Tiger needs good play, good health to reach season finale
MEDINAH, Ill. — The golf course is familiar to Tiger Woods. The circumstances are not.
Medinah Country Club is where a 23-year-old Woods buried that eight-foot par putt on the 17th hole in 1999 to win the PGA Championship for the first time by holding off Sergio Garcia, who was just 19. Woods returned to Medinah in 2006 and won the PGA Championship again, this time making history as the only player to win multiple majors in consecutive years.
“I’ve had some good memories,” Woods said.
What he needs now is good health and a good showing at the BMW Championship.
Otherwise, one of his best memories from last year will remain just that.
Woods withdrew last week after one round at The Northern Trust, the opening tournament of the FedEx Cup playoffs at Liberty National Golf Club, citing a mild strain of the oblique. That dropped him from No. 28 to No. 38 in the standings because points are quadrupled during the postseason.
The PGA Tour projects Woods must finish at least 11th at Medinah — he has only one top10 result since winning the Masters in April for his 15th major title — to have any chance of being among the top 30 players who advance to the Tour Championship for the FedEx Cup finale at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta and a shot at the $15 million bonus.
Woods won that tournament last year, capping his comeback from four back surgeries with a vintage performance.
“I’m trying to win this tournament just like anybody else in this field, and trying to get to East Lake and trying to get to a place where a lot of things changed for me last year,” Woods said after playing in the BMW Championship’s pro-am Wednesday. “And hopefully, I can make that happen.”
That it even might happen is a mild surprise. When he withdrew after an opening 75 last Thursday, it seemed that might be the end of his season.
“It was nice to take those days off,” he said, referring to the three-day weekend his withdrawal provided. “I had to just let it calm down and get a bunch of treatment on it, and it feels so much better.”
The top 70 in the standings after this past Sunday’s play advanced to Medinah, and Brooks Koepka remains atop the FedEx Cup standings despite another pedestrian week in the playoffs — he tied for 30th at Liberty National. Still No. 1 in the World Golf Ranking and with four major championships since mid-2017, the 29-year-old has only two top-10 finishes in 16 appearances in PGA Tour playoff events.
Most of the focus is on the fight to be in the top 30 in the standings. There is no cut in the 69-man field (Kevin Na withdrew because his wife is expecting to give birth), which should help foster competition. Andrew Putnam is holding down the 30th spot by four points over Ryan Palmer, but anyone can advance. Patrick Reed was 50th starting the playoffs, and his victory in The Northern Trust moved him to No. 2.
Among those with plenty of work to do are Phil Mickelson (46th), Jordan Spieth (44th) and European Ryder Cup hero Ian Poulter (43rd), who has never been to the Tour Championship since the FedEx Cup playoffs began in 2007. He still recalls — vividly — the time he finished two-hundredths of a point behind 30th place.
“I was sitting on the plane, tied 30th, delighted to go to East Lake, and then being told the plane is going somewhere else,” Poulter said. “So great, yeah, I remember it. It’s only been 10 years.”
Of the four Baylor School graduates on the PGA Tour, only Chattanooga native Keith Mitchell remains in these playoffs. The 27-year-old former University of Georgia golfer, who won the Honda Classic in March for his first PGA Tour victory, is 47th in the standings.