PGATOUR.COM - Back in form, dominant Woods feels good going to Augusta

DORAL, Fla. -- It wasn't his most awe-inspiring victory, to be sure. He didn't break par on Sunday at Doral's Blue Monster, for goodness sakes. He even bogeyed the last hole.

Tiger Woods has won 31 of the last 32 times when leading after 54 holes. (Photo: Sam Greenwood/WireImage)

CAREER EARNINGS IN

WGC-CA CHAMPIONSHIP

Player	Earnings
Tiger Woods	$7,312,500.00
Ernie Els	$1,775,125.00
Sergio Garcia	$1,637,874.99
Vijay Singh	$1,466,500.00
Mike Weir	$1,270,821.43
Retief Goosen	$1,049,250.00
Stuart Appleby	$1,040,666.67
Brett Wetterich	$1,016,666.67
Thomas Bjorn	$994,196.42
David Toms	$978,000.00

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Once again, though, Tiger Woods found a way to get the job done -- winning his sixth World Golf Championships-CA Championship in eight starts and third straight tournament at Doral by two strokes over Brett Wetterich.

The victory was Woods' second of the season and the 56th of his career, sending him to the Masters in seven days feeling "pretty good" about his game. Woods has turned the World Golf Championships into his own private annuity, winning 13 of the 24 played.

Indeed. Woods started the final round with a four-stroke advantage that he stretched to six with a birdie on the 10th hole. He struggled with the pace on the greens, though, and made three bogeys coming home, including at the brutal 72nd hole.

"I kept telling myself all day if I shoot under par, it's over," Woods said. "Get to the back nine, if I could just shoot under par, just put it away, I'd go ahead and get the W that way. But it didn't happen that way."

Woods played protectively on the 18th, which features water down the left side of the fairway and guarding the left portion of the green. He hit 3-iron off the tee, an 8-iron for his second shot and a wedge to the green, then made a good two-putt from 52 feet.

The conservative approach allowed Woods to all but eliminate a big number that would allow Wetterich, who was facing an 8-footer for birdie, to sneak in for the victory. It hardly dimmed the perspective of his peers, either.

"He's just better than us, really," Geoff Ogilvy said. "If I knew what he was doing, I'd try to do it myself. ... When he keeps the ball in play, which I guess he's doing, he's pretty dangerous. Because his iron play is probably the best in the world and he's easily the best putter out here; even though he moaned about it on Thursday, I'm sure it wasn't horrific.

"And when he starts making putts, it's pretty scary. He's got a lot of chances because he's a great iron player. He's good on Bermuda, good in wind, good in no wind, he's good on bentgrass. He's just a good player, what do you say?"

Ogilvy, who tied for third at 6 under, said he doesn't think about Woods' prowess -- which he calls "inspiring" -- when he's chasing the No. 1 player in the world. The reigning U.S. Open champion is too busy concentrating on his own game.

"It's just that when you sit down after the week and, 'wow, he won another one,' I don't know if there's any other way to sum it up," said the Aussie, who closed with a 70 on Sunday.

"It's good for us because it makes us try to get better. It's kind of fun playing now; if he's not already, he's getting pretty close to being the best golfer of all time. It's fun watching."

Besides, Woods doesn't win every tournament by lopsided margins. And the opportunity to go head-to-head against the game's No. 1 player presents a challenge that makes success taste even sweeter.

"I can't imagine a more fun scenario in all of golf than coming up the last few holes of a major championship against him," Ogilvy said. "I can't imagine a better situation than that. Coming up the last few holes of a major against anybody is good, but against him you have a chance to create something.

"There's some special kind of atmosphere when he's about and he's playing well."

Woods has now won a phenomenal 31 of the last 32 times when he was leading after 54 holes. He entered the CA Championship, though, on the heels of a disappointing performance at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, a tournament he had won four times.

Woods shot a final-round 76 there that included a back nine which necessitated 43 strokes. He plummeted from a tie for 10th to a share of 22nd as a result.

As he always does, though, Woods took stock of his play at Bay Hill and learned from it.

"Too many people are afraid to look deep down and look at where you made mistakes," he said. "That's not always easy to do -- to be honest with yourself. That's something my father always instilled in me and even to this day, sometimes it's difficult, but you have to take an honest look and have an honest evaluation of your performance.

"I made too many mental mistakes, which I never do. Physical mistakes I can handle, but since this is not a reactionary sport, it's just frustrating for me to make a mental mistake."

Those were few and far between at Doral this week, and the 72nd hole was just one example.