Woods cruises, but he still has work left at East Lake
By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM Managing Editor
LEMONT, Ill. -- The day before, Tiger Woods took all of the suspense out of who would win the BMW Championship. He set a course record and blitzed the field, thus giving himself a chance to take a nice, leisurely stroll around Cog Hill on Sunday without having to do much more than correctly mark his ball on every green and avoid replicating wayward drives like the one he unveiled at the par-5 ninth (not to worry -- he still made birdie).
But not even winning his sixth tournament of the season, an eight-shot win that goes down as one of his most dominating, can take the suspense out of what awaits him in two weeks at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.
Despite regaining the FedExCup points lead, Woods is not guaranteed anything at East Lake, other than the fact that if he wins there, he will claim the 2009 FedExCup trophy.
He's not the only one with that assurance. Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson and Heath Slocum also can claim the FedExCup title, this year's points reset giving that advantage to the five guys currently atop the list.
"No matter what kind of year you have, it really does pay to be in the top five to give yourself a chance," said Woods after wrapping up his fifth BMW Championship win with a matter-of-fact 3-under 68 on Sunday. "That's not to say that the other 25 spots, you can't win the golf tournament, but to win the FedExCup, if you're in the top five and you win the tournament, obviously you automatically get it.
"That certainly builds some excitement different than the last few years."
Indeed. In 2007, Woods went to East Lake in command of the inaugural FedExCup, although a handful of players still had an outside mathematical shot of winning (Woods ended up winning the event anyway). A year ago, Vijay Singh went to East Lake only needing to stand upright through 72 holes to secure the trophy and the $10 million bonus.
But the tweaks this year means Woods still has work left to do. Getting into the top five after the BMW certainly was a goal he set out to accomplish. That's why he decided to play each of the first three Playoffs events; in 2007, he skipped The Barclays (and of course, last year he missed the Playoffs completely while rehabilitating from knee surgery).
"The whole thing is to be in the top five to give yourself a chance," he said. "That's the important thing that I got from a lot of players; they were all trying to get into the top five because after they win THE TOUR Championship, it's over.
"... Now, it's basically a sprint. It's one tournament, a sprint, assuming one of the top five guys wins the tournament."
While several players have turned it on in the Playoffs this year -- Stricker has a win at the Deutsche Bank and a tie for second at the Barclays; Furyk has two top-10 finishes and a top 15; Padraig Harrington has three top-six finishes -- Woods looked extremely unbeatable the past two days at Cog Hill. His third-round 9-under 62 put this tournament away, as he took a seven-shot lead into Sunday and cruised from there while everybody else jockeyed for position in the FedExCup standings.
"When he's on, he's on," said Sean O'Hair, who has top0-10 finishes in the last two Playoffs events. "It's actually a little bit embarrassing. He's just so good that it makes us look like a whole 'nother league."
Of course, Woods looks unbeatable almost every time he tees off. But the consistently he has displayed this season is something a bit unexpected, especially when the year started with uncertainty after the lengthy layoff following his U.S. Open win at Torrey Pines last year.
"Any of you guys probably wouldn't have predicted I would have had a year like I did," Woods said, "to be as consistent as I have been this year, I'm very proud of that."
While he fell short in the majors this year, he knows THE TOUR Championship and another FedExCup title would be a great way to end his individual season; and he still has the Presidents Cup coming up next month.
Woods has played six of the last seven weeks, a much busier schedule than he's used to. He's won three times in that time, nearly won at Hazeltine, and was a birdie putt away from a playoff at Liberty National.
So for the immediate future, it's time to rest for a few days, right?
"I'm practicing all day, every day. Dawn till dusk," Woods said.
Then he smiled. The remaining 29 players advancing to THE TOUR Championship will be glad to know he was joking.
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