Other than Woods, leaders in FedExCup face uphill climb
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
ATLANTA -- Remember those immortal words of Jim Nabor's character, Gomer Pyle, on the iconic "Andy Griffith Show?"
"Sur-prise, sur-prise, sur-prise," he'd say with that slack-jawed, toothy grim and exaggerated Southern drawl.
Of course, unlike Pyle, we always saw it coming -- just as we did Friday during the second round of THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola as Tiger Woods climbed to the top of the leaderboard.
Shezam.
Woods, who ranks No. 1 in the FedExCup race, now leads sixth-seeded Padraig Harrington and Sean O'Hair, who's No. 7, by one stroke at East Lake. Both need a win -- and Woods to finish third or worse -- to overtake the 2007 FedExCup champion.
No one else among the fortunate five -- the players who can win the $10 million bonus and gleaming silver Tiffany trophy with a victory at East Lake -- is closer to Woods than five strokes. Here's a look at how they're all playing at the midway point of THE TOUR Championship.
TIGER WOODS: Even though he leads at 5 under, the game's No. 1 player missed a golden opportunity to put some distance between himself and the rest of the FedExCup hopefuls over the last four holes on Friday.
First, he missed a 5-footer for eagle at the 15th and another from the same distance for birdie at No. 16. Then Woods left his chip from beside the grandstands at No. 18 in the rough and closed with a bogey.
But Woods knows East Lake better than anyone, even though the Bermuda greens installed after he won his second TOUR Championship in 2007 are still a tad confounding. Not to mention, he has shot in the 60s in 20 of the 26 rounds he's played at East Lake. His last over-par score was in the fourth round of the 2004 event.
STEVE STRICKER: Mr. September is struggling as the month -- and the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup -- come to an end.
He won the Deutsche Bank Championship and tied for second at The Barclays but Stricker had a letdown at the BMW Championship when he closed with a 77 and tied for 53rd. The off week doesn't appear to have been much help, either, as Stricker finds himself 2 over and tied for 21st at the midway point of THE TOUR Championship.
If Stricker is to win the FedExCup, he needs to go low Saturday and hope that Woods and Co. get stuck in overdrive. Of course, Stricker does have a TOUR-leading 29 rounds in the 60s in the three years of the Playoffs but he's never shot lower than 67 at East Lake.
In fact, his last sub-par round on Bobby Jones' home course came in the final round in 2007 when Stricker tied for 17th. He'll need to be more consistent than he was on Friday when he hit just six fairways ad seven greens in regulation to buck that trend.
JIM FURYK: The 2003 U.S. Open champion is looking for his first victory in more than two years. Furyk came in playing well, too, finishing 15th or better in the three preceding Playoffs events.
One of those was a tie for second at the BMW Championship as Furyk closed with a 66 at Cog Hill. His second runner-up finish of the season -- both coming at the hands of Woods -- moved him 15 rungs up the FedExCup ladder to third where he could win the FedExCup by breaking his victory drought.
Furyk has a solid record at East Lake with three top-10s, including a solo second in 2006 and tie for sixth last year. He's giving himself opportunities this week, too -- ranking tied for third in greens hit and 13th in proximity to the pin -- but he needs to convert more of them to catch Woods and the rest.
ZACH JOHNSON: A two-time winner in 2009 by mid-May, Johnson appeared to get back on track with his solo fifth at the BMW Championship -- his first top-10 of the Playoffs and eighth of the season.
Johnson finds himself tied with Stricker for 21st after matching his rounds of 70 and 72 -- spotting the world No. 1 seven shots with two rounds on the horizon. But he knows he can go low at East Lake after a third-round 60 in 2007 when he tied for second.
Johnson only made one birdie on Friday, though, and he's needed 30 putts each of the first two rounds. As expected the steady man from Iowa is hitting fairways (tied for second) and most of his greens but he needs his putter to respond if he is to have a chance to win.
HEATH SLOCUM: Only two players shot lower than the Playoffs' ultimate wild card did in that first-round 73 so Slocum had considerable ground to make up on Friday.
The Barclays champ did, too -- but his nine-spot jump could have been so much better. And Slocum knows all about making a move after climbing from 124th to third in the FedExCup standings with his win at Liberty National.
Slocum was on fire in the early going Friday, making birdie on three of his first six holes and five total against just one bogey to turn in 31. When he polished it off with an 8-footer for birdie at the ninth hole, Slocum had moved to 1 under for the tournament.
Unfortunately for the adopted Atlantan, though, Slocum could not maintain that momentum. He made two bogeys coming home and had to settle for a 68 that left him in a tie for 17th -- six strokes behind Woods. He needs to finish a good round off to ease back into contention.
Shop your favorite brand name golf equipment and accessories at SHOP.PGATOUR.COM
FAN ZONE
PGATOUR.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network