Tiger Woods wins Tour Championship: Golf's biggest star wins first tournament in five years to complete sensational career comeback

Golf's biggest star and the greatest player of the modern era, Tiger Woods, completed a comeback from the apparent abyss by winning his first tournament in five years, the season-ending Tour Championship.

Woods finished two shots clear of the chasing pack as Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy, his overnight rivals and soon-to-by Ryder Cup opponents, fell away on the final round.

"I had a hard time not crying on the last hole," said Tiger Woods of the remarkable scenes on the 18th hole, where the gathering throngs followed Woods down the fairway, surrounding the green on which Woods would putt from a matter of inches to secure the 80th PGA Tour title of his career.

"I had to suck it up and hit some shots. Once I got the ball on the green, it was done. I could handle it from there.

"I just can't believe I pulled this off. It's been tough. I've had a not so easy last couple years." Woods added that many of the crowd who congratulated him behind 18 "knew what he was struggling with."

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It was less than a year ago that Woods was ranked 1,199 in the world as he recovered from spinal fusion surgery. During that period of convalescence from surgery he became addicted to painkillers and was discovered at the roadside asleep at the wheel. The ensuing dashcam video that emerged from the arresting police officer's car painted a bleak, humiliating picture of golf's great modern superstar and how far he had apparently fallen. But in a bid to retain joint-custody of his children, he entered rehab for the third time in his life and the second time for prescription drug addiction.

The road has been rocky but since returning to the course Woods has shown signs of steady improvement and spent much of this season challenging for honours. Woods led in the final round of a major for the first time in five years at The Open in late July. This win has been coming with every week but that is what makes it feel like so significant, because it built to an almost perfect crescendo.

Now Woods and his American teammates turn their attention to the Ryder Cup at Le Golf National, near Paris. And on top of the intrigue of one of sport's great competitions comes a tale almost certainly destined for Hollywood that might not have had its final chapter at East Lake on Sunday, indeed it could just be the latest twist in the redemption story you couldn't write.