Tiger Woods never got in PGA hunt
SAN FRANCISCO – Tiger Woods emerged from the fog – literally and figuratively – with his lowest score of the week Sunday in the final round of the 102nd playing of the PGA Championship. Now he thinks bright days are ahead. Starting his last 18 at TPC Harding Park under a thick marine layer that clouded objects 200 yards away, Woods was shrouded in somewhat of a stupor from humdrum play in the second and third rounds. But there was pop in his step from the first tee onward and the 15-time major winner turned in an upbeat performance with a 3-under-par 67 and finished with rounds of 68-72-72-67 to end at 1 under for the tournament, just his second in six months.
Woods was much sharper with all aspects of his game, especially with his putting, which had been dull throughout the week as he struggled with the speed of the greens. Woods needed just 25 putts in the final round – six fewer than the 31 he took in both the second and third rounds.
“I drove it kind of like I did on Friday, and my irons were a little bit more crisp and I hit better putts,” Woods said. “I made a few early on, and just kind of kept the momentum going. It’s something I hadn’t done the last two days, and it was an under par tournament score, which yesterday I was saying that’s kind of what I wanted to do. I made it happen today.
“What I got out of this week is that I felt I was competitive. If I would have made a few more putts on Friday early on, and the same thing with Saturday, I felt like I would have been right there with a chance come today. It didn’t happen, but I fought hard, and today was more indicative of how I could have played on Friday and Saturday if I would have made a few putts early.”
And just as importantly, his oft-injured back and sore body was a bother.
“Overall the body reacted pretty good,” he said.
All of which leads Woods feeling optimistic about his future prospects as he tries to win a record-setting 83rd PGA Tour title, a 16th major and a third Fedex Cup. Before leaving the grounds before the leaders teed off, Woods spoke with encouraging words of what lies ahead – the Fedex Cup Playoffs beginning in two weeks and the U.S. Open in September. Woods is not playing in next week’s regular-season finale, the Wyndham Championship, and instead will decide how he’ll attack the trio of events in the Fedex Cup Playoffs before taking a week off ahead of the U.S. Open at Winged Foot in New York. Woods is currently 48th in the Fedex Cup standings. Starting with 125 players at the first event, the Northern Trust at TPC Boston, only the top 70 will advance to the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields in Illinois. From there, only the top 30 advance to the finale, The Tour Championship in Atlanta.
Woods could play the Northern Trust, and depending on his result, could skip the BMW Championship. Or he may roll the dice and skip the Northern Trust and trust he’ll play well enough in the BMW Championship to make it to The Tour Championship. Or he may be forced to play the first two events to try and get to Atlanta. If he were to advance out of the BMW Championship, that would be three starts in as many weeks.
“That’s potentially what could happen, and we’ve been training for that,” Woods said. “Trying to get my strength and endurance up to that ability to making sure that I can handle that type of workload.
“We knew once I started playing again when I committed to Memorial that this was going to be a heavy workload, and my training sessions, we’ve been pushing it pretty hard, making sure that I kept my strength and endurance up. This (upcoming) week off will be no different. We’ll be pushing it hard to make sure that I can stay strong and have the endurance to keep on going.”
Joe Lacava, Woods’ caddie, hopes his boss will play the first two events of the postseason. Whatever Woods decides, Lacava knows work needs to be done.
“He knows it,” Lacava said. “He needs to tighten up his short game a little bit, work on that at home. You just keep working at it. To me, it’s just a lack of playing tournament golf, you know what I mean? You can’t duplicate that at home. I understand it.
“He was on lockdown during the virus, so I get that. It’s not a complaint, just a fact. But I just think he needs more reps at this point.”