Tiger Woods Takes PGA Title

He won his 12th career major Sunday coasting to victory at the 88th PGA Championship in Medinah, Ill.

Woods is now the second greatest of all time, behind Jack Nicklaus who won 18 career majors in 25 years.

“He’s that good,” Nicklaus said Sunday. “The guy is playing just great golf, terrific golf. From what I saw, he certainly was in total command.”

Canadian Mike Weir was the only player who came anywhere close to catching Woods early on, but he faded and ended in sixth.

Woods hoisted the Wanamaker Trophy for the third time after he closed with a four under par 68.

“This is sweet, this is really sweet,” he said. “I didn’t exactly feel as comfortable as I may have looked.

“I was hitting all right but I felt if I could hit the ball anywhere on the green, I could make anything today. I made some bombs out there, probably putts you shouldn’t make but that fell in.

“Starting out the day, it could have gone any which way. As soft as the golf course was playing, you knew you had to make a bunch of birdies and I was able to do that for a while.”

This win came a month after Woods’ emotional victory at the British Open, which was his first major since his father died in May.

Woods started his lead with a 10-foot birdie and ended up matching his own PGA scoring record at 18-under 270. He twice made birdie putts over 40 feet.

Woods and Luke Donald were tied going into the final round, but the Brit caught a bad break when his ball landed in a muddy divot on No. 4 and he had his first bogey in 40 holes. He missed a five-foot birdie on the par-5 fifth, which effectively ended his tournament.

   2006 — Tigers Woods (British Open, PGA)
   2005 — Tiger Woods (Masters, British Open)
   2002 — Tiger Woods (Masters, U.S. Open)
   2000 — Tiger Woods (British Open, PGA, U.S. Open)
   1998 — Mark O’Meara (Masters, British Open)
   1994 — Nick Price (British Open, PGA)
   1990 — Nick Faldo (Masters, British Open)
   1982 — Tom Watson (U.S. Open, British Open)
   1980 — Jack Nicklaus (U.S. Open, PGA)
   1977 — Tom Watson (Masters, British Open)
   1975 — Jack Nicklaus (Masters, PGA)
   1974 — Gary Player (Masters, British Open)
   1972 — Jack Nicklaus (Masters, U.S. Open)
   1971 — Lee Trevino (U.S. Open, British Open)
   1966 — Jack Nicklaus (Masters, British Open)
   1963 — Jack Nicklaus (Masters, PGA)
   1962 — Arnold Palmer (Masters, British Open)
   1960 — Arnold Palmer (Masters, U.S. Open)
   1956 — Jack Burke, Jr. (Masters, PGA)
   1953 — Ben Hogan (Mastes, U.S. Open, British Open)
   1951 — Ben Hogan (Masters, U.S. Open)
   1949 — Sam Snead (Masters, PGA)
   1948 — Ben Hogan (U.S. Open, PGA)
   1941 — Craig Wood (Masters, U.S. Open)