Tiger Woods may have been all over Northern California last weekend -- taking in Stanford’s blowout of Washington State and the Raiders’ near upset of the Chargers, among other festivities -- but one event he did not attend was the kickoff to the PGA Tour’s 2014-2015 wrap-around season.
Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy will put Frys.com Open on the PGA Tour map
Johnny Miller can’t wait until next year when Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are expected to kick off their 2014-2015 seasons at the Frys.com Open.
Warren Little
Tiger Woods at the #Stanford game. Remember him? pic.twitter.com/AJKyEemq0z
— Cork Gaines (@CorkGaines) October 11, 2014 While Woods was prowling the sidelines in Oakland as his Raiders made it a game but still recorded their 11th straight loss, Sang-Moon Bae was about an hour north at Silverado in Napa, winning his second tour event. Yup, as Tom Brady was proving the doubters wrong, Joe Flacco was doing his best Peyton Manning impersonation, and Peyton’s baby bro was reverting to form, among other NFL action, Tim Finchem’s minions were back in action after an entire two-week offseason.
Tiger Woods kicking it with the Black Hole at the Raiders game. pic.twitter.com/7hiEuXUMJt
— Eric Kay (@ekaycbs) October 12, 2014 You may be excused if you were otherwise engaged as Bae zoomed out to the early FedEx Cup lead after his two-shot victory over Steven Bowditch. Johnny Miller, however, believes you’ll tune in next year at this time when Woods and Rory McIlroy are expected to tee it up in Napa.
The prospect of the two superstars opening their 2015-2016 quests for FedEx Cup glory on the course partly owned by Miller had the NBC analyst doing virtual cartwheels at the prospect.
“It’ll almost be like a different tournament,” Miller told SF Gate’s Ron Kroichick during Sunday’s finale. “The crowds will get a lot bigger with Rory and Tiger next year.”
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Woods and McIlroy are among eight tour players who went for the big bucks of an exhibition tourney in Turkey in 2012 rather than play the Frys. Tour officials let them out of the U.S. contest with the understanding they would put the Frys on their 2015 calendars.
Though Matt Kuchar, Hunter Mahan, and Lee Westwood fulfilled their obligations last week, Woods and McIlroy are slated to join Justin Rose, Webb Simpson, and Charl Schwartzel in next year’s tournament, according to Kroichick.
“Yeah, it changes the vibe,” Miller, who noted he was “99 percent” sure they would tee it up at Silverado, said about the two Nike pitchmen appearing in Napa. “We’ll actually be able to advertise it, too.”
Woods remains benched until at least December as he continues to rehab his surgically repaired back. We’re guessing Miller has his fingers crossed that the injury-plagued winner of 14 major champions will be able to tackle the Frys 12 months from now.
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