Tiger keeps on rolling at Firestone

AKRON, Ohio -- Tiger Woods celebrated his 10-year anniversary of turning pro Sunday by winning for the 52nd time on the PGA Tour, making an 8-foot birdie putt on the fourth playoff hole against Stewart Cink to win the Bridgestone Invitational.\nWoods won for the fourth straight time, a streak that began at the British Open and shows no sign of ending.\nThis one looked to be in doubt, however, when Cink made up a three-shot deficit over the final three holes, then had Woods on the ropes the first three holes of the playoff. With rain pounding Firestone South, Cink hit into a bunker on the 17th hole and never got a chance to putt for par when Woods made his birdie.\n"Just end this thing now," Woods said he told himself standing over the final putt.\nBoth finished at 10-under 270.\nWoods won for the fifth time in the seven years the World Golf Championship has been played at Firestone, and he now has won more on this track than any other golf course on the PGA Tour. Woods has won four times each at Augusta National and Torrey Pines.\nOn Aug. 27, 1996, Woods announced in Milwaukee he was turning pro. Ten years later, his 52 victories match Byron Nelson for fifth place all-time, and his 12 majors are second only to the 18 Jack Nicklaus won over a quarter-century.\nWoods, however, said the only competition he cared about was himself.\n"It's always yourself," he said. "You're always trying to better what you've done in the past -- always. Hopefully, that's good enough to beat the rest of the guys."\nCink was looking for a peculiar repeat.\nTwo years ago, he validated Hal Sutton's decision to make him a captain's pick for the Ryder Cup by winning at Firestone. Tom Lehman picked him Monday, and Cink nearly delivered his first victory in two years.\n"There were a lot of highs and lows today," Cink said. "Unfortunately, I finished on a low."\nCink had a shot to win on the first three playoff holes -- a 20-foot chip that grazed the lip at No. 18, an 18-foot putt that missed on the high side at No. 17, and an 8-foot par putt on the 18th again that missed to the right.\nWoods was in trouble most of the time. On the first extra hole, he pulled his approach long and left into the rough but pitched beautifully to five feet and escaped with par. The second time playing the 18th in the playoff, Woods found a greenside bunker 40 feet from the flag, blasted out to eight feet and left it inches short.\n"I didn't convert, and he did," Cink said. "That's why he has the trophy."\nVictory seemed inevitable for Woods, as it often does at Firestone, when he turned a two-shot deficit at the turn into a three-shot lead with his 20-foot birdie on the 13th. No one else was making birdies, and Woods wasn't making mistakes.\nThat changed on the 652-yard 16th hole, when Woods hit into the trees down the right side and had to pitch out to the fairway, leaving himself some 230 yards to the flag. He went over the green, chipped to 4 feet and missed the par putt.\nCink, who started the final round with a one-shot lead, holed a 15-foot birdie on the 16th hole, then made a 20-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to tie Woods atop the leaderboard.\nWoods (68) and Cink (69) each had to make a testy 3-footer for par on the 18th hole in regulation -- Woods after leaving his 20-foot putt from the fringe short, Cink after lagging from 90 feet at the front of the green.