Tiger can smell $10M bonus
Shares lead with Rose at Tour Championship
ATLANTA— Tiger Woods sure didn’t look intimidated Thursday in the Tour Championship.
Woods kept the ball in play at East Lake and chipped in for one of his six birdies on his way to a 4-under 66 that gave him a share of the lead with Justin Rose. It was the first step toward what Woods hopes is another FedEx Cup title, and another $10 million (U.S.) bonus.
Rory McIlroy, playing with Woods for the fifth time in these playoffs, saved par on the last hole for a 69.
The week began with Greg Norman saying that Woods was intimidated by McIlroy, a suggestion that both players found amusing. While it’s doubtful that inspired Woods, he played as if he wasn’t ready to let McIlroy win a third straight playoff event and capture the FedEx Cup.
McIlroy, who has won three of his last four tournaments, and Woods are among the top five seeds at East Lake who only have to win the Tour Championship to claim the largest payoff in golf.
Woods wasn’t interested in what anyone else was doing. “Just winning,” he said. “Winning takes care of everything.”
Rose, who hasn’t won since the World Golf Championship at Doral in March, swiftly moved up the leaderboard late in his round with three birdies over the last five holes, and the last one was memorable. From the back of the green on the par-318th, Rose faced a 50-foot putt with some 20 feet of break from right to left. It looked wide the whole way until it snapped back toward the cup.
Rose is 24th in the FedEx Cup, meaning he would have to win and everyone at the top of the standings would have to falter. The way Woods started, that looked improbable. Rose checked the leaderboard early on, not to see his projected standing, but to get an idea of how the course was playing.
That part was easy to decipher. On a warm day, with the sun finally breaking through in the afternoon, no one was tearing up the place.
Scott Piercy ran off three straight birdies late in his round until he stumbled in the rough behind the 18th green and finished with a double bogey for a 67, tied with Steve Stricker, Matt Kuchar and Bo Van Pelt. Stricker was the only player in the 30-man field without a bogey. Hunter Mahan appeared to snap out of his funk from missing out on the Ryder Cup with a 68, tied with a group that included Brandt Snedeker, who is among the top five seeds. The others are Phil Mickelson, who opened with a 69, and Nick Watney, who brought up the rear with a 75. Despite the Tour Championship featuring the top 30 on the PGA Tour, the focus again returned to the top two players. A boisterous gallery lined the fairways and crowded behind every green to see the latest edition of Tiger and Rory, and they didn’t disappoint. McIlroy is playing East Lake for the first time, and he struggled with the Bermuda rough around the greens. “If you don’t hit fairways, it’s hard,” McIlroy said. “If you hit the ball in the rough here, it’s very, very difficult to get any control on your ball.” Woods again had McIlroy’s number when playing together, even though Boy Wonder is winning more trophies. Woods has posted the lower score in four of the five rounds they have played together in the playoffs. “I enjoy playing with Rory,” he said. “He’s a great kid. Over the years, there are certain pairings for me that I’ve enjoyed, and Rory is one of them.”