Monday 19 March 2018 06:25, UK
Tiger Woods believes his game showed further signs of improvement after another top-five finish on the PGA Tour at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The former world No 1, making his fifth start since spinal fusion surgery, continued his impressive return from injury to briefly threaten the top of the leaderboard on his way to a final-round 69 at Bay Hill.
Woods began the final round five strokes off the pace but surged into contention with three birdies over his first eight holes, before cancelling out a blemish at the ninth with a 10-foot gain at the tenth.
Back-to-back birdies from the 12th lifted temporarily lifted Woods to within a shot of the lead, only for the 14-time major champion to post two late bogeys to end eight back from winner Rory McIlroy.
"If you would have asked me at the beginning of the year that I would have had a chance to win two golf tournaments, I would have taken that in a heartbeat," Woods said.
"Even though I got up there (the leaderboard), I just knew I needed to keep making birdies. I figured I had to play the last three holes in 3-under to have a chance of probably forcing a play-off.
"I felt pretty good out there. I hit the ball probably a little bit better than I did last week. The greens were really smooth but really fast and I thought I really putted well this week."
Woods was still in contention when he reached the par-five 16th, only to see his hopes fade when he fired his tee shot out-of-bounds on his way to a bogey-six and the first of back-to-back blemishes.
"I was caught (between shots)," Woods added. "I didn't decide what I was going to do. If I hit driver I got to fit it, I've got to cut it in there.
"In the back of my mind, I said 'why don't you just bomb it over the top?'. It was like a 315, 320-yard carry. I bailed out and hit a bad shot and that's on me for not committing."
