Englishman Paul Casey has upstaged Tiger Woods to claim his first US PGA Tour win in almost nine years with victory at the Valspar Championship.
World No.17 Casey shot a closing six-under par 65 to finish at 10 under 274 to win by one shot from Woods, who shot a 70, and fellow American Patrick Reed (68) on the Copperhead course at Innisbrook Resort in Florida.
The highly-charged event ended with one player ending a long victory drought, just not the one most fans came to see.
The 42-year-old Woods was the centre of attention all Sunday as he chased a first win in almost five years, in just his fourth official event back after undergoing spinal fusion surgery.
The old Tiger magic was missing for most of the day as he struggled with his irons while a cold putter hampered the 14-times major champion.
Missing, that is, until the par-three 17th, where Woods perfectly read and then executed a 45-foot birdie putt, his ball curling deliciously into the centre of the cup as the gallery went berserk.
But Woods could not replicate the magic at the par-four 18th, where he missed a difficult 40-foot birdie putt that would have forced a playoff with Casey.
Reed blew his chance for a playoff, making an embarrassing bogey at the last when his first putt, through the fringe, failed to make it up the hill and rolled all the way back to his feet.
For 40-year-old Casey, who had won 17 times around the world, it was only his second US tour victory after the Shell Houston Open in April 2009 and his first win anywhere since the European tour's 2014 KLM Open.
Reuters
