Never A Doubt

Watching Tiger Woods in person is an experience every true sports fan should have.

"The quality of golf you're going to see today is absolutely staggering," said David Feherty who has been covering the PGA Tour for CBS Sports for since 1997 yet he says he's still doesn't believe some of the things he witnesses when covering Tiger Woods.

Once again this week, I was assigned to assist CBS announcer David Feherty as he walked with today's final pairing of Padraig Harrington and Tiger Woods. It was fitting that these two were leading the World Golf Championship at Firestone Country Club because you could argue that over the last year these two have been the most dominant in the world. Harrington won the British Open and the PGA Championship in 2008 while Woods has won four tournaments in 2009.

At the beginning of the round today Harrington was -10 which was three shots ahead of his playing partner Woods. Even though Padraig was used to the pressure of a final round lead, he was playing with Woods on a course that he had won six times before.

Many times Tiger hurts himself with his driver but on the front nine he hit every fairway except for one. He got off to a hot start as he eagled the par 5 second and birdied No.4 and No.5 to pull ahead of Harrington at -11. Usually, when Tiger challenges an opposing player in the final round they submit pretty quickly but not Harrington. Even when Tiger birdied No.9 to take a two shot lead, Padraig never lost his focus.

Both players matched each other on the next three holes but then then Tiger began to lose command of his driver. As I watched his drive off the the 13th tee sail over my head, I could tell it was heading right which means big trouble.

Luckily, it got a fortunate bounce back in the fairway but ultimately put him too far away from the green to challenge the tucked away pin. Harrington put his second shot in the middle of the green while Tiger flew his shot over his target. Padraig parred and Tiger bogeyed.

On 14th tee, Tiger once again sprayed his drive out of the fairway while Padraig put his drive a fairway bunker. Tiger's second shot forced him to have a near impossible third just to the right of the green. Once again Padraig pars and Tiger bogeys. Before the previous two holes Woods hadn't had a bogey in 22 holes. So to bogey in this situation was very un-Tiger-like.

As they approached the Par 5 16th hole, Harrington was clinging to a one shot lead. Both teed off but yet again neither found the fairway. This historical hole that measures 667 yards downhill with a small pond guarding the green was a hole that Tiger had to birdie to out duel Padraig.

I stood with Feherty in the middle of the fairway a few yards from where Tiger was about to attempt his all important third shot. He had 181 yards to flag. I got the signal from my fellow spotter that Tiger had an 8 iron and I relayed that to Feherty so that he could use that on the air. His third shot was near perfect as he landed it just over the pond and spun it back within a foot for birdie.

Meanwhile, Harrington had a very tough lie for his third in the fairway rough. In short, he put it over the green which the wrong place to miss. He bladed his fourth into the water and had to walk back in the fairway to his his sixth. All the while Tiger is calmly standing by waiting to tap in his birdie put from inside the grip. Padraig would triple-bogey and Tiger would birdie the crucial 16th. Game over. Ten minutes before that Tiger was down a shot and now he was ahead by three.

As both players parred the 17th hole I walked with Tiger and Feherty off the green onto the 18th tee box. By this time, the entire gallery of thousands had gathered to watch Tiger finish off Padraig to win his seventh World Golf Championship.

Two perfect drives. As we stood in the middle of the fairway with the last group Tiger pulled out a 9 iron and put his approach four feet from the cup. I stayed back in the fairway to watch for the second week in a row Tiger tipping his cap to the cheering gallery that surrounded the 18th green. Harrington tapped in his par and Tiger finished off his round with his fifth birdie of the day. I made my way down the rope-line to where the players exit just as Tiger tipped his cap to the crowd one more time and walked past me to sign his scorecard to capture his 70th win of his career.