Tiger Woods is looming ominously after the second round of the Tour Championship held at Eastlake Golf Club in Atlanta. Woods and Justin Rose are tied for first place with seven under par following the opening 36 holes.
It is the first time in over three years that Woods has led the field in a PGA event. His back nine today included three birdies and a par in four successive holes as he sets his sights on his 80th Tour victory.
“There’s still a long way to go.. This is not an easy golf course, it’s a grinders golf course, you have to keep hanging in there and keep making pars. I did that today and shot something under par,” Woods said following his round.
The only real blemish in his round occurred on the 16th when his tee shot landed in the deep rough, left of the fairway. The lie given to him prevented him from having a go at the pin so he had to play away from the green and ended up with a double bogey.
“The rough is brutal and there are no good lies, you hit and hope,” Woods explained. “This course is strategic with lots and lots of patience required.”
Woods has endured a rough decade. Firstly, he was involved in a car accident not far from his home in late 2009, his life continued to spiral out of control when news of infidelity surfaced with several women which resulted in a marriage breakdown with his wife at the time Elin. He spent time in therapy in 2010 and then had to undergo four operations on his back.
Woods believes it’s a huge effort for him to have completed the season given the difficulties he has had to overcome with three operations on his back since 2015 and one a couple of years prior.
Tiger is gaining momentum after opening with a 62 at the BMW Championship and continued to play consistent golf to finish in a tie for sixth. He is now perched on top of the leaderboard in the FedEx Cup finale. Aside from his last two tournaments he also finished T-24 at TPC Boston, T-40 at the Northern Trust, 2nd in the PGA Championship and T-6 in The Open.
It appears once Tiger captures his first win, he will be very hard to stop in the 2019 Tour season.
For Tiger to win the FedEx Cup tournament he will need the following to occur:
Win the Tour Championship and..
- Bryson DeChambeau finish T-15 or worse
- Justin Rose finish in a three-way tie for 5th or worse
- Tony Finau finish T-3 or worse
- Dustin Johnson finish in a three-way tie for 2nd or worse
- Justin Thomas finish in a three-way tie for 2nd or worse
- Kegan Bradley finish T-2 or worse
