Tiger Woods Loses Playoff To US Open Champ Graeme McDowell

In an afternoon that had more twists and turns than a Dan Brown novel, Tiger Woods somehow lost a four shot lead to Graeme McDowell and then lost to him in a playoff at the Chevron World Challenge. 

Though he must have been disappointed, Woods said he took positives from the defeat.

“It was a great week, even though I didn't win,” Woods said. “I'm proud of today even though I lost, because I putted awful of starting out.”

Woods three-putted the first and third holes, missing putts inside five feet.  Then he hit some shots that we seldom see from Woods.

“I lost my swing in the middle part of the round, and pieced it back together again,” he added. “I was proud of that.  I was very committed coming in, and hit some really, really good shots coming in, which was good. If anything, I thought that's when there might be a breakdown, but I was very pleased that I was able to put that back together then.” 

He probably meant the 13th hole, where he hit a drive into the rough, which caused him to lay up on a par five, something he rarely has to do.  The lay up was fine, but his third shot was too long, over the green.  His flop shot was difficult to say the least, and it rolled back off the left edge of the green. He then chipped too far, missed a long bogey putt and carded a seven. 

Tiger Woods does not miss chips or make sevens, well at least not since he’s been eight years old. 

McDowell made a routine birdie at 13, and they headed to the 14th tee with Woods two shots behind.  McDowell then gave him a gift, hitting his tee shot into unfindable, unplayable territory to the right of the hole. At the end of the 14th, Woods was just one back. At the 16th, it was time for Woods to make up that shot, but he hit an off balance second shot.

“Sixteen tee, I had to hit that fade off the tee and I was really committed to what I was doing,” Woods said. “Hit the shot in the fairway.  Second shot I wasn't committed; obviously hit a bad shot.”

It ended up in the rough left of the green, and uncharacteristically, his short game let him down again.  His pitch ran beyond the hole to the right fringe, which was only about 12-15 feet away.  He missed the birdie attempt.

McDowell had a chance to close Woods out there.  All he needed was birdie.  After a short tee shot with a fairway club and a lay up, his third shot landed inside 10 feet. He was also unable to make the birdie putt. 

The 17th was great for Woods and nearly a disaster for McDowell who could have lost the tournament on that hole.  McDowell’s tee ball on the par three sailed long, into rocks and tall grasses. He took an unplayable and then performed a miracle shot, hitting from the 9th tee onto the green inside eight feet.  He made the putt for a bogey.

“I thought 16 was going to be our swing hole, and ended up being a moot point,” Woods said. “Seventeen ended up being the swing hole.”

The two went to the 18th tee tied.    

Woods had 182 and selected an 8-iron, which was nearly perfect since it landed about two feet from the hole. Then McDowell who had played about 20-25 feet left of the flagstick drained his putt.

“I had to make my putt either way.  Whether he makes or misses, it's irrelevant,” Woods said. “To win the tournament or to get into a playoff, I still had to make it.”

In the playoff, Woods again hit close to the pin on 18, but it was more like eight feet than two. 

Amazingly, McDowell drained a second 20-footer and Woods’ putt slid past the hole.  

“Mentally Tiger is great match player.  He's the greatest player ever, and he expect guys to hole putts like that,” McDowell said about the situation.  “Did I expect to hole them?  I'm trying to hole them, of course.”

After McDowell’s play at the Ryder Cup one might suspect he had a half-way decent chance to make the second long putt, but the number of times Tour players make putts that length is just 20 percent of the time. For McDowell to roll two in back-to-back, lets just say, he had the luck of the Irish on Sunday.

While the result wasn’t victory, Woods did tie for first, and sees progress.

“I'm excited about this off‑season,"  he said. “We—we meaning Sean and I—know the direction we need to go.  That's exciting. I hit some good shots this week and I played really well for most of the week.  The middle part of the round today was an exception, but, boy, I thought I did some good things this week.”

There were glimpses of the old invincible Tiger, and even he recognized that. 

“Even though I lost and made countless mistakes in the middle part of the round, it said a lot for me to come back and put my swing back together again,” Woods summarized.

“I haven't done that yet, and I haven't done it down the stretch when I needed to the most.  That's exciting for me to know that it was there when I needed it.”

McDowell was in a freewheeling position headed into the round.  The eyes were on Woods, and McDowell knew it.

“I was going out there today with absolutely nothing to lose, McDowell said. “I figured he probably had more to lose than I did today.  You know, four shots back, I've had a dream season.  It didn't matter what was going to happen today, I was going to have a cold beer tonight and go, You know what?  It's been a great season.” 

Let’s see, US Open champ, Ryder Cup winning putt, besting Tiger Woods in a playoff at the end of the year, cold beer?  Yup, checks off the boxes for most golfers.