Woods Earns 74th Career PGA Win Passing Nicklaus

Tiger Woods holds his trophy after winning the 2012 AT&T National at Congressional in Bethesda, Maryland (Pete Marovich)

Tiger Woods is beginning to leave his critics with little left to say. Being among the leaders, Woods came into the final round of the AT&T National in the final pairing. He and Bo Van Pelt were one shot behind surprising Brendon de Jonge of Zimbabwe. Unfortunately for the Zimbabwean, his success didn't carry over to Sunday.

That meant it came down to Woods and Van Pelt. Early on during the final round, Woods took the lead, but each time Van Pelt answered with a birdie of his own. The two went to 16th hole all level. Van Pelt had a 345-yard tee shot, which meant he needed only a 6-iron from there. Woods looked to be in trouble when his tee shot struck a spectator in the left rough. However, a few poor errors by Van Pelt left him to settle for a bogey. Woods managed to recover enough to earn the same fate.

More unforced mistakes by Van Pelt led to his demise. On the 17th, he went through the rough, then over the green to near the grandstand, before finally managing to salvage bogey. Woods stayed calm and confident while making par, without any real difficulty. He took his one shot lead to the 18th hole. With Van Pelt in trouble again, Woods knew all he needed was to tap in for par to seal the win. He did just that.

The win was Woods' 74th of his PGA Career, passing Jack Nicklaus for 2nd all-time. He is now just eight wins behind Sam Snead's record. The win was also Woods' third this year, the most of any golfer on the PGA Tour. While he remains #4 in the world, he did take the lead in the PGA Tour money list and in the FedEx Cup standings for the first time since September 2009.

When asked about Woods' play, Van Pelt stated, "I think he's the only player to guy to win three tournaments on tour this year, is that correct? On three different golf courses. And he was leading the U.S. Open after two days. So I'd say that he is playing the best golf in the world right now." I happen to agree with Van Pelt's assessment. During one stretch here at Congressional, Woods went 41 holes without a bogey. That's vintage Tiger. While he isn't going to be perfect, he is going to be very, very good. This win is just another display to showcase that Tiger Woods is indeed back in form.