GOLF Woods wins by two, enhances titular bid

Tiger Woods' victory gave him a good shot at season-ending honors.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WOODSTOCK, Ga. -- Tiger Woods figures the season-ending honors on the PGA Tour will come down to the final tournament.
By winning the American Express Championship, Woods made sure he'll be in the thick of the race.
No one has ever won the money title five years in a row. Woods was about $475,000 behind Vijay Singh and paired with him Sunday in the final round at Capital City Club.
"If Vijay would have won the tournament, it would have been very difficult for me to win the money title, as well as player of the year," Woods said.
Hasn't been done yet
No one has ever won the PGA Tour player of the year award five years in a row. Woods knew he could take a big step by winning another World Golf Championship event.
"To win against this field, on this golf course with a major-type setup, it will have a lot of weight to it," David Toms said.
Woods never trailed in one of the toughest final rounds he has played all year.
With smart decisions from start to finish, and three clutch pars on the grueling back nine of the Crabapple course, Woods closed with a 2-over 72 to win by two strokes over Singh, Tim Herron and Stuart Appleby.
It was his seventh World Golf Championship title in 13 tries.
"Any time you get to play against the best players ... that's when it's the most challenging," Woods said. "It's not a watered-down field. That's what makes it so difficult to try to win these tournaments."
The score said enough.
With two bogeys he could afford on the final two holes, Woods finished at 6-under 274. Only the British Open (1-under 283) and the PGA Championship (4-under 276) produced higher scores by the winner this year.
PGA Tour
MADISON, Miss. -- John Huston had not won a golf tournament in almost three years to the day.
"You go through long spells. Better players than I go through long spells," he said. "To actually win is hard to do." It certainly was Sunday.
Huston overcame a two-stroke deficit on the final four holes to beat South Africa's Brenden Pappas by a stroke in the Southern Farm Bureau Classic. Houston shot a 4-under 68 (20-under 268 total), and Pappas closed with a 62 after starting the round seven strokes behind Huston.
LPGA Tour
LINCOLN, Calif. -- Helen Alfredsson felt a bit sheepish after winning her first LPGA Tour title in five years when Pat Hurst four-putted the 18th hole for a double bogey.
"I have mixed emotions, not for me but for somebody else," Alfredsson said. "I don't like to see the way Pat finished. I know it's just the game and it happens to all of us. You wish you could win it outright, not by someone missing like that."
Alfredsson closed with a 2-under 70 (13-under 275 total) for her first victory since the 2001 Wales Open and first LPGA Tour title since the 1998 Welch's/Circle K Championship in Tucson, Ariz. She earned $150,000 and a three-year exemption on the LPGA Tour.
Hurst's closing 70 dropped her into a tie for second at 12 under with Australia's Rachel Teske (70) and South Koreans Se Ri Pak (70), Grace Park (69) and Jung Yeon Lee (70).