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Woods' winning streak ends at WGC-CA

March 25, 2008 09:44 IST

Tiger Woods's winning streak was snapped on Monday when Australian Geoff Ogilvy kept his nerve to win the WGC-CA Championship.

Woods, who had won his last seven tournaments worldwide and had not lost a tournament since September, finished fifth, two shots behind Ogilvy.

Ogilvy finished on a 17-under-par total of 271 -- a shot ahead of South African Retief Goosen, American Jim Furyk and Fiji's Vijay Singh who were all tied for second place.

The 30-year-old Ogilvy had not won a PGA Tour event since his 2006 victory at the U.S Open.

The remaining holes of the competition were finished on Monday after weather disrupted Sunday's play and Singh and Furyk both blew chances to catch Ogilvy.

Singh bogeyed the 13th and 14th, chipping poorly on both, before recovering with two birdies. Furyk was unlucky to bogey the 14th with a 10-foot putt that came back out of the hole.

The luck went the other way for Ogilvy who saved par on the 13th with a 30 foot chip that would have gone well past the hole if it had not struck the flag.

"It was a pretty stellar looking leaderboard over those last nine holes, so it was very satisfying to beat those players and to win a big one. It was nice," said Ogilvy, who hit just one bogey in 72 holes at the event.

'MANY MISTAKES'

While Ogilvy savoured his return to victory, Woods had the unusual task of trying to explain defeat.

"I made too many mistakes this week. I had four three-putts this week and I had two terrible lies in bunkers and a photographer got me on nine. With all that, to only finish two back, I think that's a great sign," he told reporters.

Woods had lost his temper after a camera disturbed his shot on the ninth, late on Sunday, with a report in the Miami Herald saying he had sworn at and threatened a photographer.

The 13-times major winner, whose focus will now switch to next month's U.S Masters, said that the media and fans had not fully appreciated what his winning streak involved and the fine line between victory and failure.

"I think the people that truly understand are the players. I don't think you guys really understand or even the fans out there just how small the difference is.

"If I just cleaned up my round this week then obviously I am right up there with Geoff, if not just a little bit ahead," he said.

"I had ample chances to get myself up there on that board and win the tournament and I just didn't do it."

The last time Woods was beaten was in September when he tied for second at the Deutsche Bank Championship in Norton, Massachusetts.

He had won nine of his last 10 competitions, including the unofficial Target World Challenge held in Thousand Oaks, California in December.

Source: REUTERS
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