South Korean KJ Choi captured his second title in the last five weeks with a three-stroke victory at the Tiger Woods invitational tournament on a sweltering Sunday at Congressional Country Club.
Choi steadied himself after a shaky mid-round stretch when he bogeyed the 10th, 11th and 13th to fall a stroke behind Steve Stricker, who was bidding for his first title in six years.
But the 37-year-old responded with birdies on 15 and 17 to finish with a final-round 68, three strokes ahead of Stricker. Choi fired a nine-under 271 for the tournament to claim his sixth career title. "I just tried to make myself as comfortable as I could . . . and just give it my best shot and approach it like a professional," said Choi, who collected more than $1 million for the victory.
"I think all of those factored in to my win. This tournament is just too big for me to really absorb right now. But it's a very big win and definitely the biggest win of my career."
Stricker had four birdies on the front nine but none the rest of the way. While Choi rallied, Stricker bogeyed 11, 14 and 15 to quickly slide out of contention on a day where temperatures reached the mid-90s.
"It was a great experience, but not really the result I was looking for today," said the 40-year-old Tour veteran. "But I can gain some confidence from this event and hopefully one of these times finish it off."
Choi, who won the Jack Nicklaus-hosted Memorial last month in Dublin, Ohio, had a stunning birdie on 17, blasting out of a bunker and into the cup with perhaps the best shot of the tournament.
"I wasn't trying to put it in the hole," he said. "All I was trying to do was save par. But . . . I put the ball exactly where I wanted to.
"And I guess the speed was right, the undulation, everything was right and it just went in. It was something that I didn't even expect. It surprised me."
Woods, who hosted the $6 million tournament, shot a final-round 70 to finish at two-under 278 and in a tie with Australian Robert Allenby for sixth place.
The world number one posted a three-over front nine to end any chance of making a run at the leaders.
"I did not putt well today," said Woods. "Left a lot of putts short. I had a lot of trouble getting the ball to the hole this week. I needed to putt well and they were just not going to go in."
Stuart Appleby opened the day two strokes clear of the field but suffered a final-round meltdown and finished tied for third at 277 with Americans Jim Furyk and Pat Perez.
The 36-year-old Australian shot a 76, including a double-bogey on the second hole and bogeys on holes four through seven. His hopes of winning his ninth career tournament and first of the year evaporated on that horrid front nine.
AT&T NATIONAL (at the Congressional Country Club): Leading final scores - 271 - KJ Choi (South Korea) 66 67 70 68; 274 Steve Stricker (US) 67 70 67 70; 277 - Pat Perez (US) 71 70 69 67, Jim Furyk (US) 66 74 68 69, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 66 67 68 76; 278 - Robert Allenby (Aus) 70 71 69 68, Tiger Woods (US) 73 66 69 70, 279 - Hunter Mahan (US) 70 74 70 65, Rocco Mediate (US) 75 68 70 66, Brandt Snedeker (US) 69 72 70 68, Mike Weir (Can) 72 66 67 74; 280 - Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 69 75 68 68, Jeff Quinney (US) 67 75 69 69, Vijay Singh (Fiji) 66 71 73 70, Craig Kanada (US) 69 67 74 70, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 73 69 67 71, Boo Weekley (US) 70 72 67 71, Lucas Glover (US) 71 69 66 74; 281 - Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 70 68 73 70, Chris Riley (US) 70 71 70 70, Billy Andrade (US) 68 68 73 72, Rod Pampling (Aus) 70 70 69 72, Charley Hoffman (US) 71 69 67 74, Shigeki Maruyama (Jap) 72 70 65 74.
