THE TOUR Championship, Round 4
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By PGATOUR.COM Staff
TIGER CAPTURES FEDEXCUP (6 p.m.): In this case, second-place was hardly disappointing. Tiger Woods just captured the FedExCup by finishing second at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, where he shot a final-round 70 to finish three shots back of Phil Mickelson.
Ironically, it was, at least in part, Mickelson who helped pave the way for Woods to win the FedExCup. Kenny Perry, Steve Stricker and even Sean O'Hair all had their chances to win the FedExCup on Sunday, but Mickelson, and ultimately Woods, took care of that.
Mickelson won the battle, but Woods won the war. Woods finishes the year with more victories -- six -- than anyone else and ultimately the biggest prize in golf.
For Woods, it's also the second FedExCup trophy of his career. And though he won't be happy about not winning the tournament, he will be happy about what he's consistently called a very consistent season -- just two non top-10 finishes in stroke-play events. Throw in the fact that it's his first season back after major knee surgery. In the end, no one was better than Woods all year and Sunday was the final point on that matter. -- Brian Wacker
MICKELSON WINS (5:42 p.m.): There's probably no one better with a wedge in his hand than Phil Mickelson, and he just proved it again, zipping a little pitch shot from short of the 18th green to kick-in distance for a par to win THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.
For Mickelson, who shot a final-round 65, the victory is two-fold. It's his first win since the World Golf Championships-CA Championship at Doral and third of what's been a difficult season off the golf course. It's also a testament to the state of his game, which appears to be back in form. There are likely no more official PGA TOUR events for Mickelson this year, but this will give him some positive mometum heading to The Presidents Cup and the offseason. And with Mickelson and Tiger Woods likely finishing 1-2, an offseason to debate what could shape up to be an even better season next year. -- Brian Wacker
Below is a look at Mickelson's scorecard from today:
NOT ENOUGH (5:35 p.m.): With three birdies in his last five holes, Padraig Harrington has moved into the FedExCup picture. But it might be too little, too late.
Harrington, the sixth seed, is currently in solo third at 5 under, three shots behind Phil Mickelson.
For Harrington to win the FedExCup, he needs to overtake Mickelson and win the tournament. And he must hope that Tiger Woods doesn't finish in solo third place, or that Steve Stricker wins.
Harrington has Woods and Stricker where he needs them right now. But he needs another birdie or two down the stretch and hope that Mickelson and second-place Sean O'Hair come back to the pack. -- Mike McAllister
TYPICAL TIGER (5:25 p.m.): Tiger Woods just rolled in a birdie putt of 34 feet, 5 inches ... and the FedExCup likely just came with it.
The birdie at the par-4 16th moved Woods to 6 under and in a tie for second with Sean O'Hair, three shots behind Phil Mickelson.
Woods now projects to end with 3,750 points, 830 points ahead of Mickelson in the FedExCup points standings. -- Mike McAllister
FINALLY, A BIRDIE (5:15 p.m.): In posting his first birdie of the day, Tiger Woods may have just closed out the remote chance of Phil Mickelson winning the FedExCup,
Woods just birdied the par-5 15th to move into a tie for third with Padraig Harrington, three shots behind Mickelson.
Should Mickelson go on to win the tournament, he needs Woods to finish ninth or worse. -- Mike McAllister
BOGEY-FREE DAY (5 p.m.): No. 3 seed Jim Furyk has just completed a nice final-round 67, going a bogey-free 4 under over the last 11 holes.
Furyk is the third member of the Big Five to complete his round today ... and the third member to be eliminated from FedExCup title contention. Furyk currently is tied for eighth at 3 under.
No. 4 seed Zach Johnson also shot 67 on Sunday to finish at 2 over for the tournament. No. 5 seed Heath Slocum finished with a 72 and is 4 over for the week.
Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker, the top two seeds, are still in contention to win the FedExCup. Woods is currently the projected winner. -- Mike McAllister
PHIL THE PROPHET (4:52 P.M.): So far, Phil Mickelson is looking somewhat prophetic. When asked Saturday about what it might take to win THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, he had this to say:
"I think this is a tough golf course. I don't think that you've got to go out and shoot 7-under par. Maybe I do. Maybe whoever is leading does that. But I feel like I can shoot 3-, 4-, 5-under par, and I think there's a good chance that that might be enough."
Mickelson, who started the final round four strokes behind Kenny Perry, now owns a two-shot advantage through 14 holes. And guess what? He's 4 under after making four birdies on the front nine. -- Helen Ross
NOT OUT OF IT YET (4:43 p.m.): Can Steve Stricker win the FedExCup if he finishes third? Yes. A solo third place for Stricker and a two-way tie for fourth by Tiger Woods would give Stricker the FedExCup title. With Woods bogeying the par-4 13th to drop into a tie for fourth, Stricker is now the projected winner. -- Mike McAllister
TIGER BACK ON TOP (4:30 p.m.): The topsy-turvey day continues at East Lake with Tiger Woods now back atop the projected FedExCup standings. If the tournament ended right now, Woods would edge out Steve Stricker by 250 points. Woods can thank Phil Mickelson, who has a two-shot lead, for that.
Of course, the tournament isn't over yet and there are still a lot of possibilities with Woods only through 12 holes. -- Brian Wacker
PHIL'S FRONT NINE (4:15 p.m.): Phil Mickelson's 4-under 31 on the front side ties for the lowest front nine produced this week. Stewart Cink, Padraig Harrington, Sean O'Hair and Scott Verplank recorded 31s in the first round; Heath Slocum had a 31 in the second round; and Kenny Perry had a 31 in the third round en route to shooting 64. Tiger Woods holds the tournament record with a 7-under 28 on the front nine in the second round at East Lake in 2007. -- Mike McAllister
PERRY'S STRUGGLES (4:05 p.m.): Kenny Perry hasn't had much luck finding greens in regulation on East Lake's front nine. He has missed seven consecutive greens as he begins his back nine, and his two-shot lead after 54 holes has disappeared. He now trails Phil Mickelson by two shots.
For the week, Perry hit less than 50 percent of the greens on the front side (17 of 36).
But he's fared considerably better on the back nine, having hit 20 of 27 greens through the first three rounds. At one point during the second round, Perry hit eight consecutive greens on the back nine.
He'll need to start finding some greens if he wants to move back up the leaderboard. -- Mike McAllister
THE TOP SIX (4 p.m.): Only the top six seeds entered this week with a shot at winning the FedExCup with a second-place finish. Of those six, three -- Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker and Padraig Harrington -- currently stand among the top eight on the leaderboard.
If Tiger finishes second, he would win as long as Stricker doesn't win THE TOUR Championship. If Stricker finishes solo second, he would win as long as Tiger finishes third or worse. The Irishman's chances are much more remote.
Stricker just made the turn at 4 under and solo sixth. Woods is in a three-way tie for third at 5 under, two strokes behind co-leaders Phil Mickelson and Kenny Perry. -- Helen Ross
ON A ROLL (3:45 p.m.): Phil Mickelson just matched the lowest front-nine total of the week here at East Lake, where he made the turn in 31 a few minutes ago with birdies on Nos. 8 and 9. That gives him a two-shot lead after starting the day four back of Kenny Perry. Now rewind to Thursday and that quadruple-bogey 8 Mickelson made on No. 14 and imagine where he would be, even if he'd made just a bogey there.
Over the last 27 holes, no one has been better than Mickelson. He has nine birdies and just one bogey. Today, he took just 11 putts on his first nine holes and it's not like he missed a lot of greens with 6 of 9 in regulation. And over those last 27 holes, Mickelson has 16 one-putts.
As noted earlier, it's pretty much impossible for Mickelson to win the FedExCup, but he could have a direct affect on who does win it. -- Brian Wacker
TWEET OF THE DAY (3:32 p.m.) "#kennyperry has missed SIX consecutive greens. Still tied for lead." -- Colleague and friend, USA Today golf writer Steve DiMeglio (sdimegUSATgolf ).
That's not only an indictment of Perry's play, but it speaks volumes about how difficult East Lake is playing. Say what you want about the FedExCup system, but this course, combined with what's shaping up to be a wild final round with any one of four players legitimately able to win the FedExCup, is turning this into what could be a memorable finish. -- Brian Wacker
CHANGE AT THE TOP (3:25 p.m.): For the first time today, Tiger Woods' name is not at the top of the projected FedExCup leaderboard.
Thanks to a Steve Marino birdie at the ninth hole, there is now a three-way tie for third involving Woods (and Sean O'Hair).
Kenny Perry, meanwhile, still has a share of the lead (with Phil Mickelson).
Should Perry win, he would have 3,300 FedExCup points. Woods is currently projected to have 3,267. -- Mike McAllister
TOUGH TRACK (3:15 p.m.): With the leaders halfway through their front nines, it's seems obvious that East Lake will not yield many low scores in the final round. A quick check of the 30-man field shows that just seven players currently have rounds that are below par. In 1998, the first year that East Lake hosted THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, it yielded just eight final rounds below 70. Since then, it has not yielded fewer than 12 in a final round. -- Mike McAllister
MICKELSON'S IMPACT (3:10 p.m.): Phil Mickelson probably can't win the FedExCup, but he's looking like he's going to have a lot to say about who does.
If Perry wins THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, Mickelson could spoil Tiger Woods' chances to win the FedExCup for the second time by staying up there in sole possession of second. But if Mickelson can overtake Perry and win at East Lake, he'll end the Kentuckian's chances of winning the FedExCup.
Mickelson, who came to East Lake seeded 14th, would have to win THE TOUR Championship and have Woods finish ninth or worse to have a chance to take home the $10 million bonus. He is currently projected at seventh. -- Helen Ross
BACK-NINE BREAKDOWN (3 p.m.): Which player among the leaders has been the most productive on the back nine at East Lake in the first three rounds? Here's a look at the back-nine scoring averages of the top eight players on the leaderboard: -- Mike McAllister
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TIGHT AT THE TOP (2:45 p.m.): So much for Kenny Perry pulling away here at East Lake. He just made his second bogey in his last three holes and now leads Phil Mickelson by a single stroke. Tiger Woods, meanwhile, remains 1 over on his round and is a tie for third two strokes back.
With the wind blowing, the greens firm and several difficult pin positions, it's no wonder scoring is higher today than any other this week. No one is more than 2 under on his round today and most of the field is over par. East Lake is playing more than 1.5 strokes over par so far and we could be on our way to the highest winning total since, well, last year, when Camilo Villegas won at 7 under after defeating Sergio Garcia in a playoff. -- Brian Wacker
| Scoring averages at East Lake this week | ||||||||||||
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NO. 6 A TOUGH TEST (2:30 p.m.): What a difference a day makes. Yesterday, the par-3 sixth hole played as the third-easiest on the golf course. A big part of that was the tee box being up and the hole measuring just 153 yards. Today, the tee is back with the hole playing 225 yards and as the most difficult on the course -- even if Ernie Els nearly just aced it with a 4-iron.
With the wind blowing into the players' faces, a smallish target and water everywhere you look, it's like playing the 17th at TPC Sawgrass with a 3- or 4-iron. Six balls have already found the water and there had been just one birdie there all day prior to Els' -- compared to 11 pars, six bogeys and four double bogeys. The average proximity to the hole is 31 feet, 1 inch and the closest shot to the pin prior to Els' was by Zach Johnson at 13 feet, 5 inches.
Those are all staggering numbers for a hole that yielded just one bogey all of yesterday. -- Brian Wacker
KENNY DO IT? (2:20 p.m.): Kenny Perry struggled with the hot weather in the first two rounds. On Saturday, with cloud cover and lower temperatures, Perry zoomed to the top of the leaderboard with a 6-under 64. Today's round is being played under mostly sunny skies with just a slight cloud cover. But fortunately for Perry, the temperatures shouldn't be as stifling.
"Thank goodness today we don't have as much humidity in the air," Perry said during a pre-round interview with the PGA TOUR Network.
Perry, the oldest player in the field at age 49, was dehydrated after Thursday's round and has been sweating profusely all three days. But he fought through it to take a two-shot lead through 54 holes.
"I've been sweating so much this week," Perry said. "I don't know if my age is showing a little bit or what."
To hear more of Perry's pre-round interview, click here 
. -- Mike McAllister
PERRY PULLING AWAY (2:05 p.m.): Two very interesting stories are developing at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca Cola.
One, Kenny Perry is starting to distance himself from the field. He's only 1 under through two holes today, but has already stretched his lead to four strokes over Tiger Woods with Woods having bogeyed the first hole. Phil Mickelson, meanwhile, is also 1 under today, bringing him to 5 under for the week.
Two, Woods' grip on the FedExCup trophy could be slipping away. That's because if Perry wins and Woods finishes in a three-way tie for third (or worse), Perry would win the FedExCup. And that's certainly possible with Steve Marino and Sean O'Hair just a stroke back from Woods (click here for all the scenarios).
There's certainly a lot of golf left, but all of a sudden a player that was on no one's radar in Perry -- he has one finish in the the 40 since winning in Hartford -- could win the FedExCup. Stay tuned. -- Brian Wacker
TIGER TEES OFF (1:45 p.m.): Tiger Woods just teed off here at East Lake, getting off to an inauspicious start by pulling his 3-wood tee shot badly to the left (click here to follow Woods live with Shot Tracker).
Now let's see how he recovers. Woods leads the PGA TOUR in final-round scoring average by a whopping stroke-and-a-half and has a stellar record here in this tournament, where he's failed to break 70 just three times in 11 previous final rounds.
The lowest final-round score for Woods in the TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola was a 66 when he won here two years ago. His highest score was a 74 in 2003 when he finished 26th -- also his worst-ever finish in the event. -- Brian Wacker
ROUTE 60-SOMETHING (1:30 p.m.): Tiger Woods is the only player in the field this week who has finished his first three rounds in the 60s. Last year, the only player with four rounds in the 60s at East Lake was Phil Mickelson, who finished tied for third.
Since the first TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola in 1987, eight winners have posted all four rounds in the 60s. -- Mike McAllister
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HEADING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS (1:20 p.m.): John Senden and Marc Leishman were two of the last players to make it to THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. Senden was the last man in at No. 30 in the standings, only after Brandt Snedeker triple-bogeyed the final hole at the BMW Championship to fall out of the top 30. Leishman, meanwhile, got here when his eagle on the last hole at the Deutsche Bank Championship got him to Chicago and ultimately to Atlanta.
Today, the two are headed in opposite directions. Senden, coming off a final-round 77 at the BMW Championship, birdied his first hole here in the final round and is now in a tie for seventh at 2 under for the week. Leishman, on the other hand, has failed to break 70 all week and is 5 over today through his first seven holes, dropping him to 9 over for the tournament and into second-to-last. -- Brian Wacker
BOMB'S AWAY (1:10 p.m.): Brian Gay just drained a birdie putt of 57 feet, 10 inches at the par-4 eighth hole. That's the second longest putt of the week; Steve Stricker rolled in a 76-foot, 5-inch on the fifth hole during Saturday's third round.
It's no surprise that Gay can find the bottom of the cup from long distance. He ranks seventh on the PGA TOUR this season in average distance of putts made.
By the way, tournament leader Kenny Perry has made three of the 14 longest putts this week -- each longer than 31 feet. -- Mike McAllister
STAT OF THE DAY (1:05 p.m.): Tiger Woods has proven to be arguably the greatest front-runner in the history of the game. Today, though, he enters the final round trailing leader Kenny Perry by two shots. Will that matter? Maybe not.
Going into the final round, no one has been as good as Woods in terms of coming from behind -- he's improved his finishing position 92.86 percent of the time. Well, if he improves his position today, he'll win the tournament since he's alone in second. -- Brian Wacker
PERRY ON POINT (12:50 p.m.): One of the main reasons Kenny Perry is in the position he is atop the leaderboard here in the final round of THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola is because he got back to driving the ball straight the last two rounds and, as a result, hit more greens in regulation.
Perry's always been one of the best drivers of the ball on TOUR -- in terms of length and accuracy -- and he'd gotten away from that Thursday, hitting just three fairways. But during the last two-plus rounds, hitting it straight has helped him put together a streak of 42 holes where he has either achieved a green in regulation or saved par when he missed the green. And during the third round, he only needed 20 putts per green in regulation. That was three strokes better than the second round (see below for more).
Now if Tiger Woods could do Perry a favor and put up the kind of numbers Perry did in the first round ... -- Brian Wacker
| Kenny Perry through three rounds | ||||||||||||||||||||
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FOOTBALL ON THE BRAIN (12:30 p.m.): The outcome wasn't what he wanted, but at least Phil Mickelson got to see his alma mater, Arizona State, play at Georgia on Saturday night. The Bulldogs handed the Sun Devils their first loss of the season, 20-17, thanks to a last-second field goal between the hedges in Athens.
That got us to wondering which other players came away with bragging rights on Saturday.
Zach Johnson, a Drake grad but avid Iowa fan, can boast of the biggest upset as the Hawkeyes beat No. 5 Penn State 21-10. There were two other mild shake-ups as Stewart Cink's Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets knocked off No. 22 North Carolina, 24-7 and Tiger Woods' Stanford Cardinal upended No. 24 Washington by a 34-14 margin.
The other winners were Brian Gay (Florida, 41-7 over Kentucky), Dustin Johnson (Coastal Carolina, 28-7 over N.C. AT&T), Scott Verplank and Hunter Mahan (Oklahoma State, 56-6 over Grambling State), Mike Weir (BYU, 42-23 over Colorado State), Jason Dufner (Auburn, 54-30 over Ball State), Jim Furyk (Arizona, 37-32 over Oregon State) and David Toms (LSU, 30-26 over Mississippi State).
Those who went home empty were Luke Donald (Northwestern, lost to Minnesota 35-34), Lucas Glover (Clemson, lost to No. 15 TCU 14-10), Nick Watney (Fresno State, lost to No. 14 Cincinnati 28-20), Steve Stricker (Illinois, lost to No. 13 Ohio State 30-0) and Kenny Perry (Western Kentucky, lost to Navy, 38-22).
The loss was Western Kentucky's fourth straight. But one of the most famous Hilltopper alums, Kenny Perry could have something really big to celebrate Sunday at East Lake. He leads THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola by two strokes heading into the final round with the title -- and the FedExCup -- at stake. -- Helen Ross
SCENARIOS IF THERE IS A TIE (12:20 p.m.): It's unlikely that a tie in FedExCup points will exist after regulation play ends Sunday afternoon. Nevertheless, the possibility remains for now -- and if it happens, a sudden-death playoff will take place to determine the FedExCup winner.
Here are some of the scenarios that could produce a points tie:
• If Steve Stricker finishes in a two-way tie for second and Tiger Woods finishes solo third, each player would have 3,500 points. This might be the most likely possibility, since Woods and Stricker are among the top eight players on the leaderboard going into the final round. But No. 9 seed Kenny Perry or another player seeded 10th or higher (like Phil Mickelson, Steve Marino or Ernie Els) would need to win. If Sean O'Hair or Padraig Harrington wins, either of those players would claim the FedExCup with a higher points total.
• If Jim Furyk finishes solo second and Woods finishes third, each would have 3,500 points. Furyk, however, is tied for 15th to start the day and would need to go really low to move past so many players on the leaderboard. Again, Perry or a higher seed would need to win.
• If Furyk finishes in a two-way tie for second, Stricker finishes solo third and Woods finishes solo fourth, each player would have 3,250 points. But a player seeded 10th or higher would need to win; in other words, Perry would win the FedExCup should he win the tournament. But if Mickelson, Marino or Els wins the tournament, this scenario might be a possibility.
• If Perry wins and Zach Johnson finishes solo second, they would each have 3,300 points. But since Johnson starts the day at 5 over, 11 shots out of second place, he would need a monster round and a total collapse by everybody but Perry. That's not going to happen.
If you're watching the FedExCup points projections today, keep an eye on the total points. As long as the winner is projected to have more than 3,500 points, then a tie is not possible. Only at the 3,500-point level will a tie scenario first come into play. -- Mike McAllister
PERRY, WOODS A RARE PAIRING (12:10 p.m.): Tournament leader Kenny Perry will be paired with Tiger Woods in the final twosome of the day at 1:45 p.m. ET. Perry said he enjoys being paired with Woods, even issuing a playful challenge to the world's No. 1 player.
"He'd better bring his 'A' game is all I've got to say," Perry said with a laugh.
Perry is hoping he can produce his 'A' game too. It hasn't happened very often in his surprisingly few pairings with Woods.
Sunday's twosome will be just the fifth time that Perry and Woods have been paired at a PGA TOUR event, and just the third time in the last seven years. Woods has been paired with Chris Perry and Craig Parry nearly as often.
On the previous four times he's played with Woods, Kenny Perry has failed to produce a score better than 73, and his stroke average is 75. Meanwhile, Woods' stroke average is 68.75, more than six shots better.
The last two times Perry and Woods have been paired together have come in the final round -- and both times Woods went on to win the tournament.
Woods will start the final round two shots back and is glad to be paired with the tournament leader.
"You always enjoy being in the last group because then you can understand what the guy is doing," Woods said. -- Mike McAllister
Here's a look at the four previous Woods-Perry pairings.
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WEATHER UPDATE (12 p.m.): Let's give credit where it's due. The oft-maligned weathermen were right on Saturday.
Tee times for the third round of THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola were moved up to escape what was expected to be heavy downpours in the afternoon -- and turns out, play was completed Saturday about an hour before the heavens opened up.
The rain at East Lake came in a series of strong bursts and a total of 2 inches fell in about 10 hours. However, the skies have cleared for Sunday's final 18 holes, which began as scheduled. The SubAir system at East Lake continued to work to perfection and players are playing the ball down for the last round. -- Helen Ross
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