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Tiger Woods was denied a first win of the year as Graeme McDowell capped a “dream” 2010 by taking the Chevron World Challenge following a thrilling play-off.

McDowell started the day four shots back but managed to achieve the unthinkable by going head-to-head in the final group with Woods and erasing that deficit to come out on top.

That meant Woods finished without a tournament win for the first time as a professional – despite showing signs that he is on the road back to his best.

McDowell, on the other hand, bagged a fourth win of the year, including scooping the US Open, along with the winning point in the Ryder Cup in what has been the most memorable 12 months.

“It’s the stuff of dreams – 2010 has been the stuff of dreams,” McDowell said.

Woods saw his round disintegrate on the 13th as he carded a double-bogey seven while McDowell birdied to go two shots ahead following a three-shot swing.

Americans close out two-hole win in third fourballs

Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker claimed a two-hole victory over Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher, as the holders claimed the early edge after the opening fourballs.

All square through 10 holes overnight, Stricker struck with an outrageous birdie at the 12th, chipping in from off the green at the 458-yard par four.

That appeared to knock the stuffing out of the European duo and although Woods was misfiring, Stricker’s birdie at 15 matched Fisher’s to keep the Americans ahead.

Woods and Stricker both missed makeable birdie tries for the match on 17, but with neither European able to find a birdie at the par five 18th, Stricker’s four was good enough for the point.

The American pairing – the world numbers one and four – are now 5-0 in Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup play and were unsurprisingly sent out again together in the foursomes.

Honours even

On Friday evening, Poulter holed a 15-foot birdie putt at the par-three 10th to ensure that honours finished even.

Poulter’s 25-foot birdie putt for a two at the third had given Europe the edge before the lengthy rain delay.

When they resumed, Woods was forced to hole a 10-footer for a par and a half at the fourth after Poulter had chipped to four feet.

The next two holes were halved in par, but at the par three seventh world number four Stricker fired a four iron to six feet, only to miss the birdie putt.

He immediately made amends at the next, however, draining a 20-footer for birdie with Woods just six feet away himself in two.

That made the match all square and after Woods chipped dead for birdie at the par five ninth, and Poulter’s birdie chip lipped out, the USA led the match for the first time.

But Poulter hit back at 10 and watched Stricker’s birdie try drift just wide.

Josefin Nordegren & Elin Nordegren

Relationship to Tiger: Ex-sister-in-law.

Pros: Elin’s identical twin (left) already knows Tiger. Plus, he can fool the other players’ wives and say he’s reconciled with Elin.
Cons: She’s a lawyer, and Tiger can’t afford another costly relationship.

Elin Nordegren: Elin Maria Pernilla Nordegren (born January 1, 1980) is a former Swedish model and the ex-wife of professional golfer Tiger Woods.

Marriage to Tiger Woods: Nordegren took a job in a Stockholm clothing store called Champagne, where she met Mia Parnevik, wife of Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik, who hired Nordegren as the nanny to their children, a job that required her to move to the U.S. He introduced her to Woods during the 2001 Open Championship. Previously, Woods had asked for a year to be introduced to Nordegren, who was seeing someone else at the time. “There was a big line of single golfers wanting to meet her. They were gaga over her.” She had hopes of becoming a child psychiatrist at the time. In November 2003, Woods and Nordegren attended the Presidents Cup tournament in South Africa and became officially engaged when Woods proposed at the luxury Shamwari Game Reserve.

They were married in October 2004, by the 19th hole of the Sandy Lane resort in Barbados. The 150 guests included Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and Bill Gates. Woods rented the entire complex for a week, including three golf courses and 110 rooms, costing almost $2 million.

Shortly after Nordegren’s relationship with Woods became public, nude photographs purporting to be of Nordegren began circulating on the internet, which were established to be fakes. Despite the debunking, in 2006, Irish magazine The Dubliner published the nude photographs and stated they were of Nordegren. On November 16, 2006, Nordegren filed a libel suit against The Dubliner. Nordegren won the lawsuit, and as part of the settlement accepted by a Dublin court, The Dubliner was required to publish a lengthy apology in a variety of venues. Were the magazine to have failed to meet the conditions, the award would have been increased to $366,500 plus all of Nordegren’s legal expenses.

On June 18, 2007, Woods announced the birth of the couple’s daughter, Sam Alexis Woods, a day after finishing second in the U.S. Open. On September 2, 2008, Woods announced they were expecting another child in late winter. Five months later it was announced that Elin had given birth to a boy, Charlie Axel, on February 8, 2009.

In December 2009, her marriage to Woods was the subject of extensive media coverage after Woods admitted to infidelity, which had been revealed following his single-vehicle accident near the family’s Florida home.Woods subsequently announced he would take an “indefinite break” from golf to work on his marriage. These efforts were unsuccessful, however, as Nordegren and Woods finalized their divorce in the Bay County Circuit Court in Panama City, Florida, on August 23, 2010. Nordegren’s legal team included her sister, Josefin (who is licensed to practice law in England and Sweden) and several of Josefin’s U.S. colleagues at international law firm McGuireWoods.

Eldrick Tont “Tiger” Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Currently the World No. 1, he is the highest-paid professional athlete in the world, having earned an estimated $90.5 million from winnings and endorsements in 2010.

Woods has won 14 professional major golf championships, the second highest of any male player (Jack Nicklaus leads with 18), and 71 PGA Tour events, third all time. He has more career major wins and career PGA Tour wins than any other active golfer. He is the youngest player to achieve the career Grand Slam, and the youngest and fastest to win 50 tournaments on tour. Additionally, Woods is only the second golfer, after Jack Nicklaus, to have achieved a career Grand Slam three times. Woods has won 16 World Golf Championships, and has won at least one of those events each of the 11 years they have been in existence.

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