2004 Dunlop Phoenix - More than a Win for Woods

2004 Dunlop Phoenix - More than a Win for Woods

2004 Dunlop Phoenix, the first strokeplay title in more than a year, is so meaningful to Tiger Woods

The title is the first win after his four visits to Japan. He had failed to win in three previous visits there. Woods finished eighth at the 2002 Dunlop Phoenix, 15th in the 1998 Casio Open and also lost in a sudden-death playoff at the 2001 World Cup.

Japan is the eighth country in which Woods has won an official money event. The other seven are the U.S., Canada, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, Spain, and Thailand. He also won unofficial events in Malaysia (1999 World Cup) and Argentina (2000 World Cup). Since turning professional, including official and unofficial money events, Woods has competed in 19 countries.

It was Tiger’s second tournament since his October marriage to Swedish model Elin Nordegren. His wedding has brought him not only happiness but success as well.

Woods keeps alive his streak of winning at least two official tournaments each year since he has turned professional: 2 (1996), 5 (’97), 2 (’98), 9 (’99), 10 (’00), 6 (’01), 6 (’02), 5 (’03), and 2 (’04). He has had a total of 47 official wins in 181 starts (26%) with 40 of those wins coming in 164 PGA Tour starts (24.4%). This is the second year that he won just once on the PGA Tour. The other time was in 1998, when he won the Johnnie Walker Classic (a European Tour event) in Thailand in January and the BellSouth Classic (PGA Tour) in May.

Tiger's winless streak in official money events ends at 16. His winless streak began with the Dubai Desert Classic, where he tied for fifth place the first week in March, and continued with 15 PGA Tour events. This was his longest drought since turning professional. His previous longest winless stretch was 15 events, from the 1998 Byron Nelson Classic through 1999 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

It also halted a run of 20 consecutive strokeplay events without a win. The drought was Woods' longest since turning professional in 1996. His last stroke-play victory came at the 2003 American Express Championship. The drought began with a tie for second at the 2003 FUNAI Classic at Disney World and included 20 PGA Tour events plus the 2004 Dubai Desert Classic. His previous longest stroke-play drought was the same 15-event stretch mentioned above.

This was the eighth time Woods has won an official money tournament while leading or sharing the lead after each round. The other seven are U.S Open, PGA Championship, NEC Invitational (2000), Bay Hill Invitational, U.S Open, American Express Championship (2002) and Western Open (2003).

Woods remains No. 2 in the Official World Golf Ranking, but his 12.66 average leaves him less than point behind No. 1 Vijay Singh (13.42), the closest Tiger has been since Vijay overtook him for the top spot in early September. "I'm just very excited about the prospects for next year” said Woods.

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