SAN FRANCISCO – After a final round 67 that finally saw him make a few putts at the PGA Championship, Tiger Woods tried to look at the positives of a healthy week in cool San Francisco and the days before, when he is preparing for the FedEx Cup playoffs and the US Open.
“I think what I came out with this week is that I felt competitive,” said Woods, who finished at 279, 1 under par, but good for the leaders.
“If I had made a few putts early on Friday, and the same thing with Saturday, I felt like I should have just been there with a chance today,” he said. “It did not happen, but I fought hard, and today was more indicative of how I could have played on Friday and Saturday if I had made a few putts early. ”
Putting was the biggest issue all week, and Woods managed to coax a few in on Sunday, needing just 25 for the round, his best of the week. That came after bad efforts on Friday and Saturday that essentially knocked him out of the tournament.
Woods’ switch this week to another Scotty Cameron putter was of great interest, but he did not oblige him to use it at his next tournament. “What makes the starting lineup, who knows?” He said.
He also reached within the top 10 in strokes won from the tee, hitting nine fairways, although he hit just 10 greens in regulation – his worst of the tournament and an area of his game that was below his normal standard.
Perhaps the most important thing is that Woods looked physically good, and showed no signs of distress that were evident at the Memorial three weeks ago, despite cool, almost cool temperatures at times.
“Overall, the body responds pretty well,” he said. “The best thing to do is to stay out of the rough and not have any of those shocking shots. If I could have done that I did the whole thing. week on Friday and made a few putts, then it might have been a different story. ”
Woods now has a potentially busy stretch to deal with the FedEx Cup playoffs difficult. It appears he will be playing for TPC Boston in two weeks for the Northern Trust, the first of three playoff events following the BMW Championship outside Chicago and then the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
After playing just two events and eight rounds since returning from the PGA Tour in June, Woods dropped from 28th in the FedEx Cup standings to 48th – where he was projected to be when he completed his round . The top 125 qualify for the first event, of which 70 make it to the BMW and only 30 to the Tour Championship.
Woods has some work to do to make it back to East Lake, where he had his excitement of the 80th PGA Tour two years ago. If he qualifies, that potentially means playing three straight weeks. He has not even played two consecutive weeks since the Hero Challenge / Presidents Cup in December – and even there, the Presidents Cup was a three-day event and he jumped over on Saturday.
“We once knew I was going to start playing again when I assigned myself to Memorial that this was going to be a heavy workload, and my training sessions, we pushed it pretty hard, and made sure I increased my strength and endurance, ” he said. “This week away it will be no different. We will push hard to make sure I can stay strong and have the stamina to keep going. ”
Woods notes that while his schedule is shaking, he will have time to get ready for the US Open at Winged Foot, which is September 17-20. But there is only one week between the Tour Championship and the second major championship of 2020.
.
