Tiger needs big weekend to keep his season alive
The course is familiar to Tiger Woods. The circumstances are not.
Medinah is where Woods buried that 8-foot par putt on the 17th hole in 1999 to win the PGA Championship for the first time by holding off teenage Sergio Garcia. He 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 of the Illinois course.
What he needs now is good health and a good week at the BMW Championship. Otherwise, one of his best memories from last year will remain just that.
Woods withdrew last week after one round of the FedEx Cup playoffs opener, citing a mild strain of the oblique. That dropped him from No. 28 to No. 38 in the FedEx Cup because points are quadruple during the postseason.
The PGA Tour projects that he needs to finish at least 11th — he has only one top 10 since winning the Masters — to have any chance of being among the top 30 players who advance to the Tour Championship for the FedEx Cup finale and a shot at the $15 million bonus.
Among those also with plenty of work to do are Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson and Ian Poulter.
TOUR CARDS FOR MCNEALY, HUBBARD >> Former Stanford All-America Maverick McNealy earned his PGA Tour card and former San Jose State star Mark Hubbard regained his card for their play on the Korn Ferry Tour.
McNealy, who attended San Jose’s The Harker School, earned his 2019-20 card by placing No. 23 on the Tour. The top 25 on the points list secured promotions.
Hubbard, the 2011 WAC champion who played regularly on the PGA Tour from 2015 through 2017, finished ninth.
SALINDA ADVANCES AT U.S. AMATEUR >> Stanford’s Isaiah Salinda advanced on the first day of match play at the U.S. Amateur.
Brandon Wu, the world’s 11th-ranked amateur and teammate of Salinda’s on the Cardinal’s NCAA championship team, earned medalist honors in stroke play buy lost 2 up in match play to Austin Squires. The former Cincinnati player lost in the quarterfinals last year at Pebble Beach and needed four holes in a 27for-3 playoff to claim the final spot in this year’s 64-player field.
Salinda, a semifinalist a year ago, beat Travis Vick 1 up.