Tiger Woods comes up just short as Casey wins Valspar Championship

Tiger Woods PicAFPTiger Woods came up just short of his 80th US PGA Tour title today at the Valspar Championship where it was Englands Paul Casey ending a victory drought with a onestroke triumph Woods the 14time major champion playing just his fourth Tour event since spinal fusion surgery last April showed hes a contender again as he fired a oneunderpar 70 to share second on nineunder 275 one stroke behind Casey who surged to his second US PGA Tour title with a 65 for 274I think Ive gotten a little better than what I was a couple of weeks ago Woods said I keep getting just a little better and a little sharper Today I wasnt quite as sharp as I would like to have had it but I had a good shot at winning this golf tournament Woods fusion surgery ended a brief comeback bid last year He remains in search of his first title since 2013 but on Sunday it finally looked as if it wasnt a question of whether that drought will end but whenHe opened with a birdie on the Copperhead course at Innisbrook Resort near Tampa Florida but gave that stroke back with a bogey at the fourth Woods didnt find another birdie until the 17th where he drained a putt of almost 45 feet to close within one stroke of Caseys clubhouse lead and send his massive gallery into a frenzy He couldnt repeat the feat at the 18th to force a playoff however another long birdie try coming up a couple of feet shortWoods finished the day tied for second with fellow American Patrick Reed Reed opened his round with a 60foot eagle putt from the collar of the green at the first He was 10under through 17 but dropped out of playoff contention with a shocking bogey at the last where his first putt failed to make it to the upper tier of the green where the pin was located Casey had four birdies and a bogey on his front nine then seized control with three birdies on the trot at 11 12 and 13 that moved him to 10underCasey so happyHe said keeping bogeys off his card over the demanding closing holes was key The cleanups on 16 17 and 18 fantastic Casey said Ive not done that in a long time and thats the difference Thats what I need to do The 40yearold has 17 victories on the European Tour the most recent coming at the KLM Open in September of 2014A threetime Ryder Cup player for Europe his only previous US tour title came at the 2009 Houston Open To get this one to get my second one on the PGA tour is emotional Im so happy for it Casey said noting that winning any tournament on one of the worlds elite tours is just difficultWoods made it look easy for such a long time and its not he said Spains Sergio Garcia put in an encouraging performance as he warms up for the defense of his Masters title firing a final round 65 to finish alone in fourth on eightunder 276Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever