Tiger controls FedExCup destiny at East Lake
On Thursday, Woods and Rory McIlroy will be paired together at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta in the TOUR Championship, the last of four events in the PGA Tour’s sixth annual FedExCup playoffs. McIlroy, who has won the last two tournaments, ranks first in overall points, followed by Woods.
It will be the third event in the playoffs they have been paired together and the fifth time overall this year. They tee off in the final twosome at 1:55 p.m. ET.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Woods said. “We’ve got some great weather ahead of us. So it will be nice to go out there and play a golf course I really like and I’ve enjoyed over the years. It’s going to be 30 of the hottest players we have this year, so it’s going to be a great test.”
In addition to playing for an $8 million purse this week, anyone in the 30-player field can claim the $10 million top prize and the FedExCup title. However, if any of the top five players on the points list – McIlroy, Woods, Nick Watney, Phil Mickelson and Brandt Snedeker — prevail, they control their own destiny and will automatically clinch the $10 million check.
That said, Tiger doesn’t have to win outright to capture the huge payoff. Depending what McIlroy does, he has a good chance to win with a top-three finish and a mathematical opportunity by placing sixth.
Woods won the FedExCup title in 2007 and 2009.
“I’ve done it twice, and hopefully I can do it again,” he said.
Tiger comes into the big tournament in good form, having finished 11th or higher in five of his last six starts, including a third-place showing at the Deutsche Bank Championship and a tie for fourth at the BMW Championship. What would winning the TOUR Championship mean to him?
“It really would top it off,” Woods said of his year, which includes three PGA Tour victories.
Woods also addressed comments made earlier this week by Greg Norman, who suggested that McIlroy has Woods’ number and that his time has passed.
“It’s got to be the hair,” Woods cracked Wednesday, referring to McIlroy’s curly locks.
McIlroy isn’t sure what motivated Norman to make those comments.
“How can I intimidate Tiger Woods?” he said. “I mean, the guy’s got 70-whatever [74] PGA Tour wins, 14 majors. He’s been the biggest thing ever in our sport. I mean, how could some little 23-year-old from Northern Ireland with a few wins come up and intimidate him? It’s just not possible. I don’t know where [Norman] got that from, but it’s not true.”
The 36-year-old Woods said golf is not like football, where a crazed linebacker is looking to blast you.
“No one is the size of Ray Lewis who is going to hit me coming over the middle, so this is a different kind of sport,” Woods said. “We go out there and play our own game and see where it falls at the end of the day. Here, no one is affecting any shots.”
This weekend in Atlanta marks Woods’ 13th appearance in the TOUR Championship, although he hasn’t competed since 2009. He has finished first or second six times, including wins in 1999 and 2007. Tiger has shot in the 60s in 31 of 48 rounds.
East Lake, the oldest course in Atlanta and former home to the great Bobby Jones, is hosting the TOUR Championship for the ninth straight year. It plays to a par-70 and can be stretched to 7,319 yards from the back tees.
The course was originally designed by Tom Bendelow in 1904 and redesigned by Donald Ross in 1914, George Cobb in 1959 and Rees Jones in 1994 and 2008. It features 72 bunkers and three water hazards.
Putting has been the key to victory. In three of the last four years, the player who has posted the lowest putting average for the week has gone on to win. The lone exception was Jim Furyk in 2010.
East Lake’s signature hole is the 235-yard, uphill par-3 18th, one of only two par-3 finishing holes on the PGA Tour. The other is the 18th at The Old White TPC, home of The Greenbrier Classic in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.
Last year, the 18th hole played to an average score of 3.05. However, during the last 11 years, the average score is 3.164, making it the fourth toughest on the course.
