Tiger gets first look at Conway Farms Golf Club
The FedExCup Playoffs resume Thursday for the first time at Conway Farms Golf Club near Chicago. Seventy players comprise the field at the BMW Championship and remain in contention for the $10 million bonus awarded after next week’s TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, although the top five players on the points list at the end of this week control their own destiny.
Henrik Stenson is the current leader, holding a slim 14-point advantage over Tiger Woods. Adam Scott is third and trails by 134 points. This week’s winner receives 2,500 points.
The top 30 players on the points list after play on Sunday advance to East Lake. Points will be reset at the TOUR Championship, but if any player in the top five wins at East Lake, they will clinch the $10 million prize.
In the first two legs of the four-event FedExCup Playoffs, Tiger overcame back spasms to tie for second at The Barclays, then tied for 65th at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Players took last week off to prepare for the stretch run.
Woods received treatment on his back and worked with swing coach Sean Foley.
“It was nice to have that week of treatment, strengthening, so that was all good, practicing toward the end of the week,” he said.
Tiger loves the Chicago area and has a good track record, winning the PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club in 1999 and 2006 and five BMW Championships (formerly called the Western Open) at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club. He got his first look at Conway Farms on Wednesday in the BMW pro-am and shot a bogey-free, 3-under-par 68.
“Obviously, it’s very different compared to Cog Hill and Medinah, but it’s a nice track,” Woods said. “It’s a little confined in the sense that it’s going to be interesting to see how they’re going to get the gallery around here, especially front nine.”
Although Tiger doesn’t know the course well, neither do most of the other players. Woods dispatched caddie Joe LaCava to map the course earlier in the week, and the two spent extra time Wednesday comparing notes.
“We were discussing the weather forecast and how it’s going to change a little bit, and discussing different lines and different options,” Woods said. “We did a little bit of work today, more so than we normally do.”
Conway Farms was designed by Tom Fazio and opened for play in 1991. Located in Lake Forest, Ill., the 7,149-yard course has never hosted a PGA TOUR event before. However, the 1997 NCAA Championship and 1998 Junior Amateur were played at Conway Farms, along with several amateur events.
Built on farmland, several holes are bordered by trees, and others have a links-style feel and are flanked by fescue grass. All three par-5s are reachable, although the eighth hole measures 600 yards and winds around a lake. Depending on where tournament officials decide to place the tees, two short par-4s could be drivable: the 352-yard seventh and the 334-yard 15th.
“The scoring is going to be low,” Woods said.
Although temperatures have been in the 90s, the weather is expected to cool off later in the week.
“It will be interesting to see what happens Friday,” he said. “The ball is really traveling right now. If we get a different temperature, it’ll be a totally different golf course.”
Tiger begins first-round play Thursday at 11:53 a.m. ET/10:53 a.m. local time on the 10th tee with Stenson and Scott.
