Tiger Woods secured his second victory on the European Tour – and his first on the Continent of Europe – by capturing the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open, TPC of Europe at St.Leon Rot, Heidelberg.
The 23 year old American, who won the 1998 Johnnie Walker Classic, delivered a near-perfect round of 68 in blazing sunshine to lift the title by three shots from Retief Goosen, the Novotel Perrier Open de France champion.
Woods’ 15 under par total of 273 was good enough to secure the title while Goosen finished strongly with a 66 for second place on 276, while Nick Price made a remarkable move from the cut line to finish third.
Price had been on three over par at the halfway stage, but charged through the field with a pair of 65s to take third on 277.
England’s Peter Baker finished fourth on his own after a closing 71 for 279, while Ernie Els (71) and Brian Davis of England ( 72) came next on 280. In fact Davis managed to get close to Woods after birdieing the 10th and grabbing an eagle at the 11th to move within three shots of the winner.
However three bogeys in a row from the 15th cost him a chance of putting pressure on Woods, while Goosen came with a scorching late run – 32 home – to overhaul Price, who lost momentum with a bogey at the 15th.
However the week belonged to Woods, who seldom put a foot wrong, on the course or off it. He shot all four rounds in the sixties, 69, 68, 68 and 68, to win the affection of the German public.
He said: “I played well the entire week. I got better as the week went on and it was just a matter of giving myself chances.
“I felt very nervous out there. I was three under for the day through seven and felt I had a pretty good lead. Nicky was making his way up the leaderboard and when he was five under through eight I knew I had my work cut out.”
Woods added: “I think the tournament was probably won on the 12th. I played it in one under par and it was one of the toughest holes out there.”
Price, who played the last 36 holes in 14 under par, admitted: “This is a long golf course, but for Tiger it’s medium length. I felt if I could gt to 13 under par I had a chance, although to have shot 63 round here was a tall order.”
Davis, who acquitted himself superbly, earned enough to be close to retaining his card for next season and said: “It was awesome playing with Tiger. I kept my composure well and I can only benefit from the experience.”
