In the good old days it would have been unthinkable that Tiger would have missed out on a victory by going out on the last day as leader and having as his main rival a player from the pile, ranked in the world ranking behind the top 100. But times have changed… and Tiger is not as fierce as he used to be. Woods and Englishman Robert Rock had a war of nerves in the first few holes but Wood could not withstand the pressure and Rock went on to win in Abu Dhabi. The Californian finally finished in third place, ceding second place to Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy. Woods and Rock scored from the start, both came out as leaders and knew they were playing for the title almost in a personal duel. But the American missed on the next two holes by making two consecutive bogeys (one more stroke on a hole), while the Englishman made par on the course and a new birdie on the fifth. That was almost the end of it, because Woods did not resurface again and because Rock did not let up until he had secured the title. He shot 70 strokes for a total of -13, while the Cypress man sealed a final score of 72 impacts. Woods had to settle for third place along with two other players, Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell and Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn. Sergio Garcia, with a card of 69 strokes, climbed to twelfth place and was the best of the Spanish players in the final classification.
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