Woods storms to emphatic win

FINAL LEADERBOARD:
US unless stated
-8 T Woods
Level J Rose (Eng)
+1 P Lonard (Aus), C DiMarco
Selected others:
+2 A Romero (Arg)
+5 P Harrington (Ire)
+6 S Garcia (Spa)
+7 L Westwood (Eng), E Els (SA), L Donald (Eng)

Tiger Woods brushed aside overnight leader Rory Sabbatini and stormed to a stunning eight-shot victory in the WGC Invitational at Firestone Country Club.

The world number one trailed the South African by one shot on Sunday morning but bludgeoned his way to a closing 65 for eight under par.

England's Justin Rose climbed into a share of second with Sabbatini (74) after a 68 for level par.

Woods has now won the event six times and claimed 14 WGC tournaments in all.

The 31-year-old 12-time major winner overhauled Sabbatini with three birdies in the first four holes in wet conditions before running away with the tournament.

"That was fun," said Woods, who clinched a second hat-trick of wins in the event - a US Tour record

"You couldn't get off to any better start than I did today - I was four under through five.

"I just figured if I could keep the card clean - no bogeys - I would put a lot of heat on the guys to come and get me.

"All the guys at level par would then have to shoot a miracle back nine."

Sabbatini began the final round in controversial fashion after repeating his outspoken comments about going head-to-head with Woods.

At the Wachovia Championship in May, he talked up his chances after holding a one-shot lead over Woods going into the final round but dropped back into a tie for third as Woods triumphed.

In Ohio on Sunday, Sabbatini birdied the 1st but dropped shots at four and five as Woods breezed past.

Sabbatini double-bogeyed the 9th and dropped two more shots coming in, before a birdie on 17 edged him back up alongside Rose.

"I just made a couple of mental errors, put myself in a couple of bad positions and never really put any pressure on Tiger, and by the time I did I was too far behind," he said.

"Tiger performed better than the final round than he did at Wachovia. Hey, maybe I'm just spurring him on but I've just got to learn from it.

"The situation is, I'm going to keep playing the same way and keep thinking the same way."

England's Rose picked up four shots in his first eight holes but his challenge ran out of steam with bogeys on 11 and 14 before a monster putt on the last nudged him to two under for the round.

"Two under was a pleasing round of golf, so emotionally it was a big putt," said the 27-year-old Rose, who is inching closer to a significant win after going close in the Masters and US Open this year.

"It felt like a major. We knew one or two under overall was going to be a good score, but obviously Tiger's gone out and shot an amazing round of golf.

"I'm excited now and that's a great feeling going into a major championship."

Open champion Padraig Harrington of Ireland carded 72 for five over and a tie for 14th.

Argentina's Andres Romero, who led the Open with two holes left before winning his first European Tour event in Germany the following week, shot a 71 to tie for sixth.

The 89th USPGA Championship takes place at Southern Hills, Oklahoma from 8-12 August.