a 67 without that support net on Saturday.

What will he do today with the fans literally losing their minds as he battles to add an astounding 74th PGA Tour win to his belt?

Heading into the final day of the championship, Woods is surging while the rest of the pack is standing still. Amid the storms of Saturday afternoon, Woods created the perfect storm for a run at taking home his third championship of 2012.

When Tiger Woods is on his game, there isn’t a golfer in the world who can keep up—especially Brendon de Jonge. De Jonge leads Woods by one stroke and has played three solid rounds of golf up until this point. Unfortunately for him, solid and consistent aren't enough. If de Jonge wants to win this tournament, he is going to have to rise to another level today to tame the rising Tiger.

Hunter Mahan, who limped through Round 3 a day ago to fall to 5-under-par, is still a threat but is fading quickly. Mahan started out hot and shot a second round 65 on Friday. However, he faltered yesterday with a course par to allow Woods back into the race.

Mahan may be third in current PGA FedEx Cup points for the 2012 season, but he doesn’t have the pedigree of Woods. He, and his peers vying for the title, hasn’t been in this position as many times as Woods.

They don’t know the course like he does.

The inconsistency between round performances for Mahan is telling enough of that. Woods may have also been inconsistent to a point, but he is peaking at the right time.

Just try to stop him.

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