Consolation for Tiger Woods as he finishes with flourish

Tiger Woods did his confidence a power of good with three late birdies as he finished his first week back in golf with a level-par 70 in Akron last night. Meanwhile, his former caddie Steve Williams was heading on the bag of Adam Scott, who remained in a share of the lead through seven holes with Japanese teenager Ryo Ishikawa.

Out of contention for an eighth WGC-Bridgestone Invitational title, Woods fell outside the top 50 with a miserable run of holes in the middle of his final round.

But the former world No 1 then had a hat-trick of birdies from the 15th, holing putts of 13, three and 15 feet, to return to one over par.

That was 14 adrift of joint leaders Scott and Ishikawa - he birdied two of the first three holes to catch the Australian - but with the USPGA Championship coming up this week fit-again Woods could take comfort from some of the players he beat in his first event for 12 weeks.

They included great rival Phil Mickelson after he double-bogeyed the last for a 72 and three-over aggregate, while Paul Casey was two over, Padraig Harrington six over, Graeme McDowell nine over and both Open champion Darren Clarke and Ian Poulter 12 over.

Justin Rose and Simon Dyson finished one ahead of Woods, though, after closing strongly with rounds of 67 and 68 respectively.

That represented a great comeback by last Sunday's Irish Open winner Dyson. He was joint last with Clarke after an opening 77, but broke par in the remaining three rounds.

As for the battle for the third World championship event of the season, 19-year-old Ishikawa was disappointed only to birdie the long second after hitting his second shot to five feet, but he followed it with a 12-foot putt.

That lifted him alongside overnight leader Scott, who also birdied the second despite visiting two bunkers.

They were two in front of Rickie Fowler and Scott's compatriot Jason Day, who was part of the lead with a three-foot opening putt, but three-putted the next for a bogey 6.

England's world number one Luke Donald was three back, having pitched to five feet on the first, but Scot Martin Laird slipped four behind. He three-putted the first, birdied the second, but then could not get up and down from the rough on the fourth.

Rory McIlroy came back from an opening bogey with two birdies in the next three to stand eight under and joint ninth, while Lee Westwood birdied the second, third and ninth in a fine outward 32, but still had six shots to make up.

Woods said: "I got off to such a great start (two birdies in the first five), then absolutely lost it - a couple left, a couple right - and then got it back at the end.

"It's one of those things where I'm still getting a feel for it and keep falling back into my old patterns - old grip, old swing plane. I was fighting it a bit.

"Obviously I don't have a lot of time (before the PGA starts on Thursday). It's just a matter of getting out there. I need to do the reps on the range."

Scott, meanwhile, was alone in front again when Ishikawa bogeyed the fourth after finding the left rough.

And while Laird dropped another shot on the sixth McIlroy holed from 14 feet at the eighth to move into a tie for seventh four behind.Scott headed into last night's final round in a winning position after turning his fortunes around in the third round when he decided to stick with what was working, going to a fade off the tee. He poured in four birdies on the back nine for a four-under 66, giving the 31-year-old Australian a shot at his first World Golf Championship.

Before teeing off last night, Scott was at 12-under 198, the lowest 54-hole score at Firestone in ten years. He was playing in the last group with Ishikawa.

Ishikawa amazed even his peers in a charity-driven sport when he pledged in March to donate his entire earnings on the golf course to the tsunami relief fund in his native Japan.

He was in with a chance of doubling the in a World Golf Championship that is surprising even him.

Coming off a missed cut in Japan, never better than 20th in stroke play in America, the 19-year-old sensation made six birdies and twice escaped trouble in the trees Saturday for a six-under 64 that put him in the final group and only one shot behind Scott.

After seven holes of the final round he had cut the gap and was neck and neck with Scott as they headed towards a thrilling finale.

Along with a $1.4 million payoff, Ishikawa could become the youngest winner of a PGA Tour event in 100 years. "I think it's a little too early to think about winning this whole thing as of now," Ishikawa said before the final round. "But I do feel that I was able to play at a pretty good level, a pretty high level today. Actually, I'm a little surprised of how I performed out there."