Tiger hunts down his prey, becomes Hero No 1

‘‘More than anything it’s validation of all the hard work I’ve put into it,’’ the 29-year-old American told reporters after securing his fourth green jacket at Augusta National with an 18-foot birdie putt at the first extra hole.

‘‘Hank and I have put some serious hours into this. I read some of the articles over past year of him getting ripped, and I’m getting ripped for all the changes I’m making.

‘‘To play as beautifully as I did this entire week is pretty cool.’’

Woods, virtually untouchable during 1999 and 2000, spent much of last year with Haney revamping his swing for the second time since turning professional.

However, he said at the start of the week he had no desire to recapture his dominant form of five years ago. He wants to become even better, scaling unprecedented heights in the future.

‘‘I don’t want to get back to 2000,’’ he said. ‘‘I want to become better than that. That’s the whole idea of making a change, to improve and to get better.

‘‘But I don’t think you’re ever there. You never arrive, but if you do, you might as well quit because you’re already there. It can’t get any better.

‘‘As players, if you ever have that moment — well, you should never have that moment,’’ added Woods, who became the youngest Masters champion in 1997 when he won by a record 12 shots aged 21.

‘‘You’re always trying to get better.’’

Woods, who ended a barren run of 10 majors without victory on Sunday, conceded things had not gone his way since his previous major triumph in the 2002 US Open at Bethpage.

‘‘I’ve kind of battled the last couple of years to work hard on my game and make some changes,’’ he said.

‘‘I wasn’t winning major championships and I contended a couple times and didn’t win. But for the most part, I wasn’t in contention on the back nine on every major I like to be. That’s where you want to be.

‘‘It was nice to get back there again and be in contention with a chance to win coming up the back nine on Sunday. It’s a thrill.’’

(Reuters)

Unconcerned, Vijay says it’s a long season

: Fiji’s Vijay Singh took losing his world No.1 spot to US Masters champion Tiger Woods in his stride after finishing eight strokes off the lead in a tie for fifth. Woods dislodged Vijay Singh at the top of the rankings after he beat fellow American Chris DiMarco on the first playoff hole to win his fourth green jacket, but the Fijian indicated he would be aiming to reclaim it soon.

“It doesn’t concern me very much, it’s a long season,” said Singh after returning a level-par 72. The deposed world No.1 was at odds with his putting all week, his reason for never really challenging for the lead.

“I just couldn’t get the feel of it, couldn’t get the pace,” Singh said. “I tried everything. I’m not putting badly. I just can’t get a feel in my hands, so I’m just going to continue to work on it.” Singh played the final round with defending champion Phil Mickelson and there was no hint of animosity between the pair after Friday’s much-publicised spat over spike marks.

“We had a great day out there,” Mickelson said after finishing a stroke behind Singh in 10th place. It was fun coming here as champion and to wear the green jacket around here,” Mickelson added. (Reuters)