Tiger Woods wins A T & T National; Passes Jack Nichlaus

Submitted by wmcdowell
Monday, July 02, 2012 at 5:54 PM

Tiger Woods won the A T & T National at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, MD on Sunday.  The victory at Congressional was the third of the year for Tiger and more significantly, the 74th PGA Tour win of his stellar career passed Jack Nicklaus for the second most career victories.  Woods only trails Sam Snead who garnered 82 wins during his long career.

Tiger’s victory also pushed him to the top of the PGA Tour money list for 2012 and to the top of the FedEx Cup standings as the only three time winner on this year’s Tour.  He remains the fourth ranked player in the world but could rise back to #1 with a win at the British Open later this month.

Tiger seems to have found the game that made him the number one player in the world for so many years before Elin’s nine iron to the head and several knee surgeries derailed his game for two years.  Tiger has struggled in this year’s majors but has triumphed in the three tournaments hosted by Arnold Palmer (Bay Hill Invitational), Jack Nicklaus (The Memorial), and his own A T & T National.  If Sam Snead were still alive Tiger would win his as well!

Saturday’s round at Congressional had a very strange aura as storms in the Washington D.C. area knocked dozens of trees and limbs to the ground leaving the course in shambles and with no gallery.  Tiger entered the final round tied with Brand de Jonge and Bo Van Pelt, the pairing for the final round.  De Jonge struggled and fell out of contention quickly but Woods and Van Pelt dueled until bogeys on the last three holes destined Van Pelt for second place and put Tiger on top of the leader board. 

Tiger seemed surprisingly subdued in victory and his mind has to be on the two remaining majors at the British Open and PGA Championship.  Tiger has probably stamped himself as the favorite in the two remaining majors.  Can he stand up to the pressure that he used to handle with ease?  The rest of the field will be looking over their shoulders once again.