Woods chases another record at year-ending Dunlop Phoenix Agence France-Presse
November 14, 2006
MIYAZAKI, JAPAN -- Tiger Woods' winning streak ended in Shanghai at the weekend but the world No.1 is all set to chase another record here this week at his last official stroke-play event of the year.
The 30-year-old will aim for a record-tying third straight victory at the 1.7 million dollar Dunlop Phoenix tournament, the richest event on the Japanese tour, as he continues a lucrative Asian swing.
"I still remember it was a really exciting battle," the 12-time Major champion said of his triumph here last year over Japanese pro Kaname Yokoo in a sudden death play-off over four holes.
"I will focus on each and every shot in front of me and play my best golf again this year," he said on the tournament's official website, promising to match Masashi "Jumbo" Ozaki's three straight wins, from 1994-1996.
Woods, who has won nine titles including the British Open and US PGA Championship this year, played a made-for-television match with two Japanese pros outside Kobe Monday, the day after he flew to Japan on his private jet.
In Shanghai, he emerged from a five-week holiday break and finished second behind unheralded South Korean Yang Yong-Eun by two strokes Sunday at the five million dollar HSBC Champions tournament.
It snapped his stroke-play winning streak at six tournaments, which followed the death of his father Earl from cancer in May.
Last year, he also finished runner-up at HSBC, the richest Asian event, and won here on the 6,907-yard, par-70 Phoenix Country Club course overviewing the Pacific.
The 2006 Dunlop Phoenix field has 84 players from 13 countries including Yang, Ireland's Padraig Harrington, who won the European Order of Merit title for the first time last month, and David Howell of England, third on the European Tour rankings.
It also features Denmark's Thomas Bjorn, who won Dunlop Phoenix in 1999 and 2003. South African Tim Clark, who finished second in the 2006 Masters, has withdrawn after failing to renew his passport in time, according to organizers.
Harrington finished six strokes off Yang's total of 274 at HSBC, which was the opener of the European Tour season and co-sanctioned by the European, Asian, South African and Australian tours, along with the China Golf Association. Howell was 23 strokes behind Yang and Bjorn 26.
Dunlop will mark the last stroke-play of 2006 which sees Woods in what has been widely regarded as his best form since he held all four majors in 2000 and 2001.
Woods may have a special attachment to this event as it was where he returned to his winning ways at the end of a dismal 2004 season, when he won win just one USPGA event.
He was in the process of reforming his swing and won here by eight strokes as he tried to reduce the wear and tear on his surgically repaired left knee. Woods charged back with six victories in 2005, including the British Open title.
His appearance fee here is estimated at 300 million yen (2.6 million dollars), more than the tournament's total purse, according to the Sankei Sports newspaper.
If he wins Dunlop, which carries the winner's prize money of 40 million yen (330,000 dollars), Woods will wind up his two-week Asian tour with some eight million dollars in prize and appearance money including the TV match in Kobe, the daily said.
After Dunlop, Woods will host the Target World Challenge, an annual off-season charity golf tournament, in the US before a Christmas break certain to be tinged with sadness at the end of his tumultuous year.
