Woods has his worst score ever

AKRON, Ohio - Tiger Woods has never looked worse.

As he has done so often on Sunday at the Bridgestone Invitational, Woods doffed his cap as he walked up toward the 18th green to warm applause from fans. Only there was no trophy waiting for him. This sounded more like a sympathy cheer as Woods suffered through his worst score ever, an 18-over 298.

Hunter Mahan won the tournament and $1.4 million with a final-round 64 that gave him a 12-under 268, which beat Ryan Palmer by 2 strokes. West Chester's Sean O'Hara had shared the 54-hole lead with Palmer and finished fifth. Retief Goosen and Bo Van Pelt tied for third.

Meanwhile, Woods ended his miserable tournament with a 77. It was the first time he had shot over par in all four rounds since the 2003 PGA Championship at Oak Hill.

"Shooting 18-over par is not fun," Woods said. "I don't see how it can be fun shooting 18 over."

Woods did hold on to his No. 1 world ranking, but only because Phil Mickelson also crumbled in the final round. Mickelson needed to finish alone in fourth place, and he started the final round 4 shots out of the lead. But he shot a 78 and slipped to a tie for 46th.

Woods had never finished worse than fourth at Firestone in 11 previous events. His 298 was 39 shots higher than the record score he shot 10 years ago at Firestone and put him in a tie for 78th, the worst finish of his PGA Tour career. Only Henrik Stenson (20-over 300) kept Woods from finishing dead last. He set a career low by making bogey or worse on 25 of the 72 holes.

"He's just not the regular Tiger we're used to seeing," said Anthony Kim, who played his first tournament in three months after thumb surgery and beat Woods by 2 shots.

Perhaps more troubling for Woods - and the PGA Tour - is that he doesn't know how much longer he can play this year. With two tournaments remaining before the FedEx Cup playoffs begin, Woods is not guaranteed of being in the top 125 to get into the opening event at the Barclays.

CBS Sports, which televises the most weekends on the tour, has not had Woods live on Sunday since the Memorial two months ago.

Woods will slip further down the Ryder Cup standings, and the question is no longer whether he would play as a captain's pick, but whether U.S. captain Corey Pavin should even pick him.

Woods began the week by saying he intended to qualify for the Ryder Cup team. Asked if he even wanted to play, Woods replied, with a stoic look: "Not playing like this, definitely not.

"I wouldn't help the team if I'm playing like this," he said. "No one would help the team if they're shooting 18-over par."

Woods isn't ruling himself out, saying there was a lot of time between now and the Ryder Cup on Oct. 1-3 in Wales. That starts Thursday with the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wis.

His mood has not been that dour despite the low scores. He worked hard on his swing on the practice range Sunday morning.

Toward the end of Sunday, however, Woods looked resigned.

After a double bogey on No. 14, his tee shot on the par-3 15th was so far right that it hit a spectator. The loudest cheer Woods got all day was for signing his glove and giving it to the man. He then tossed him the ball after making bogey.

By lunchtime, Woods was on his way to the airport for a quick flight to Wisconsin, where he planned to play Whistling Straits.

"It's been a long year," he said, looking and sounding like a player who had lost his direction.

Elsewhere. Bill Lunde won the Turning Stone Resort Championship in Verona, N.Y., with a 17-under 271. Lunde earned $720,000 for the victory. J.J. Henry was 1 stroke back, and five others tied for third place. . . . At the Champions Tour 3M Championship in Blaine, Minn., David Frost fired a 25-under 191 to finish in front of Mark Calcavecchia by 7 strokes. Three players tied for third. Frost collected $262,500.