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Tiger Woods’s
miserable year ended with more disappointments as he gave up a
four-stroke lead and suffered a crushing playoff loss to Graeme
McDowell in the Chevron World Challenge on Sunday.

It marked the first
time that Woods, without a win since the 2009 Australian Open, lost a
tournament in which he led by at least three strokes going into the
final round at Sherwood Country Club.

Under pressure from
U.S. Open champion McDowell, Woods let his grip on the lead slip in his
own event with a double bogey on the 13th that the Northern Irishman
birdied for a two-stroke lead.

But McDowell’s advantage slipped away as he bogeyed twice to send the pair into the final hole on level terms.

Both players
birdied, McDowell sinking a difficult 25-foot putt and then Woods
keeping his nerve with a three-footer that sent the pair into a
sudden-death playoff.

Returning to the
18th, McDowell hit a tree but had a decent lie and was able to find the
green with his second and he again drained a putt from over 20 feet to
leave Woods putting for a birdie to stay in the playoff.

“I fought hard today, it was close, we had a good battle again – I felt right, I was right there,” said Woods.

Although the
tournament is not officially part of the PGA Tour, it clearly meant a
lot to Woods who celebrated his great second shot on the 18th in
regulation with an aggressive fist pump of vintage variety.

McDowell shows great poise

There was also
plenty at stake for McDowell who showed great poise to come out on top
against the backdrop of a crowd clearly, and vocally, hoping to see
Woods capture his first tournament win since his personal troubles
began.

“It’s just been an
amazing year, I can’t say enough about it,” said McDowell, who
triumphed in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in June. “This is dream
stuff, playing one of the greatest golfers who has ever played and to
beat him like this, I’m just ecstatic.” Thirteen months ago, the
golfing world was stunned when allegations of serial philandering
emerged to leave Woods’s private life in turmoil.

He took a
self-imposed exile of five months from the game but, with his marriage
breaking up, struggled for form on the course before ending his PGA
Tour season without a single title for the first time since he turned
professional in 1996.

England’s Paul
Casey finished third, four shots behind the top two while Northern
Ireland’s Rory McIlroy was a further shot back in fourth.