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Woods scoops $10m purse

17/09/2007

Tiger Woods has become the first man to win the record prize purse of $10 million (£5 million) for winning the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup playoffs in Atlanta.

The American broke the record for the lowest overall tournament score with a final-round of 66 which took his four-round total to 257 shots – 23 under par.

Rounds one, two and three were all lower still, after a 64, 63 and 64 put him in pole position and set up a procession finish on the last day as he romped home eight shots clear of second-placed Zach Johnson.

The other contenders for the FedEx Cup were blown out of the water as Steve Stricker – second in the standings before the final tournament at East Lake this week – finished tied for 17th, an amazing 17 shots behind Woods.

South Africa's Rory Sabbatini was the highest-finishing contender but never even got closer to the imperious world number one, eventually finishing joint-ninth.

The only other two men in contention for the record-breaking bonus purse were Phil Mickelson (third in the standings) and KJ Choi (fifth) but neither were able to make any inroads in Georgia – finishing 20th and tied for 21st respectively.

Despite earning his biggest single pay cheque in his distinguished career after seeing the $10 million (£5 million) bonus for the FedEx Cup added to the $1.26 million (£650,000) for winning the Tour Championship, Woods downplayed the cash as a motivating factor.

"I don't look at what the purse is or the prize money," Woods said.

"You play. And when you play, you play to win, period. That's how my dad raised me, is you go out there and win. If you win, everything will take care of itself.

"You take great pride in what you do on the golf course, and when you're able to win events, that's when you can go home and be very proud of what you've done."

Spain's Sergio Garcia was the highest-placed European player in fourth, while England's Justin Rose finished tied for 11th on seven under par.