ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tiger Woods shot a Grand Slam-record 61 yesterday to win the Kauai event by 14 strokes.
Woods cruises to POIPU, Kauai >> Tiger Woods fulfilled his wish and then some yesterday on the way to his fifth straight PGA Grand Slam of Golf victory.
Slam title No. 5
Tiger shoots a 61 in his
Golf notebook
sixth Slam at Poipu BayBy Nick Abramo
nabramo@starbulletin.comHe wanted to start the second round strong and he did it without a hitch. But, unlike Tuesday's first round, he continued on a tear throughout the soggy day and it resulted in a course record 11-under-par 61 and a 14-shot victory.
Woods finished with a tournament record 17-under 127, leaving his competition in the dust of one of the Poipu Bay Resort Golf Course sand traps.
"Starting out, I did exactly what I needed to do when you have a three-shot lead (going into the final round)," Woods said after securing the $400,000 winner's check. "I needed to go out there and play a good, solid front nine and I just got on a roll. It just kept going. Making shots. Aiming at my spots, hitting those spots and knocking down my putts."
With first place out of reach, Justin Leonard and Davis Love III dueled for second and they ended up in a tie with 3-under 141s. Love shot a 69 and Leonard had an even-par 72, while Rich Beem carded a 73 to finish at 1-over 145.
All three of the other golfers enjoyed watching Woods' incredible round.
"I'm glad I was part of it today so I could watch Tiger shoot 61," Beem said. "That was the highlight of my day."
Woods' blistering performance during intermittent showers included 11 birdies as he finished the two days bogey free. He birdied six of the first eight holes in light Kona winds on his way to a course-record front-nine 30 and an eight-shot lead. He had five more birdies on the back nine.
One of Woods' more dramatic shots came on the 384-yard, par-4 13th when he stiffed a 9-iron to 1 foot from 136 yards. He also showed his shot-making wizardry by leaving 1-foot birdie putts on the second and eighth holes.
Woods also made several long birdie putts -- a 20-footer on the 12th and an 18-footer on the 16th, and he two-putted from 43 feet on the par-5 18th for his last birdie.
The king of Poipu Bay said he never thought about trying to shoot 59 or better, but the handful of putts that came up inches short had the crowd of 6,400 believing it was possible.
"When you start going low like that, you don't really think of numbers," Woods said. "You just get into the rhythm of the round and get into a rhythm of trying to place your ball in a certain spot and give yourself the best chance of making birdies."
Love moved into the second-place tie with Leonard, two-putting from 42 feet for a birdie on the 18th. They each won $225,000, while Beem pocketed $150,000.
Leonard, who started the day 3-under, was at 4-under for most of the back nine until he missed a five-foot, par-saving putt on the 16th.
"I hit the ball pretty good, but I think I read maybe two putts correctly all day and on those, I hit probably the worst two putts," Leonard said. "I love Kauai, don't get me wrong, but I'm glad I'm not playing the golf course again tomorrow. That doesn't mean I don't want to come back, and I hope to next year."
Love made a remarkable recovery on the 537-yard, par-5 14th. After skulling his second shot about 30 yards out of the rough, he blazed a 3-iron from 220 yards and dropped in a 15-foot birdie.
"I'm hitting the ball great on the range," Love said. "I'm just not playing well on the golf course. When you get a couple of strokes behind, you start pushing too hard. That happened yesterday. When you get 10 behind, you can give up. It's not the way I wanted to play."
Woods' 61 is also a PGA Grand Slam of Golf record. The previous best was Tom Kite's 62 in 1992. The previous best two-day total was Woods' 132 a year ago. Woods also owns the tournament records for appearances (six), margin of victory (14) and championships (five).
