Darren Clarke, five strokes clear after a brilliant start, has found Tiger Woodsmounting a counter-charge in the final round in the NEC World Championship inAkron.
Clarke, one in front overnight, rolled in a slippery 14-foot eagle putt on thelong second and then birdied the tough 471-yard fourth with a superb iron toeight feet.
But when he bogeyed the next after chunking a chip and parred the next threeholes the Ulsterman's lead was back down to only two in the race for a firstprize of over a million US dollars.
Woods, beaten by Clarke when they clashed head-to-head for anotherseven-figure cheque in the final of the 2000 Andersen Consulting Match Play inCalifornia, began with a 15-foot birdie putt and hit to two feet on the shortseventh and five feet at the next to turn in 32.
Clarke stood 11 under par, the world number one nine under and then there wasa further two-shot gap to Australian Robert Allenby and Americans Davis Love andJonathan Kaye.
Woods has won seven of the 13 World Golf Championship events he has played in,earning over 7.5 million US dollars in the process, but if Clarke triumphed overhim again he would become only the second man to take two titles in the seriesintroduced in 1999.
Padraig Harrington's thoughts, meanwhile, were with his wife Caroline andtheir baby rather than Ryder Cup team-mate Clarke as he left the Firestonecourse.
During a level-par closing round of 70 Harrington received word that his wifehad gone into hospital back home in Dublin to await the birth of their firstchild.
The baby had been due last Monday, but when doctors said it looked like beinga week late Harrington made the decision not to fly back after the US PGAchampionship, but to continue on from Rochester, New York, to Akron, Ohio.
All week long he was waiting for any developments and he admitted he thoughtabout withdrawing after an opening 73, but thought that would be showing a lackof respect to the tournament sponsors.
Harrington was paired with fellow Irishman Paul McGinley, who managed only a75 to finish nine over. Harrington was four over.