Tiger Woods Wins 4th Masters

Beats Chris DiMarco In Sudden Death Playoff At Augusta

(AP) 
The greatest closer in golf — Woods has never blown a final-round lead in a major and never squandered more than a one-stroke advantage on the last day of any tournament — made a mess of the final two holes.

His tee shot at 17 flew into the pines, leading to bogey. Then he missed the fairway off the tee at 18, pushed his second shot into a bunker and failed to get up-and-down.

DiMarco's approach rolled off the front of the 18th green, but he nearly won the tournament with an amazing chip of his own. From 40 feet, he caught the right edge of the cup, his ball spinning around the flagpole before winding up 6 feet away.

"The difference was his chip went in on 16 and my chip lipped out on 18," DiMarco said. "I don't know how it didn't go in."

For the playoff, the two returned to the 18th tee to do it all over again. This time, Woods came up with two of his best shots of the day under stifling pressure.

He split the fairway with his tee shot and covered the flag with an 8-iron. The winning putt slid into the corner of the cup, giving Woods his ninth major championship at age 29.

Woods tied Ben Hogan and Gary Player on the career list, halfway home to the standard set by Nicklaus. Woods joined Nicklaus (six) and Arnold Palmer (four) as the only players with at least four Masters titles.

Still, this didn't look like the same player who won his first eight majors.

There was the familiar brilliance. Woods needed only five shots over two holes in 22 minutes to erase a four-shot deficit to DiMarco when the third round resumed. Woods tied a Masters record with seven straight birdies on his way to a 65, giving him a three-shot lead going into the final round.