What It Takes To Win - The Players

The Players Championship was as exciting as I had expected it would be, coming right down to the wire on Sunday in order to determine the champion.  In the end, Tiger Woods came out on top, capturing his second Players title and keeping him on pace with what could be his best season ever.
This was the 300th PGA Tour start of Tiger's career, and it will undoubtedly be a memorable one.  He started off the tournament with two fantastic rounds shooting 5 under par on both days, he was then able to coast to the finish shooting 71 and 70 during the final two rounds.
Here's a closer look at the scores from Tiger Woods's tournament:

• Round 1: 67 (5 under) - 6 Birdies, 11 Pars, 1 Bogeys
• Round 2: 67 (5 under) - 1 Eagle, 5 Birdies, 10 Pars, 2 Bogeys
• Round 3: 71 (1 under) - 2 Birdies, 15 Pars, 1 Bogey
• Round 4: 70 (2 under) - 5 Birdies, 11 Pars, 1 Bogey, 1 Double Bogey
• Total: 13 under par - 1 Eagle, 18 Birdies, 47 Pars, 5 Bogeys, 1 Double Bogey

Interestingly with these scores, Tiger is the only player this season to score a double bogey or worse and still win the tournament, which he also did earlier this season at the Farmers Insurance Open.  Regardless, he displayed some amazing golf and is on pace for a stand out season.  Compared to three other events Tiger won in 2013 (The Arnold Palmer Invitational, the WGC Cadillac Championship and the Farmers Insurance Open), I've noticed a slight change in some of his statistics.  His average driving distance has slowly tappered off, however his driving accuracy and his greens hit in regulation have slowly increased.  Here's a look at his stats from The Players:

• Avg Driving Distance: 288.4 yards
• Driving Accuracy: 67.86%
• Greens in Regulation: 76.39%
• Avg Putts Per Round: 28.5 (Avg 1.58 putts/hole)

It will be interesting to see how Tiger continues to fine tune his game throughout the remainder of the 2013 season and how many more victories he's able to chalk up.  
Congrats to Tiger Woods for winning the 2013 Players Championship!
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This article was written by Scott Stevens from Eat Sleep Golf as part of our What It Takes To Win series. This series is focused on taking a closer look at the winning performance of each PGA Tour event to see exactly what it takes to be victorious among elite golfers.
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