England’s Paul Casey beat Tiger Woods by one shot to win his second PGA Tour title at the Valspar Championship.
The 40-year-old, whose only previous PGA Tour title came in 2009, carded the joint lowest score of the day with a six-under-par 65 to finish on 10 under.
Woods, a 14-time major winner, needed a birdie on the final hole to force a play-off, but could only manage par for a one-under 70 to finish nine under.
Fellow American Patrick Reed bogeyed the 18th to miss out on a play-off.
Reed reached the green on the par-four last in two shots but his first putt from the edge failed to get over a ridge and it rolled back to his feet. He then failed to hole his next attempt and his three-under 68 saw him finish joint second with Woods.
Casey was watching the drama unfold, having earlier holed seven birdies to set a challenging clubhouse lead.
He opened with a birdie and added three more on the front nine, after dropping his solitary shot of the round at the third.
A run of three birdies from the 11th saw the world number 17 take the lead and he closed his round with five straight pars.
Woods, who was playing in the penultimate group, also birdied the first but gave the shot back with a bogey at the fourth. He then had 12 successive pars to keep him at eight under.
A superb 44-foot birdie putt on the par-three 17th left him needing to birdie the last but he was unable to hole out from 36 feet.
“The guy’s got more victories than all of us put together,” a relieved Casey, who has also won 13 times on the European Tour, said of Woods.
“He made it look easy for such a long time and it’s not. I won a few times in Europe but to get my second victory on the PGA Tour, it’s emotional. I’ve worked hard for it.”
Woods said his game “wasn’t quite as sharp” on Sunday as it had been in round three.
However, he added: “I keep getting just a little bit better. I had a good chance at winning this tournament. A couple of putts here and there and it could have been a different story.”
Overnight leader Corey Conners fell away with a six-over 77 to finish on three under, while the challenge of England’s Justin Rose was effectively ended by bogeys on the 12th and 13th as he posted a one-over 72 to end seven under.
Spain’s Sergio Garcia matched Casey’s 65 to shoot up to fourth on the leaderboard and an eight under par finish.
0
0
0
