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PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP)—Jim Furyk showed the nerves of a player trying to win for the first time on the PGA TOUR. Considering how long it had been since his last victory, it felt that way.

Furyk closed with a 2-under 69 on Sunday for a one-shot victory over K.J. Choi in the Transitions Championship, his first victory since the 2007 RBC Canadian Open to end his longest winless stretch since he first joined the TOUR 16 years ago.

He did just enough right on the back nine of Innisbrook that he could afford a few mistakes down the stretch, and he nearly made a whopper.

With a two-shot lead on the 18th hole of the Copperhead course, Furyk drove into the trees, nearly took out NBC reporter Roger Maltbie with his next shot and needed a good lag from 30 feet to secure a bogey.

Furyk finished at 13-under 271 and won for the 14th time in his career, moving to No. 6 in the Official World Golf Rankings.

“I have a habit of making it tough on myself,” Furyk said. “Just nerves got me, to be honest with you.”

Choi, who started three shots out of the lead, was tied with Furyk through seven holes until a two-shot swing on the par-3 eighth. Choi never got any closer until the final hole. He closed with a 4-under 67, but his runner-up finish should be enough to move him to No. 47 in the world and give him a good chance to get into the Masters.

Choi raised both arms in a strongman pose when he heard about the new Official World Golf Ranking, a good consolation prize provided he stays in the top 50 after Bay Hill next week.

Bubba Watson, who has never won on the PGA TOUR or Nationwide Tour, also gave Furyk a good run and was within two shots throughout the back nine during a final round that had nearly six hours of weather delays.

Watson played without a bogey until the par-3 15th, when he came up short of the green, chipped over the green and dropped a crucial shot. He made pars the rest of the way for a 68, finishing alone in third.

Nick Watney had a 67 and was fourth, while defending champion Retief Goosen was another shot back after a 71.

Furyk had gone 58 starts on the PGA TOUR without winning. He did capture the Chevron World Challenge in December at Sherwood against a world-class field of 18 players, which counted toward the world ranking.

He never lost the lead, although Furyk had to endure some sharp changes in momentum. He followed a 35-foot birdie putt on the 12th with a three-putt on the 13th, and followed another birdie with another three-putt bogey.

Furyk failed to hit his last three greens in regulation, putting from 80 feet off the green on the 16th to within a foot to save par, and hitting a tough bunker shot from sand packed by morning rain to 7 feet and making the par putt on the 17th.

That figured to be the hard part until Furyk’s adventures on the 18th. But he made his bogey, and he won his trophy.

The starting times were moved up avoid an afternoon forecast of thunderstorms, which arrived earlier than expected. After a delay of just over an hour, Furyk was on the first tee waiting for the fairway to clear when the siren sounded to suspend play, and the rumble of thunder soon followed.

When players returned to the course nearly four hours later, Furyk opened strong with two birdies in three holes, with his biggest challenge coming from Choi.

A two-time winner at Innisbrook, Choi had four birdies in six holes, including a 60-foot putt across the green at No. 3 and a 10-footer at No. 6 for a share of the lead. Furyk restored his cushion with a two-shot swing on the par-3 eighth by making a 25-foot birdie putt as Choi missed the green and failed to save par.

Watson was lurking all along.

He made birdie on the two par 5s on the front nine, rolled in a 25-foot birdie putt on the 10th and pulled within two shots with a delicate pitch over the bunker to 7 feet on the 11th for another birdie. His only mistake came on the par-5 14th, when he chipped too strong and ran through the green, having to settle for par.

Furyk was tough as ever. Right when Watson was making a mini-charge, Furyk answered with a 35-foot birdie putt on the 12th, and after a three-putt bogey on the 13th, he followed with a wedge to 3 feet for birdie to restore the margin to three shots with four to play.

From there, it became a battle for second—with more than money at stake.

Choi, who was at No. 75 in the world coming into the week, needed to finish alone in second place to move into the top 50 in the world.

“It’s actually better than what I thought I would be at this point,” Choi said. “So definitely I’ve exceeded my expectations. All I can say is I will try my best next week to maintain or better that position.”

INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK PGA TOUR Network correspondent Michael Collins offers these observations from Sunday. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146/SIRIUS 209 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.

Wow. Even Jim Furyk admitted he was leaking oil coming home. I love it when pros admit to being nervous trying to get a win. He hit a bad tee shot on 18, then told cameramen to watch out before he hit his second shot. He promptly shanked it and almost took off the head of one of those camera guys. In hindsight, he said he should have chipped it out.

The most fun of the day was during the rain delay watching the table tennis competition that got very intense and even turned into a doubles match. Then, Roland Thatcher admitted to a bad addiction to Golden Tee. He would keep resetting the game because he’d get mad if he didn’t start off well. This was before going out to play real golf!

Fluff (Furyk’s caddy) and most of the other caddies spent their time watching basketball debating heatedly on how their brackets had been busted. This fun week had everything, even a fun rain delay. I can only say that because we finished on Sunday!

Tiger Woods acknowledged “living a lie,” saying he alone was responsible
for the sex scandal that caused his shocking downfall from global sporting icon
to late-night TV punchline.

“It was all me. I’m the one who did it. I’m the one who acted the way I
acted. No one knew what was going on when it was going on,” Woods told the Golf
Channel in one of two interviews Sunday night.

A second one was aired on ESPN, which will also televise the first two
rounds of the Masters. Woods plans to end four months of seclusion and return to
golf at the tournament next month. Talking about those plans marked the only
time he smiled during either interview.

“I’m sure if more people would have known in my inner circle, they would
have stopped it or tried to put a stop to it,” he told the Golf Channel. “But
I kept it all to myself.”

Later in the same interview with reporter Kelly Tilghman, Woods refers to
his serial adultery by saying, “I tried to stop and I couldn’t stop. And it was
just, it was horrific.”

Woods answered questions on camera for the first time since his early
morning car crash last November, yet again divulged few details about the crash,
his marriage, his stint in a rehabilitation clinic or his personal life. Woods
insisted those matters would remain private, just as he had in a statement on
his Web site right after his crash and again Feb. 19 when he apologized on
camera in front of a hand-picked audience but took no questions.

“A lot of ugly things have happened. … I’ve done some pretty bad things
in my life,” he told ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi.

Last week, a woman who claims to be one of Woods’ mistresses released an
embarrassing transcript of text messages she said he sent her.

Woods admitted that four months of nearly nonstop public ridicule had caused
him shame.

“It was hurtful, but then again, you know what? I did it,” he told the
Golf Channel. “And I’m the one who did those things. And looking back on it
now, with a more clear head, I get it. I can understand why people would say
those things. Because you know what? It was disgusting behavior. It’s hard to
believe that was me, looking back on it now.”

Woods announced Dec. 11 that he would take an “indefinite break” from golf
and was in a Mississippi clinic from the end of that month until early February.
Asked by ESPN to describe the lowest point, he replied, “I’ve had a lot of low
points. Just when I didn’t think it could get any lower, it got lower.”

He did, however, look more comfortable and composed than he did last month,
wearing golf clothes and smiling several times when talk turned to the Masters,
a tournament he won four times. He resumed practicing with swing coach Hank
Haney last week.

Woods said he couldn’t wait to get back, though he had reservations about
how he’ll be received.

“I’m a little nervous about that to be honest with you,” he told ESPN.
“It would be nice to hear a couple claps here and there.”

Augusta National will provide Woods one of the most tightly controlled
environments in the sport. Tournament organizers limit the number of
credentialed media and galleries traditionally are among the best-behaved in
sports. Even so, CBS boss Sean McManus, whose network televises the final two
rounds of the Masters, predicted it “will be the biggest media event, other
than the Obama inauguration, in the past 10 or 15 years.”

A number of news outlets had submitted requests to the Woods camp for
interviews. Both ESPN and the Golf Channel were notified late last week that
Woods would agree to a five-minute interview Sunday afternoon with no
restrictions on questions. CBS was also offered an interview, but turned it
down.

“Depending on the specifics, we are interested in an extended interview
without any restrictions on CBS,” spokeswoman LeslieAnne Wade said.

The interviews were conducted at Isleworth, the gated community in
Windermere, Fla., where Woods lives. Golf Channel’s Tilghman said Woods’ wife,
Elin, was not present and “it’s still in question whether she will attend the
Masters.”

Woods had asked that the interview not be aired until the PGA tournament
being played Sunday was finished. Golf Channel spokesman Dan Higgins declined to
speculate whether release of the embarrassing text messages influenced the
timing of the interview.

“I can’t speak for them,” he said. “I have no idea.”

Jim Furyk, who is both a friend and rival of Woods, called the interviews
“part of that natural progression before he comes back.”

Furyk was handed a transcript shortly after winning the Transitions
Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla. He characterized what he read as “pretty much
the same stuff that we already knew, but I think it’s good for him to get his
face out there and have people see him.

“They are going to make their judgments,” he added, “but I think it
allows him to kind of move on and get focused for the next thing.”

Woods last played competitive golf at the Australian Masters, a tournament
he won in November for his 82nd victory worldwide. He last played on the PGA
Tour in the Tour Championship in September.

Woods told ESPN that being forced to confront his problems had made him
stronger: “You start conquering it and you start living up to it. The strength
that I feel now, I’ve never felt that type of strength.”

But he also admitted being uncertain about how much he would play after
coming back.

“I will have more treatment and more therapy sessions. And as far as my
schedule going forward, I don’t know what I’m going to do. … I don’t know what
I’m going to do in the future, either,” he told the Golf Channel. “That, to
me, is a little bit bothersome, too, in the sense that I don’t like not knowing
what to do.

“But what I know I have to do is become a better person and that begins
with going to more treatment.”

Phew! I’m just glad neither ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi nor The Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghman opened by asking: “Tiger, can you take us through your card?”

Silly me. I thought Tiger Woods announced he was doing interviews just to tell us he had Northern Iowa, St. Mary’s AND Cornell in his Sweet 16.

Nope. It’s official now. He hath deigned to answer questions.

And yes, some of it was productive.

We now know he is continuing outpatient treatment – for an undisclosed problem – for the foreseeable future. We now know he will wear a Buddhist bracelet for “strength and protection.” We now know he is embracing the buzzwords of rehab – “One day at a time”; “Stripping away denial and rationalization”; “Living a life of amends”; and more. We now know he tried to stop serial infidelity but says he could not. We now know he says he feels a new type of strength – the strength of self-awareness.

We also now presume he must have really, really wanted to watch the end of the weather-delayed Transitions Championship. What other good excuse would there be for the overly controlling limit of five minutes – five minutes! – for both ESPN and The Golf Channel?

The “5-Minute Rule” prevented any conversation of substance, any follow-up question and any semblance of conversational pace. The “5-Minute Rule” also forced a stressed Rinaldi into a rhythm that felt a little like a lightning round from an old game show. I half expected him to start barking out random questions:

“How did you tell Elin?”

“What will the Masters be like?”

“What’s the capital of Colombia?”

“Who won the 1959 World Series?” …

I want to be clear in saying I thought both Rinaldi and Tilghman did as well as they could in the 300 allotted seconds. That was not an easy gig. They had to come prepared, never stumble and have an endless well of questions. It would have been a little rough about three minutes in to have one of them look at their watch, look to the camera and say, after an awkward pause: “Well, that’s it. I’m tapped out. You wanna just hang here for the next two minutes?”

Truth be told, I think Tilghman’s interview was slightly more productive. She netted the Buddhist bracelet tidbit and had the guts to bring up Tiger’s late father, Earl, getting one of the better lines of the day in return.

“That’s one of the things I miss,” Tiger said. “I miss his guidance.”

I’ve been wondering all along how the specter of Earl – the dominant figure in Tiger’s life until his death in 2006 – was playing on Tiger’s mind. A missed opportunity for Tilghman was to ask if Tiger thought that Earl’s death may have played a role in Tiger’s increasingly reckless behavior, but that missed opportunity can be partially explained by the ridiculous “5-Minute Rule” that forced the interviews to be so rushed.

Otherwise, it appeared Tiger was more relaxed with Tilghman than with Rinaldi. The close relationship between The Golf Channel and PGA Tour players is likely a reason why. Whereas ESPN usually only rolls out its big guns for majors, The Golf Channel is there week after week after week after week. And Tiger watches golf a lot; when he’s not playing, he listens to Tilghman broadcast tour events. Hence, Tiger felt at ease enough to drop a “Kel” on her at one point. And she coaxed maybe the line of the entire production.

When Rinaldi asked, “Why did you lose control over your car?” on that Nov. 27, 2009, morning, Tiger answered only: “That’s a private matter.” But when Tilghman asked him the same question, Tiger answered: “I wasn’t going very fast … but I hit a few things.”

Of such answers are instant classics born.

To be sure, Rinaldi held his own. I thought his question of “Respectfully, why did you get married?” was one of the best of either session. I’ve long thought that there’s a sort of unspoken pressure on the golf tour to get married, just to complete the picture of having a wife and kids run on to the green after victories. There are precious few bachelors out there, and Tiger might have felt the need to get married because it was the expected thing to do, to flesh out the profile for endorsers, too.

Of course, there’s also the thing called “love,” and Tiger said he “loved Elin with everything I had.”
And Rinaldi got Tiger to admit to nerves over how he will be received at next month’s Masters, probably the first time Tiger has admitted to being nervous over anything since he was asked to dance at a fraternity party at Stanford.

I would venture to say we all have many more questions we’d like to ask, and hopefully the reporters at Augusta National – my brothers and sisters of the ink-stained golf media, stand up! – will take the baton from here. I trust they will. Among the possibilities:

Is golf as important to you now as it was before Nov. 27, 2009?

Is passing Jack Nicklaus’ all-time record for major championships as important to you now as it was before Nov. 27, 2009?

Is it important to you, or a goal of yours, to regain your endorsement profile?

Have you considered the possibility that answering questions earlier in this process would have made this story go away faster?

Can you understand why some fans are suspicious of your relationship with the Canadian doctor who is suspected of trafficking in HGH?

For now, we’ll take Sunday’s “300 Seconds of Fury” as a decent step forward in our reconnecting with the world’s greatest golfer.

Just think, next time you see him, he’ll be playing golf.

Scorecard of the week

67-68-67-69 – 13-under, 271, Jim Furyk, first place, Transitions Championship, Innisbrook.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch …

Jim Furyk owes Tiger a text message.

“Yo, dude. Thx 4 arranging ur intervu airing just as I imploded on 18. Nobody knows how bad it got. They just see the ‘W’! I owe u one.”

It’s been 58 events and nearly three years since Furyk won on the tour, a startling statistic for a guy you used to think of as one of the world’s best. And, technically, he is one of the world’s best – up to sixth in the World Golf Rankings with the win at Innisbrook.

It did not come easy.

Bogeys on 13 and 15 meant a once-comfortable lead was down to two strokes over K.J. Choi at the 72nd hole. Furyk, admitting later to nerves at not having won in so long, pumped his drive well right into the native area. His second shot was so awry, reports are it nearly hit Roger Maltbie. Only a third to the green and two-putt from 30 feet allowed a bogey and a one-shot win.

Here’s the catch: Nobody saw it.

Furyk’s tee shot on 18 came right around 7:30 p.m. ET, otherwise known as “Tiger Time” for ESPN and The Golf Channel. Like crazed paparazzi, most of America frantically switched over to see Tiger, leaving the 72nd hole at Innisbrook in the dark. Hence, nobody knows that Furyk barely avoided an epic meltdown.

Instead, one big cardboard check is coming his way. And if anybody asks? Furyk can say: “Fairway, green, two putt, no worries … winner, winner, chicken dinner!”

Mulligan of the week

In fact, while we’re on the topic, can we just rush out to that 18th tee, toss one to Fluff, let Furyk re-tee and … give that man a mulligan!

The mulligan of the week never came so easy.

Broadcast moment of the week

“You went from being known as the greatest golfer in the world to being a punch line. How did that make you feel?” – Kelly Tilghman, The Golf Channel, with one of her stronger questions of the evening to Woods.

Truth is, there were so many choice moments from which to choose in the Tiger interviews, and the fact is, nothing will ever top Tiger’s “I wasn’t going very fast … but I hit a few things” description of the car crash.

It was impressive to see Tilghman remind Tiger that he became a national joke. Previously, the toughest question any golf media member – yours truly included – ever asked Tiger was: “Tiger, on a scale of 1 to 10, how awesome are you?”

Where do we go from here?

Iced tea and lemonade on the house – it’s Bay Hill time!

In this column, it has long been believed that Bay Hill would be Tiger’s first tournament back from his “indefinite” leave. So much of it made sense: a warmup before Augusta, Arnie’s welcoming embrace, a home game, success at the venue … on and on.

Tiger said Saturday his game isn’t “ready” for competition yet, hence he is skipping Bay Hill and phoned The King to tell him the news.

More likely, he is skipping Bay Hill because Team Tiger would have precious little control over a public venue like the tour stop at Bay Hill. The Masters provides so many layers of security that it makes far too much sense.

So, we’ll go Tiger-free at Bay Hill. But we’ll enjoy the iced tea and lemonade in the meantime.