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Tiger Woods outlasts Daly at AmEx Championship
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-10 09:59
But the 3-footer was a stunner.
"I know Tiger didn't want to win that way," Daly said. "I didn't want to lose
that way. It's very disappointing."
The crowd felt anything but that.
Their loyalties were evenly divided, and they about screamed themselves
hoarse on the 18th hole in the playoff, the most daunting hole at Harding Park
that requires a tee shot over Lake Merced and a row of cypress trees.
First came Woods, hammering away, the roar shaking the grounds when it found
the middle of the fairway, then rolled into the first cut. Next up was Daly, a
grip and a rip, then reaching over to pick up his cigarette as the ball landed
some 10 yards ahead of Woods.
It was like that all day.
Harding Park was graced with brilliant blue sky above and an endless supply
of thrills below.
Four of golf's most notable figures — Daly, Woods, Montgomerie and Garcia —
were locked in a four-way battle that really took shape on the seventh hole.
Woods tried to drive the green and went left of the flag into the rough,
leaving him no shot until he threw up a wedge out of the junk that stopped a few
inches from going in for a tap-in birdie to get within one of Daly.
In the final group behind him, Garcia played it safe with an iron off the
tee, then looked like a genius when he holed out his wedge from 110 yards that
spun hard into the cup for eagle and a share of the lead. Montgomerie made a
rare birdie putt and was within one shot.
But it didn't take long for Woods and Daly to separate themselves.
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