TIGER WOODS CAPTURED his 75th career title last night, winning the US PGA Farmers Insurance Open by four strokes for his record-setting eighth career triumph at Torrey Pines.
Despite struggling in windy conditions Monday, the world number two showed flashes of the form that has brought him 14 major titles, four shy of the all-time record of 18 won by Jack Nicklaus.
Woods won his most recent major crown at the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines and has also won the PGA event staged at Torrey Pines seven times. No other PGA player has won so many times on a single course.
Woods, who also has won PGA events seven times at Bay Hill and Firestone, moved closer to the all-time record of 82 triumphs set by the late Sam Snead.
A fog delay that wiped out almost all play on Saturday led to the Monday finish, with darkness halting Woods’ final round on Sunday after seven holes. His 11 holes on Monday in the wind took four hours and disrupted his game.
“In the end I just started losing my patience,” Woods said. “It was so slow out there.”
He completed a final-round par 72 despite going three-over in the closing stretch, finishing on 14-under par. Fellow Americans Brandt Snedeker, the 2012 winner, and Josh Teater shared second, four shots back on 10-under.
“It got a little ugly toward the end,” Woods said. “I started losing my patience with slow play and lost my concentration there a little bit.”
Taking the $1.08 million top prize at the $6.1 million event is a good omen for Woods. In all six prior years when Woods won the PGA event at Torrey Pines, he won at least four tournaments that year. In five of those six years, he won a major title that year.
“I would like to win eight, nine times a year,” Woods said. “That’s not a bad thing.”
