If Stricker's Mr. September, what does that make Tiger Woods?

NORTON, Mass. -- It's fun to peg Steve Stricker as "Mr. September." It's a cool, sports-specific nickname, it sounds like a straight-to-cable movie starring Tom Selleck, and you can certainly argue that it's appropriate.

After all, Stricker's been a force since the creation of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, with two wins and eight top 10s in his 13 starts. He comes into this week's event, the Deutsche Bank Championship, as the defending champion.

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Should he repeat, he'll become the man to beat as we head into the final two Playoffs events.

"It's kind of cute," Stricker said Thursday about the nickname. "You know, it's nice to be recognized for good play. ... I've been fortunate enough to play well throughout the Playoffs since they've started.

"It's been a good run."

But let's be realistic. The real Mr. September is the same guy who has been Mr. Whenever He Starts His Season To Whenever He Finishes It.

In eight Playoffs starts, Tiger Woods has three wins, six top 10s and two of the first three FedExCup titles. And not to denigrate Vijay Singh's accomplishments in 2008, but who knows how different that outcome would have been were Tiger not sidelined while recovering from knee surgery. After all, just like the two years he won, he was ranked first in FedExCup points going into the Playoffs that year, too.

And about the two Playoffs starts in which Tiger did not finish in the top 10? He tied for 11th here last year and tied for 12th last week at The Barclays. In essence, those were his bad weeks.

Of course, 2010 has not produced the usual results for Woods. He's had more than his share of honest-to-goodness bad weeks. He faces the possibility of being shut out from the win column for the first time in his pro career. Each week, his status as the world's top-ranked golfer seems at risk.

And he faces the challenge of having to continue to play well enough to advance to the next round.

He was outside the bubble last week but did what he needed to do to advance. Now he's inside the bubble -- but just barely -- at No. 65 this week and still there are no guarantees about his playing schedule, no assurances that we'll see him the rest of the TOUR season. Only the top 70 will go on to the BMW Championship next week, and Woods could easily drop below the cut line with a poor performance.

"It's been," Woods said Thursday, "a different year."

Indeed, this is new territory for Woods, at least in terms of his professional golf career. This is a player with 71 TOUR wins, including 14 majors. This is the world's top golfer. This is a guy who is not used to having to play his way into a tournament like some Monday qualifier.

But when you don't take care of business, this is what happens in the Playoffs. Tiger hasn't taken care of his business -- the business of winning -- this year.

Asked to recall the last time he wanted to play in an event but was not eligible, Woods had no clue. "Do your research," he said. "I don't know."

But with the 2010 calendar officially flipping to September this week, maybe this is the week that Woods ends his winless drought, now coming up to a full year since his eight-stroke victory at Cog Hill last year.

Woods seemed to turn a corner at The Barclays. His started off shooting a 6-under 65 to tie for the first-round lead. A couple of mediocre scores cost him a shot to win, but then he produced a 67 -- his lowest final round this year and his second lowest round on the weekend -- to end on a high note.

Just as important as the scores themselves was his play off the tee. He used the driver just six times all week -- two on Ridgewood's drivable par-4 -- and led the field in driving accuracy at 78.5 percent.

In fact, he used the driver so infrequently that he took out the driver more often than usual in Thursday's pro-am round just to get some practice in. If the rains come as expected, TPC Boston will be a soft course that will require liberal use of the driver. Woods wants to be prepared.

And he wants to be in a good frame of mind. His confidence level seems to be at its highest of the year, and with the next three events all on courses in which he's won before, Woods is in good position to continue his run of high-level September production.

"Mentally, I'm hitting the ball better; hence, I have more confidence," he said. "I'm driving the ball much straighter, hitting the ball a little bit farther, especially with my irons.

"Those are all positive signs."

It's weird to see Tiger ranked 65th in the FedExCup points standings. It's not weird to see Stricker ranked second.

Stricker said one of the reasons he plays well this time of year is that he carries a lot of confidence going into the Playoffs. He also feels good about playing on courses and in parts of the country -- specifically the two Northeast events, and the one in the Midwest -- that he's had prior success.

"And really, I feel really good that the end (of the season) is near," Stricker said. "That's really the bottom line."

The end of the season is even closer for Tiger Woods this week if he doesn't play well. But if he's indeed the real Mr. September, we should expect a lot of fireworks from him this month.