Tiger Woods Proud of Victory and Breaking Nicklaus Record

Tiger Woods took one more giant step in his march toward history with his victory at the AT&T National, surpassing Jack Nicklaus’ total of 73 PGA Tour titles.  Woods now has 74. 

“It feels great to get to 74 wins and obviously pass Jack,” Woods said afterward. “I did it at 36 years old, and it's something I'm very proud of.”  Nicklaus’ last victory on the regular tour was the 1986 Masters, and he was 46 at the time. 

Woods has achieved the total ten seasons earlier than Nicklaus did, which makes one wonder how many tournaments Woods can win in the next decade.

Bo Van Pelt had a front row seat as he and Woods were neck and neck during the historic round.   

“I would say he seemed like he kept his rhythm for two days,” Van Pelt said. “I think whenever you're working on something in your golf swing, that's the hardest thing to mesh is mesh the physical with the rhythm.  He's always had beautiful rhythm, but it's hard for any player when you're trying to change something to stay in that rhythm.”

Woods chided members of the media who wrote him off last spring, after he withdrew at Doral.  However, one of the characteristics of Woods' career has been consistency.  In 2012, it’s been more of a rollercoaster year than a typical one for him.

After Doral, he looked “back” when he won at Bay Hill, but disappointed at The Masters.  He was average through the rest of the spring, then won Memorial.  After that victory, he looked ready for an assault at the US Open, and led after 36 holes. But the last two rounds, it was more like a body double played.  

It was not the Tiger Woods of old or even a shadow of the Tiger Woods of old.  

Now he’s teased us again with a third victory this season, two weeks before the British Open.  No one knows what to make of it except the bookies.  Ladbrokes has him favored with 6 to 1 odds.

Granted, Woods has won more than any player this year—three times.  Hunter Mahan and Jason Dufner have both won twice and Mahan was in the mix the first two days at AT&T National.  If Mahan had a better weekend, we might suggest that he should be number one in the world.

As good and solid a victory as it was,  Woods’ four rounds were not without flaws. 

There was the out of the bunker to the fringe, fringe halfway to the hole series, which was ugly, but ultimately did not cost him the title.  There was also the 9-iron around the tree semi-miracle shot which helped him win it.  And there were good drives with a 3-wood and not so good drives with a driver. 

So, while Woods was managing his game, he had some misses and yet won. 

Woods said he did not focus on the scoreboard on Sunday, until he finally saw a leaderboard on the 15^th.

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“After I made my putt, the board was right past the hole,” Woods explained, “and it flashed up that we had separated ourselves I think at the time three shots.  So it was just he and I with three holes to go, and I figured that it was nice to be able to focus on just Bo and not worry about listening to roars over what anybody else was doing.” 

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VanPelt and Woods were tied at the start of the final round. Adam Scott appeared to threaten for a while as did Jason Day, but everyone else fell back.   

After the front nine, Woods was one ahead of Van Pelt, but Van Pelt’s birdie at the 11^th tied them again.  Then they both birdied the 15^th and both bogeyed the 16^th.  Van Pelt piled on with a bogey at the 17^th hole, giving Woods the advantage going into the final hole.    

“Until the last three holes I think I only missed one green all day and was driving it decent,” Van Pelt said.  “Some of those tee balls I hit that were just in the rough, I hit had good shots, just ended up just in the rough.”

“It was tough to get the ball close,” Woods said.  “Short‑siding yourself here was an automatic bogey.  The greens are just too steep and too fast.”

The tournament also featured weather that resulted in the course being too dangerous for spectators.  Hundreds of thousands without power in the Washington, D.C. area, but for the golfers, the result was softened conditions for the weekend.  It also provided some silly stories.

According to Woods, golfers were tipping caps after making putts, or putting their hand up as it to acknowledge applause out of habit .

“It was pretty funny,” Woods said. “There was no one out there.”

Van Pelt told Woods they were playing in front of a Van Pelt gallery on Saturday with so few people around.

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“I was very comfortable with 10 or 15 people watching me play golf,” Van Pelt added. “I'd say the worst part, I felt like I got cheated on 6 when he chipped that ball in because normal crowd, that would have got really loud.  So I'm disappointed I didn't get to hear that cheer when he made that flop shot.  Because it's fun; you take energy from that.”

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Whether Woods has won his quota for 2012 is truly impossible to tell based on his performance to date. One thing is certain, pronounce him ready or done at your peril.  Given the way the year has gone, he could easily win another three or miss three cuts in a row.

Regardless of the outcome of the summer tournaments, Woods’ next historic mark is Sam Snead’s PGA Tour victory total of 82. And if Woods wants to go all out, Kathy Whitworth won 88.

Of note: Tiger Woods donated all his prize money to the Tiger Woods Foundation in Washington, D.C.

Kathy Bissell is a Golf Writer for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand or from official interview materials from the USGA, PGA Tour or PGA of America.