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'What can you say after watching that?" one friend asked after Tiger Woods holed a 25-foot putt on the last green at the Bay Hill Club in Orlando Sunday to win his fifth Arnold Palmer Invitational title by one shot over 45-year-old Bart Bryant.
Another friend said: "Man, that was good. It makes you wonder what someone is going to have to do to beat him the way he's playing now."
Woods came to the par-four, 441-yard 18th hole tied with Bryant, who had finished. After hitting the fairway, Woods hit a perfect 5-iron left of and behind the hole, thereby taking the water in front out of play.
Woods had made a similar putt to win the 2001 tournament over Phil Mickelson, who was nearby Sunday and watching.
This time Bryant, who had just completed a gritty, three-under par 67, was having a bite in the scoring trailer while listening for the crowd's reaction, which would tell him whether Woods made the putt. Woods had gone 0-for-21 on putts longer than 20 feet during the tournament.
The putt turned from the left and fell in the heart of the hole. As the ball curled toward the cup, Woods shifted left. When it dropped, he whipped his cap at the ground in excitement.
He'd shot 66 and finished at 10-under 270 to win for the fifth time at Bay Hill.
Palmer, the tournament host, was watching from the side, gave him a bear hug and asked, "What else is new?"
"The best shot I hit all week was the 5-iron on the last hole," Woods said after.
He and his caddie, Steve Williams, slapped hands at the purity of the shot. Then came the winning, slam-the-door putt. The same golfer had, uncharacteristically, three-putted from six feet on the 10th hole. The tournament wasn't on the line then.
Woods, 32, has now won 64 PGA Tour events, including 13 major championships. He's tied in total wins with Ben Hogan. Only Jack Nicklaus, with 73 wins, and Sam Snead, with 82, are ahead of Woods.
Woods has won five consecutive tournaments on the PGA Tour. He's won the last seven tournaments he's entered, including the Target World Challenge in December, a 16-player event that he hosts, and the full-field Dubai Desert Classic in February, where he holed a 30-foot putt on the last green to defeat Ernie Els. Woods has won 43 of 46 tournaments in which he's led into the final round.
The fact Woods won by only a shot Sunday makes his win impressive in an altogether different manner than when he's blown away the field by as many as 15 shots (the 2000 U.S. Open).
Five players, including Woods, started the last round tied for the lead. Eleven more were within three shots of the lead. If ever there was a tournament where somebody could take down Woods, this was it.
Yeah, right. He was pushed, hard, but he still won.
Here's one observer's view: I was at Bay Hill on Thursday and made a point of following Woods just as I'd made a point of following Nicklaus in his prime.
Woods was missing fairways and having problems on the spotty greens. Still, he was even par when he arrived on the eighth tee to play the 17th hole of his round. He blew his tee shot right into the trees, then hit a soaring approach to the back fringe of the green. He two-putted for par.
On the ninth tee, Woods was at the top of his backswing when he stopped dead. He'd heard a camera. "You got to be kidding," Woods said.
He was hot. He tried to regroup, but then hit a poor drive that finished in the right trees. He found an opening and ripped a low, long iron just short of the green. He two-putted for par again. Another golfer might have bogeyed the last two holes.
Woods's recovery game is otherworldly. He stayed in the game Thursday when he wasn't on his game. And nobody putts better at the ultimate moment.
Now he goes to Doral in Miami for this week's World Golf Championships tournament. He's won at Doral six times, including the past three years.
It was said of the late, great NBA coach Red Auerbach that he played chess while everybody else was playing checkers. Woods is playing chess. Everybody else is playing checkers.
As my friend wondered Sunday: what are they going to have to do to beat him? As Hogan would have advised: shoot a lower score.
That's easier said than done against Woods, the toughest player in the game. He has the game, the mind, and everybody else's number.
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