Tiger Roars to Victory at Firestone

Tiger Woods sent a message of intent to his rivals the week before the final major of the year as he surged to a seven shot victory at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational.

Woods won the title at Firestone for the eighth time in his career, an incredible feat considering the tournament has only been played there fourteen times.

Woods was in control from the first day, carding a four under par 66. Woods played the par fours beautifully, carding six birdies paired with two bogeys. However, it was his Friday score of 61 which gave him an astonishing lead over the rest of the field.

Woods held onto his seven-shot overnight lead.

With an eagle and seven birdies taking him to nine under at the end of the 13th hole, many dared to dream that he could shoot a sub-60 round. He had the opportunities over the last five holes but was sadly only able to par them. Nevertheless, his career-equaling best and course-equaling 61 meant that he had all-but wrapped up the victory by Friday.

This enabled Woods to relax going into the weekend maintaining his seven shot lead through the whole of Saturday with a respectable 68. On the final day Woods played conservatively, shooting an even-par 70 but it was unnecessary for him to take risks with the lead that he had already earned. This meant Woods ended the weekend on an impressive fifteen under par.

Seven shots behind Woods was last years champion Keegan Bradley and in-form Henrik Stenson. Whilst neither were ever close to catching Woods, both will take confidence from their performance heading to Oak Hill on Thursday.

Miguel Angel Jimenez, Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson were a further two shots back with Chris Wood the highest placed Englishman, a further one shot behind on five under par. Rory McIlroy showed signs that he might be returning to some form with a two over par tournament meaning he ended in tied 27th.

However, the limelight belonged entirely to Woods as he rolled back the years to win the 79th Tour victory of his career. He will now be focused on the PGA Championship and homing in on Jack Nichlaus' record of 18 major championships. If Tiger was doubting winning a major the week after winning another tournament he should take solace from the performance of Phil Mickelson a few weeks ago at the Open.

So now we await the start of the PGA Championship on Thursday to see if Tiger can continue his imperious form.