Golf: Brilliant chip worth $999,769

ORLANDO - Michael Campbell gave himself a huge confidence boost before next month's United States Masters when he posted a career-best finish on the USPGA Tour yesterday.

The New Zealander finished runner-up to world No 1 Tiger Woods in the rich Bay Hill Invitation golf tournament in Orlando, Florida, to collect US$432,000 ($999,769).

Woods shot a three-under 69 in the final round for a 13-under par 275, four shots ahead of Campbell, whose final-round 71 gave him a nine-under 279 total.

"It's my best finish on the US Tour," Campbell said. "It's a huge accomplishment for me to break down these barriers, because I had this thing about playing on the US Tour for some reason.

"I don't know why, but I get over here and I'm in awe of these players. For some reason I tense up, but this is a huge help to my confidence for the rest of my career.

"My thought today was to go out and have fun and just try and win the tournament, and I knew I had a good chance.

"I was playing well. But once again, you know, he [Woods] just topped it off once again to win three times in a row."

Campbell earned enough to almost secure his US Tour card for next year, but he indicated he would have to think about whether he wanted to accept it.

He had started the fourth round in a share of fourth place, two shots behind Woods after earlier rounds of 72, 68 and 68.

He double-bogeyed the par-three 17th. His tee shot found the bunker and his recovery ran well past the hole into the second cut of rough. The pitch back narrowly missed the hole and then he missed a short putt which would have limited the damage.

He seemed in more trouble at the par-four 18th when his iron approach came to rest in greenside rough, but this time he was on target with a tremendous chip which ran into the hole for his round of 71.

That shot was worth an extra US$192,000 ($444,300), moving him ahead of a group of four golfers who finished on 280.

The 26-year-old Woods, who pocketed US$720,000, earned his 30th PGA Tour title, a record for players before their 30th birthday. Jack Nicklaus, the model by which golfers are compared, had 29.

"It's certainly a nice byproduct of a lot of hard work, there's no doubt about that," Woods said. "I put a lot into it and I've gotten my share of great breaks, there's no doubt about that, in order to get that number that I'm at now."

Of the top 13 finishers, Woods was the only one to break 70 in the final round,

"As you could see, today was quite a fight out there," said Woods, who won for the first time in six-and-a-half months. "On that board there was a lot of guys who had a chance of winning on that back nine."

Woods became the first player in history to win the Bay Hill in three consecutive seasons.

He also is the only golfer to accomplish the feat at three different tournaments, something even host Arnold Palmer never did.

"Yeah, it's always nice to do that to Arnold, so I can give him a little jab, because he gives it to me," Woods said. "It's a great feeling. There's no doubt about it."

Woods won the Memorial and WGC-NEC Invitational three times each between 1999 and last year, and has now lifted the Bay Hill title in 2000, last year and this. The victory was also Woods' first since last August's WGC-NEC Invitational. Phil Mickelson, Rocco Mediate, John Huston and Len Mattiace shared third place on 280 yesterday.

Woods once again showed how good he is at front-running, winning for the 23rd time in 25 attempts after holding or sharing the 54-hole lead.

The most serious threat looked like coming from Mickelson, ranked No 2 in the world. At one point, the left-hander held a two-stroke lead over Woods, but he bogeyed four of the final five holes to fade to a 71.

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