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ORLANDO, March 23 Minutes before his tee time today, Tiger Woods sat slumped on his golf bag, too ill to practice. On Friday at the Bay Hill Invitational, his girlfriend, Elin Nordegren, fainted from dehydration after what was thought to be food poisoning. Now it was Woods's turn. After eating what he described as bad pasta at home Saturday night, he began to feel ill almost immediately, and it was the beginning of a long night, running back and forth from his couch to the bathroom. Suddenly, the biggest obstacle in his quest to win Bay Hill for the fourth consecutive time was not the golf course, or the competition. It was his health. Woods considered checking into a hospital Saturday night, but he decided against it.

Like I told Elin last night, it's so easy to check into a hospital, but getting out is the hard part, said Woods, who lives about a 10-minute drive from Bay Hill. I didn't know if they were going to let me go. Still feeling sick this morning, Woods hoped the rain would postpone the final round. Imagine that. Tiger Woods not wanting to play golf, even with a five-stroke lead, and the golf course 10 minutes away. If I wasn't in contention, I wouldn't have gone, he said. There's no way. All day, Woods looked weak. His stomach hurt from vomiting the night before, he said, and after many drives, he winced with pain. At No. 2, after teeing off, Woods walked under a tree and stooped over, looking for a safe place to get sick. It was a posture he repeated at least a dozen times during his round. Instead of his usual brisk gait, Woods ambled gingerly down the fairway, moving as if part of a threesome at a retirement village.

Despite his discomfort, Woods shot a bogey-free 68 and cruised to an 11-stroke victory over four players who tied for second. He is the first player in 73 years to win a PGA Tour event four consecutive times. Woods finished with a 19-under 269, ahead of Stewart Cink (70), Brad Faxon (71), Kenny Perry (71) and Kirk Triplett (70). As bad as Woods looked between shots, he still looked perfectly fine swinging the club. That is part of what makes Woods the world's best his ability to focus, to overcome any distractions. He won with the biggest margin in a PGA event at Bay Hill, topping Fred Couples, who won by nine strokes in 1992. Once again, Woods showed that neither his game, nor his health, needs to be 100 percent to win.

It was impressive, said Faxon, who played in the final group with Woods and Cink. I know what he's made of. There was no way he was going to go home. With the Players Championship this week, and the Masters starting April 10, Woods seems destined for another extraordinary year. In four starts in 2003, Woods has three victories. In the only tournament he did not win, the Nissan Open, he tied for fifth. And he may have won that tournament, too, if not for a 73 on Saturday.