And on Day 4, he made some putts

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Tiger Woods's 2007 trip to The Players Championship can be summed up neatly: He had more birdies and eagles in yesterday's final round (six) than he had in the first three rounds combined (five).

But don't think it's an indication of how poorly he played the first three days (75-73-73) because Woods brushed aside his final-round 5-under-par 67.

"I didn't play that much better, I just made some putts," said the world's No. 1 player after he went from T-64 to T-37, finishing at even-par 288.

The putt that produced the loudest roar came at the par-5 16th, a 10-foot eagle putt after a driver and 6-iron got him home in two. Earlier, there had been four straight birdies starting at the 237-yard, par-3 eighth as for the first time all tournament, Woods rolled it beautifully on the green. That hadn't been the case Thursday, when he went birdieless in a round for just the fifth time on the PGA Tour. He made just two birdies Friday and a mere three Saturday when many of the leaders made six, seven, and eight on a favorable day for scoring.

"I was just tired of hitting good putts and having them all lip out," said Woods, explaining his dour mood late Saturday. "I was just frustrated with it."

Though he double bogeyed the par-4 fourth, a mere 384-yarder that he played in 4 over this week, Woods came back to play the next 14 in 7 under, thus keeping alive a rather obscure streak. He never has played a non-major without having at least one subpar round. The only three times he's done it have been under major settings -- the US Open at the Olympic Club in 1998, the British Open at Carnoustie in 1999, and the PGA Championship at Oak Hill in 2003.

Woods has been out of the top 10 at The Players Championship for six straight years, which is the only tournament about which such a claim can be made.

You have to figure there wasn't much banter in the 34th pairing of the day, because Cliff Kresge was none too happy with the drop Sergio Garcia gave himself behind the par-5 second hole. Kresge and his caddie apparently disagreed with Garcia about a free drop because of a drainage hole, but Garcia brushed it aside. "I don't think there's anything to talk about," Garcia said after shooting 66--179 to finish second. "I've never tried to do anything wrong on a golf course. Cliff's caddie wanted to make it a big deal, but it wasn't." . . . You think Jose Maria Olazabal likes holes 9-12? He birdied all of them Saturday, then repeated that feat in his final-round 67--280 that gave him a tie for third. When he birdied the par-4 12th, Olazabal was 8 under and just two off the lead, but he couldn't get any deeper . . . Robert Karlsson was a birdie machine over the weekend, making 14. Who knows what would have happened had he not made the three doubles in Round 3, for the tall Swede closed with a bogey-free 66 to finish at 6-under 282, tied for sixth, five back . . . Adam Scott came home in 67--282 to finish tied for sixth, his third top 10 in six starts here.

Until Sean O'Hair squandered his chance for victory with two water balls at the 17th, the island green hadn't played quite like the chamber of horrors it had earlier in the week. O'Hair made the only quadruple bogey of the day and the only other heartache belonged to Steve Stricker -- though in a manner rarely seen there. His tee shot found the greenside bunker, but he bladed it out and into the water, so he had to go back to the drop area. He was 1 under at the time, but the triple bogey knocked him down the leaderboard (T-52) . . . For the day, there were 13 balls hit into the water at No. 17, bringing the four-round total to 94, which is a record. The hole also established a record for its toughness, playing to its highest-ever field average, 3.386.

Some 2,100 people will gather this evening inside the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center to pay tribute to Jack and Barbara Nicklaus as they accept a lifelong award for contributions to golf from the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund. That part of the program, of course, was planned. What wasn't planned was the time that will be set aside to remember Raymond Faxon, grandfather of PGA Tour member Brad Faxon and a passionate supporter of the Ouimet Association, who died yesterday. A longtime member of Woods Hole GC, Raymond Faxon, 99, had planned to attend the dinner. "We had a good day with our grandfather [Saturday]," said Faxon. "To live 99 years is quite a thing and he left behind such a great legacy."

Jim McCabe can be reached at jmccabe@globe.com.