Woods leads FedEx Cup with one to go
Tiger Cruises To Win At BMW Championship
LEMONT, Ill. -- Victories rarely come this easy, not even for Tiger Woods. It's been two years since the world's No. 1 golfer could put it on cruise control the way he did Sunday at the BMW Championship, his win capping a stellar stretch of events that will likely be remembered more for his failure at the PGA Championship.
Still, starting in late July at the Buick Open, Woods went 1-1-2-2-11-1 in the tournaments he played, a kind of run that only a few could fathom. It was his sixth victory of the year, 71st of his PGA Tour career, and gave him a whopping 10 wins by eight strokes or more.
To win three times in six tournaments might be a dream for some, but for Woods that domination has come to be expected.
And yet, it gets him very little as far as the FedEx Cup playoffs are concerned.
Woods will head to Atlanta for the Tour Championship in two weeks in first place in the standings, but hardly comfortable. Sort of like the Yankees winning Game 3 of the World Series in a blowout or the Patriots heading to the Super Bowl 18-0 -- you still have to finish it off.
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So despite his holding a 1,504-point lead over Steve Stricker heading to East Lake -- a tournament victory in the playoffs is worth 2,500 points -- Woods' total will be reduced to a 250-point lead, and all 30 players in the field will have a mathematical shot at the $10 million bonus paid to the FedEx Cup winner. The top five, however, are assured of winning the title if they win the Tour Championship.
"That's just our new system," Woods said of the 3-year-old points race, which has been changed every year. "Last year Vijay [Singh] hit his first tee shot and it was already over. The tour wants to have excitement at the last event and that's ultimately what has happened with this new format. … That certainly builds some excitement, and that's different from the last few years."
For some, just getting into the Tour Championship proved to be the most exciting part of Sunday, as two players who were among the top 30 heading into the week were bumped out.
Those who got clipped were Charley Hoffman and Ian Poulter -- who finished 1 point behind John Senden. Senden was the beneficiary of a final-hole triple-bogey 7 by Brandt Snedeker. Hoffman and Poulter began the week 28th and 30th, respectively. Hoffman dropped to 37th.
But things really got wild on the final green with the final group. As it turned out, Snedeker needed only a bogey to advance to East Lake. He was on the par-4 in 3 -- then 4-putted for a 7 that cost him dearly. Senden snuck in because of Snedeker's gaffe.
"I can't believe I did that," a stunned Snedeker said afterward. "It's going to be a long, long flight home and a long couple of days off."
Meanwhile, Luke Donald (started 32nd) and Marc Leishman (67th) played their way into the Tour Championship.
Leishman, a rookie from Australia, has made the most impressive run. Last week at the Deutsche Bank Championship, he needed to eagle the final hole just to sneak into the top 70 and advance to the BMW Championship. Now with a tie for second here, he jumped all the way to 16th in the standings.
"It's hard to wipe a smile off my face at the minute," Leishman said.
Leishman felt he had nothing to lose, but Stewart Cink would have been mighty disappointed not to make it to East Lake because he considers it a home course and he had a huge advantage this year after winning the British Open.
But Cink had to sweat it out to the end. He bogeyed three of his first five holes, then played a 4-hole stretch in 5 under par on his front nine before making three crucial par-saving putts and a birdie over his final four holes. That gave him a 3-under-par 68, and he finished 26th to secure a spot in his hometown event.
"It's certainly stressful if you're in with these other guys that are fighting it out," Cink said. "It needs to be. That's what makes our sport compelling. There's leader stress, there's cut stress, there's who's going to make the Tour Championship, who's going to make the Presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup. There's all kinds of stress at different levels. You have to sort of experience that and deal with it to be professional and be successful."
The Tour Championship will be without the top 4 finishers in last year's FedEx Cup -- Vijay Singh, Camillo Villegas, Sergio Garcia and Anthony Kim. Singh didn't even make it to the BMW, while Villegas and Garcia were so far back they needed very high finishes here at Cog Hill.
Villegas did shoot 66 on Sunday to finish in a tie for ninth at the tournament but quipped, "It's totally enough to have three weeks off." He finished 43rd in the standings. Garcia, with a final-round 71, finished 41st.
Kim, who began the week in 34th, lost his opportunity to advance with two bogeys on the back nine, which led to a 74.
"It's disappointing," Kim said. "That's the goal at the beginning of the year, is to get there and have a chance to win. But unfortunately it didn't go my way this year, and I just didn't get the ball in the hole."
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Although he had no chance of catching Woods in the tournament, Jim Furyk did give himself a shot at overtaking Woods for the FedEx Cup by moving from 18th in the standings to third. Furyk is joined by Woods (1), Stricker (2), Zach Johnson (4) and Heath Slocum (5) in the top 5.
And there are the players who are excited for other reasons, having played their way into the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open next year. Those three major championships exempt players who qualify for the Tour Championship, as does the WGA-CA Championship.
"Yeah, I'm thrilled about it," said Steve Marino, who finished 25th in FedEx Cup points. "I've never played in the Masters. I've played in two U.S. Opens, but I didn't qualify this year. It's going to be a huge relief not to have to worry about that going into next year."
Woods didn't have to worry about any of that. He really didn't even need a victory here to be in excellent position to win his second FedEx Cup in three years.
Then again, Woods prefers to win the tournaments and let the rest take care of itself.
You can bet that will be his attitude in Atlanta.
Bob Harig covers golf for ESPN.com. He can be reached at BobHarig@gmail.com.
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