Football
20y

Woods can't get it going in final round

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- There was magic surrounding Tiger
Woods on a Sunday in a big tournament. This time, though, it had
little to do with him.

While his playing partner, Padraig Harrington, finished with a
30 to tie the back-nine record in the final round of The Players
Championship, Woods simply played out the string, his attempt at a
comeback derailed early in the day.

"It's frustrating in the sense that I wasn't really ever able
to get it going," Woods said.

The world's top player had a 1-over 73 and finished at 3 under,
tied for 16th place. In all, it was better than projections after
the first day, when a round of 75 left the golf world wondering if
he would even make the cut. But Woods acknowledged that, with just
a week to go until the Masters, his game hasn't yet rounded into
perfect form.

"I'm pleased that things I'm working on are starting to come
together," Woods said. "It's starting to show signs, but I need
to replicate it more often."

He felt his chances were hurt when he hit his second shot into a
bunker on the par-5 second, and finished with bogey.

"I just could not afford to do something like that," he said.

Woods played with a sore leg, a result of bending over awkwardly
to pick up a tee on the practice range earlier in the week. He
would not use the injury as an excuse.

"My leg is sore, there's no doubt about that," he said. "But
you just go ahead and keep playing."

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^TAKING A DIP:@ Ian Poulter's silly mistake left his friend
feeling all wet.

Facing a difficult putt on the fourth green, Poulter angrily
walked up to his ball and bent down to hurriedly snatch it away.
But instead of grabbing the ball, he accidentally whacked it with
his hand ... and watched it roll right into the lake that protects
the left side of the green.

Facing the possibility of a two-stroke penalty for losing his
ball, Poulter signaled to his personal trainer, Kam Bhabra, who was
watching from the gallery. Bhabra shed his shorts and waded into
the water in his skivvies, bending down to find the ball and
tossing it back to Poulter.

"I knew what he was going to ask me to do, so I just went,"
Bhabra said after the round, wearing a fresh set of dry clothes.

Poulter saved par on the hole, en route to a 74. The two strokes
he saved earned him about an extra $20,000. He admitted to being a
little red-faced about one of the oddest incidents in the history
of the tournament, and said he was grateful to have a friend like
Bharba.

"The guy would do anything for me," Poulter said. "He will be
rewarded very nicely."

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^ROUND OF THE DAY:@ At 50, Jay Haas feels he's playing some of
the best golf of his life. He certainly played some of the best
golf of the day Sunday, shooting 66 to tie Harrington for the low
round.

"If I play like I did today, I can compete anywhere," Haas
said.

His next test will be the Masters, where he'll make his second
straight appearance after missing for two straight years.

"I'm just happy to be going there again," Haas said.
"Hopefully, it won't be my last trip."

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^LOVE STICKS AROUND:@ It was much less than the win he got here
last year, but Davis Love thought sticking around for the weekend
was a minor victory in itself.

Love got off to a bad start, shooting 77 in the first round with
a sore back. His back got better and he wound up at even-par, tied
for 33rd, after a closing-round 73.

Love said once he felt defending his title was out of reach, he
started thinking about the Masters, and taking advantage of the
lightning-fast greens on the Stadium Course to help him prepare.

"You don't want to go to Augusta not making the cut here and
not going to Atlanta" for the BellSouth Classic next week, he
said. "I wanted to build a little confidence and staying here for
the weekend helped me do that."

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^CLOSE AGAIN:@ This wasn't a major, but it was close.

Phil Mickelson wasn't a winner, but he came close.

It was a familiar refrain for Lefty at The Players Championship.
He finished tied for third and can keep golf's so-called fifth
major -- along with the other four -- on the list of championships
he's never won.

Mickelson shot 71 to finish at 8 under.

"I played well, I shot 1-under par on a tough golf course, but
I didn't take advantage of a few opportunities I had to get it
going," he said.

Mickelson said he was playing more conservatively than normal
this week out of necessity because the course was so tough. That
strategy helped him to the leaderboard through three rounds.

But he never got on a roll Sunday, and when he missed a 6-foot
par putt on the par-5 16th -- a hole he really needed to eagle -- his
chances were finished. Nonetheless, this was Mickelson's best
finish here in 11 tries.

"I think the big thing for me this week was playing four solid
rounds and minimizing my mistakes," he said. "That certainly
helped me get in contention and tie for third."

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DIVOTS:@ Vijay Singh made double bogey on the 18th to fall out
of top 10. He finished tied for 13th. ... Ernie Els shot 78 to drop
from the leaderboard to a 26th-place finish. ... Matt Gogel had one
of the day's best shots. Trapped behind a sapling in the pine straw
on the 18th hole, Gogel had to move about 100 spectators from a
patio area where they were eating, before he hacked at the ball,
spinning it around the small tree and toward the front of the
green. He wound up with a bogey. ... Second-round co-leaders Jerry
Kelly and Kevin Sutherland finished at 7 under, tied for sixth.

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