Sept. 12 — With the New England Patriots’ football season about to kick off, Tiger Woods begins what may be his final 2010 PGA Tour round needing golf’s version of a touchdown and field goal to defend his BMW Championship title.
No slam dunk. The world’s still top-ranked player, who will tee off Sunday morning eight strokes behind leader Ryan Moore’s 8-under total, needs to lap much of the field at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club just to advance to the FedEx Cup finale in two weeks, let alone win this week’s tourney. To mix sports metaphors, neither goal is the slam dunk it used to be for the defending and two-time FedEx Cup champ who’s making drastic changes to his swing while trying to stay alive in golf’s version of playoff competition.
Woods keeps saying he’s making progress in learning the techniques swing guru Sean Foley has imparted to him.
“I’ve been building all week,” Woods told reporters following his third-round 3-under 68 Saturday. “Each week is getting better. I haven’t been going at it very long under this new system and I’m very pleased with the progress.”
Pencils down. All well and good, but final-exam time is here for Woods, who has 18 holes in which to pass or fail under a system that has required major modifications from the techniques he employed under former coach Hank Haney. He also noted he needed more work around the greens.
“I’ve had to make adjustments in my short game,” Woods noted. “I still need a lot of work on my short game because it’s a different move on my full swing but a short shot is a microcosm of a full swing. I’m kind of caught between techniques sometimes.”
The golf ace of yore, sounding understandably weary of replying to the same queries he’s been answering for months, conceded that Sunday’s outcome was essentially beyond his control.
Scoreboard-watching. “I’m trying to put myself into contention in the event. If I win the event, everything’s taken care of,” he said. “As of now, I’m relying on what the leaders do this afternoon.”
Woods needed to finish in the top five to earn his way into the Tour Championship finals in two weeks at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club. Based on his and everyone else’s current standings, tour statistics projected Woods to finish in 43rd place on the FedEx Cup points list. He began Sunday in a tie for 22nd place at Cog Hill, a layout on which he has won five times.
One-two punch. For the first time since the final round of the 2009 Masters, the No. 1 and No. 2 golfers in the world are teeing it up together. Woods and Phil Mickelson began their duel at 11:56 a.m. EDT in Sunday’s final BMW Championship round.
Sunday marked the 25th official time the duo has played together on tour. Tiger used to leave Lefty in his dust, but times have changed. Mickelson is 4-1-1 in their last six outings dating back to Boston’s Deutsche Bank Championship in 2007.
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Golf Monthly. Check her out on the Boston Golf Examiner and National Golf Examiner websites.)
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