Tiger Woods looks to familiar Firestone, Valhalla for FedExCup and Ryder Cup boost

NORTON, Mass. -- Tiger Woods has two tournaments coming up this week and next that will likely determine if he’ll play late into the 2014 season or have another lengthy layoff in which to rest his back, get his game back into form, and play with his kids.

Woods, who hosts next month’s Deutsche Bank Championship and whose foundation benefits most from the event that he won in 2006, took time out from his preparations for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship to boost the tourney he may not even qualify to enter. There could not be two friendlier courses on Woods’ immediate schedule -- Firestone Country Club, where he has hoisted eight trophies, and Valhalla Golf Club, where he won the PGA in 2000 -- on which the former world No. 1 can turn his season around and make a push for the FedExCup playoffs and Ryder Cup.

“I have two big events coming up the next two weeks to make some points,” Woods said via videoconference on Monday. “I think if I win the next couple events, I should be all right.”

For sure, two first-place finishes would net Woods 1,150 FEC points (550 at Firestone and 600 at Valhalla) and ensure his presence at TPC Boston for the second leg of the playoffs, as well as secure a spot on Tom Watson’s U.S. Ryder Cup team. To do so, Tiger will have to prove he can play far better than he has so far in the worst season of his career -- one in which he has started just five contests, earned a measly 45 FEC points to rank 215th in a race in which the top 125 get to play for the $10 million jackpot, and sits 70th in Ryder Cup points.

Since back surgery at the end of March, Woods has missed the cut at another Tiger Woods Foundation event, the Quicken Loans National, and placed 69th at the British Open -- the latter on a Royal Liverpool track he had conquered when he won the 2006 Open Championship. While it’s clear his back was an issue early in the year, Woods also bombed in January at Torrey Pines, where he had also claimed eight Ws. So formerly favorable venues offer no assurances for the oft-injured 14-time major champion who conceded he still had work to do to get game-ready.

“We’re just now introducing explosive training into my regime, which is nice,” Woods said. “The strength and the explosiveness are going to come back with time. If I’m able to play, be able to train, almost to the effectiveness that I’m used to, that I’m accustomed to, that’s coming around, just given time.”

With only the two upcoming competitions on his schedule, Woods is running out of that precious commodity. Not that he hasn’t been here before; after injuring his knee and Achilles tendon in 2011, Woods was similarly sidelined and failed to make the playoffs.

“[Golfers] put a lot of undue stress on our bodies,” Woods said. “For us in golf, it’s the same rotational movement, we do the same thing, over and over and over again. And we’re doing it 500 to 1,000 times a day, and after 20 to 30 years of it, things are going to break down. Unfortunately, I’ve had my share of breakdowns. I’ve had to rehab and come back. And through all the years, I’ve been able to do that.”

As for his chances this week, coming off a vacation with girlfriend Lindsey Vonn and his two children, Woods was characteristically upbeat.

“I’ve won this event eight times, so I know how to play under various conditions, various circumstances, various fields. I’ve been able to get it done eight different times in my career,” he said. “Certainly I’ll draw upon those experiences and all the events I’ve played in that I’ve won throughout the previous years. I’ve been able to win on this property and that does help.”

What would also help would be to make the Ryder Cup team on his own and not have to rely on Watson using one of his three wild-card picks on him. There’s no doubt Woods would prefer to qualify but said he could be a factor even as a captain’s selection.

“As far as being able to be picked or earned your outright spot on the team, is there a difference? Yeah, there is a difference,” said Woods, who went 3-1 in 2010 after Corey Pavin named him to the team. “But in the end it’s what can you do for your team? Are you able to contribute?”

Unless Woods has a couple of big weeks, he may not get that chance.