Woods banks on PGA returning to Conway Farms
Count Tiger Woods among those who think Conway Farms is worthy of hosting an important PGA FedEx Cup event again.
“I’m sure it will come back,’’ Woods said Monday. “We got some interesting weather conditions, from 100 [degrees] to 50, so it definitely held up. If we didn’t get any rain, these greens were starting to get really, really tough, and it was tough to get the ball close.’’
As an added bonus, Chicago is Tiger’s kind of town, a place where he’s won two PGA Championships and five Western Opens.
“Great sporting town,’’ Woods said. “They’ve supported their sports here, and they’ve come out and supported golf as well.’’
Not Furyk weather
Even though he shot a historic 59 here, Jim Furyk, a Pennsylvania native who now lives in Florida, is no fan of Windy City weather.
“People up here are damned tough because the weather is awful,’’ Furyk said. “It’s either 150 degrees in the summer or cold in the winter, and it changes every 10 minutes. But the golf course wasn’t all that wet. It drained fine.”
Donald Atlanta-bound
Luke Donald wouldn’t admit to a home-course advantage, not with “as many putts as I missed this week.’’ But he did put together a late birdie barrage Monday en route to a 5-under 66 to finish 11-under for the tournament.
That moved Donald to a tie for fourth and allowed him to sneak into the 30-player Tour Championship at No. 29 in the FedEx Cup standings.
“I figured at the beginning of the week that top-5 was probably going to do it for me,’’ Donald said. “I knew I had to go pretty low today. Fortunately, I got it going when I needed to.’’
Donald birdied No. 12 through No. 15. A bogey on the 16th put him in jeopardy, but a clutch birdie on the par-three 17th allowed him to punch his Atlanta ticket.
Dustin Johnson, one of six players to finish his final round on Sunday, sneaked into the 30th and final Atlanta berth.
Spieth heads south
Jordan Spieth, who shot a final-round 68, finished 7-under par, tied for 16th. At 20 years old, he’s No. 13 in the FedEx Cup standings. He’ll be the youngest player to compete in the Tour Championship.