Sunday 72 leaves Tiger short of FedExCup title
Never able to get untracked, Tiger Woods closed with a 2-over-par 72 Sunday in the final round of the TOUR Championship and FedExCup playoffs at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. He finished with a 72-hole score of 2-under 278 and tied for eighth, eight strokes behind winner Brandt Snedeker, who also earned $10 million for capturing the FedExCup title.
“I just didn’t have it this weekend,” said Woods, who finished third in the final FedExCup point standings and collected a $2 million bonus. “I wasn’t sharp.”
In 13 starts in the TOUR Championship, Woods has eight top-10 showings and two wins, in 1999 and 2007.
Paired with Robert Garrigus, Woods got off to a slow start with a bogey on the 424-yard, par-4 first hole, where he drove into the left rough, hit his second shot long and wound up missing an 11-foot par putt. He also bogeyed the 520-yard, par-4 fifth hole, again pulling his tee shot into the left rough. Tiger came up short of the green with his second shot and missed a five-foot putt.
Hitting into a stiff breeze at the 209-yard, par-3 sixth, Tiger hit a 5-iron that came up short in the water. After taking a drop, he knocked his third shot 15 feet from the cup and two-putted for a double bogey.
“It was gusty out there,” Woods said. “I roasted a 5-iron in there. Hit a low draw in there, and I had 188 to the front, and I didn’t even hit it 180. It didn’t go very far.”
Woods finally broke through with a birdie at the 600-yard, par-5 ninth, where he hit his third shot from 111 yards within 18 feet of the pin and sank the putt to make the turn in 3-over 38.
But Tiger dropped another stroke at the 469-yard, par-4 10th, where he drove into the right rough, hit his second shot long, chipped to five feet and failed to convert the putt. He regained a stroke at the 197-yard, par-3 11th, where he poured in a 24-foot birdie putt, then birdied the 525-yard, par-5 15th hole, just missing the green with his second shot and chipping to two feet.
At the difficult, 470-yard, par-4 17th, Woods hit his tee shot into the right fairway bunker, came up short of the green in two and was unable to save par with an 18-foot putt. But Tiger finished strong, hitting a beautiful 4-iron to 1 1/2 feet at the demanding, 232-yard, par-3 18th hole. He tapped in for a birdie.
For the second consecutive day, Tiger struggled off the tee. After hitting 43 percent of the fairways on Saturday, he found only 36 percent Sunday. Woods hit only nine of 18 greens in regulation, tying for 18th overall in the 30-player field, but he finished with 28 putts and tied for fourth in that category for the week.
“More than anything, I think my short game was really dialed in this week,” he said. “I chipped and putted really well. I need to hit the ball a little better than I hit it this weekend. Hit it great the first day, but after that it wasn’t very good.”
Next week, Tiger will compete in the Ryder Cup at Medinah Country Club, just outside Chicago. It marks the seventh time he has made the 12-member U.S. team, which will oppose Europe next Friday through Sunday.
“It’s a lot of fun because we get to know everyone on a different level,” Woods said. “You build relationships that you have for the rest of your life.”
