The Daily Wrap-up, Round 4: BMW Championship

LEMONT, Ill. (AP) -- Tiger Woods' only way out was a 3-iron through a 20-foot wide corridor of fans and 30-foot high canopy of trees. For his next shot, he had to hook a 9-iron around another big tree and try to bounce it up a ramp onto the green.

After all that, he wound up with another birdie.

Walking off the ninth green with his lead still at seven shots, Woods shrugged his shoulders and smiled as if nothing could go wrong.

Hardly anything did at the BMW Championship, where Woods captured his sixth title of the season and took the lead in the FedExCup standings.

All it took was one big week to end a month of frustration for the world's No. 1 player.

One day after his course-record 62 gave him a seven-shot lead, Woods made sure no one else had a chance Sunday at Cog Hill, where he closed with a 3-under 68 for an eight-shot victory over Jim Furyk and Marc Leishman.

It was his first victory since he lost a two-shot lead last month in the final round of the PGA Championship. His most recent chance at winning came at Liberty National two weeks ago, where he missed a 7-foot birdie putt on the last hole to get into a playoff.

"To play as well as I have of late and not get the Ws has been a little bit frustrating, no doubt, because I've been so close," he said. "It's just been a matter of making a couple of putts here and there, and I would have won the tournaments. And lo and behold, boom! I hit the ball just as well, just as consistent this week, and I made a few putts. And that's how it happens."

Woods finished at 19-under 265 to win for the fifth time at Cog Hill. It was his 10th career PGA TOUR victory by at least eight shots.

Not that Cog Hill was devoid of drama.

"It felt like we had a tournament within a tournament," Furyk said after his 66. "Tiger was seven ahead. He was kind of running away. It was kind of a tournament for second place."

It turned out to be much more.

FedExCup facts

With this win, Tiger Woods: • Earned 2,500 FedExCup points • Moved from second to first in FedExCup standings • Is 250 points ahead of Steve Stricker after the reset

As Woods cruised around Cog Hill in his familiar red shirt, a dozen players behind him were scrambling to move high enough in the FedExCup standings for a shot at the $10 million prize at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, or simply to be part of the 30-man finale at East Lake.

Furyk's runner-up finish moved him up 15 spots to No. 3, meaning he can win the FedExCup with a victory at THE TOUR Championship.

Leishman, a rookie from Australia who closed with a 69, only advanced to the third round of playoffs at Cog Hill by making an eagle putt on his final hole last week at the TPC Boston. Now he's headed to THE TOUR Championship for an outside shot at $10 million, and is assured of making his first trip to the Masters.

"It was an awesome day for me," he said.

Most compelling, however, was the battle for the 30th and final spot.

The heartbreaker belonged to Brandt Snedeker, who needed only a bogey on the 18th hole to get into THE TOUR Championship. After missing a 12-footer for par, he watched in shock as his 3-foot bogey putt caught the left lip of the cup. Snedeker was so stunned that he missed the next two putts from tap-in range and took triple bogey.

"I can't believe I did this," Snedeker said. "I just made a mess of it."

That allowed John Senden to capture the 30th spot by less than a half-point over Ian Poulter, and both tried to throw it away.

Senden had 90 yards to the par-5 15th and chunked his wedge so badly that it traveled only 50 yards. Two holes later, he hit a bunker shot over the green and into the water to make double bogey. Because of Snedeker's blunder, however, Senden is going to East Lake.

He finished 0.46 points ahead of Poulter, who hit his approach into the water on the 18th hole.

Far easier to compute was Woods winning.

He finished at 19-under 265 for his 71st career victory, leaving two short of Jack Nicklaus for second on the PGA TOUR's career list. Woods also tied Sam Snead with his sixth season of at least six victories.

"It's one of my best years," Woods said, alluding to his return from missing eight months with knee surgery.

Woods won for the first time since his aura was slightly tarnished at the PGA Championship, where he lost a lead in the final round for the first time since he was a 20-year-old rookie. Y.E. Yang rallied from two shots behind to beat him at Hazeltine, ending Woods' streak of never losing a major with at least a share of the lead.

No way he was about to lose this one -- not at Cog Hill, and not the way he was hitting shots and making putts.

Cog Hill became the fourth course where Woods has won at least five times. He has won seven times at Torrey Pines and Firestone, and six times at Bay Hill.

Now comes the hard part.

Woods' sixth victory likely sewed up another PGA TOUR Player of the Year award -- no one else has won more than three times this year. And while he has a 1,504-point lead over Steve Stricker, the points are reset for THE TOUR Championship.

As the No. 1 seed, Woods will have 2,500 points, with Stricker at 2,250. The rest of the top five are Furyk, Zach Johnson and Heath Slocum. All of them can win the FedExCup with a victory at East Lake. Everyone else will need some help.

Other top notables at the BMW Championship

Name Score Position Comment FedExCup points Sean O'Hair 10 under 4 With a 5-under 66 on Sunday, O'Hair finished solo fourth and moved to seventh in the FedExCup standings. 750 Zach Johnson 8 under 5 Johnson earned a coveted spot in the top five and now has a shot at winning the FedExCup at East Lake. 550 Sergio Garcia 6 under T6 The good news for Garcia? He picked up his second top-10 in four weeks. The bad news? He didn't make it to THE TOUR Championship. 475 Padraig Harrington 6 under T6 Harrington had another costly double bogey on his card in the final round, but he did earn his fifth straight top-10 finish. 475 Camilo Villegas 5 under T8 The defending champion fired a 5-under 66 in the final round to move up 22 spots and place inside the top 10. 412.5

Sunday's best

EASIEST HOLE TOUGHEST HOLE The par-5 15th hole was the easiest with a Sunday scoring average of 4.397. EAGLES: 6 BIRDIES: 33 PARS: 25 BOGEYS: 4 OTHERS: 0 The par-4 18th hole was the toughest with a Sunday scoring average of 4.456. EAGLES: 0 BIRDIES: 5 PARS: 36 BOGEYS: 22 OTHERS: 5

INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK
PGA TOUR Network correspondent Brian Katrek offers these observations from Sunday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146/SIRIUS 209 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.

No one knows exactly how many FedExCup points are associated with one shot on a leaderboard. But, on Sunday, projected points were changing seemingly with every swing of the club. In reality, this is the case every tournament of the year, but things are amplified in the final round of an event in the Playoffs.

Both Stewart Cink and Heath Slocum live in suburban Atlanta and will play a home game at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. However, they live well north of the course and Atlanta traffic will be a problem. No one else in the field will be faced with the 1 hour and 15 minute drive they will certainly have on the weekdays. I asked Heath if he would consider finding a place to stay closer to the course during tournament week, and he said no. Traffic is no reason not to sleep in your own bed.

This year the final round of the BMW Championship had a very similar feel to the final stage of q-school. Instead of playing for 25 spots with ties, this week the players were playing for 30 spots with virtually no chance of a tie. But the atmosphere was very much the same, and there was lots of pressure for those on the bubble.