Tiger Woods Loses British Open After First Lead in 9 Years

However, he was the first to congratulate Italy's Francesco Molinari on the big win
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 22, 2018 3:00 PM CDT
Tiger Woods Loses British Open After First Lead in 9 Years
Tiger Woods of the US plays off the 5th tee during the final round of the British Open Golf Championship in Carnoustie, Scotland, Sunday July 22, 2018.   (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Francesco Molinari played a steady hand amid another crazy ending at Carnoustie and won the British Open to become Italy's first major champion, per the AP. Tiger Woods took the lead on Sunday at a major for the first time in nine years and lost it with one bad swing. Jordan Spieth cost himself another chance in a major by failing to make a single birdie. Seven players had a share of the lead at some point. Six were still tied on the back nine. Through all that suspense, Molinari never flinched. He closed with a 2-under 69, playing the final 37 holes on the toughest links in golf without a bogey. The clincher was a bold drive on the 18th hole that flirted with edge of a pot bunker, a wedge to 5 feet and a birdie putt that made him a major champion.

Molinari, who finished at 8-under 276, raised his fist and shook it lightly before slamming it for emphasis. The first to congratulate him was Woods. Woods was at 7 under, in control of his game and hitting shots that only he can. From a pot bunker on No. 10, he took a bold and vicious swing to get it over the lip, over the burn and to the front edge of the green. And then it all went wrong. He pulled his shot from the rough on No. 11 into the gallery, fluffed a wedge short of the green, ran it by 8 feet and missed the putt for double bogey. Another poor swing followed and led to another bogey, and just like that, Woods was two shots behind and reeling. "A little ticked off at myself, for sure," Woods said. "I had a chance starting that back nine to do something, and I didn't do it." (More Tiger Woods stories.)

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