Alastair Grant / AP

Tiger Woods hugs caddie Steve Williams after winning of the Dubai Desert Classic.

Green was poised to win until his tee shot on the 18th went into the grove and his second shot struck a palm and landed at the base, leaving him no choice but to punch out. He wound up with a 68 to finish third.

Miguel Angel Jimenez (69) and Anders Hansen (71) were another shot behind, followed by two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, whose 71 left him at 16-under 272.

It was a small measure of redemption for Woods, who blew a chance to win in Dubai five years ago. Tied with Thomas Bjorn on the 18th hole, Woods hit into the water and made a double bogey, one of only five times in his career he has failed to win with at least a share of the 54-hole lead.

Woods has said the 18th hole does not set up well for him, but he came through twice in a span of 20 minutes.

After winning the Buick Invitational, Woods flew 20 hours across 12 time zones to reach Dubai. He received a $3 million appearance fee, earned $400,000 for the victory and received the trophy — a 3-foot Arabic coffer urn — from Sheik Maktoum bin Mohamed bin Rashid, the son of Dubai’s ruler.

He will open the Tiger Woods Learning Center on Friday in Anaheim, Calif., then play the Nissan Open at Riviera. Woods will play five more times before his first big test at the Masters, where he is the defending champion.

“My list of things I need to work on is a lot shorter than it was last year at this time, which is great,” Woods said. “So looking toward Augusta, I don’t have a big laundry list of things I need to work on. I just need to refine things and hope I get dialed in.”

It may not look pretty at times, but so far the results are perfect.