Tiger Woods shocked the golf world when he “committed” to play the Wyndham Championship last Friday night. But just a couple hours after the PGA Tour announced that its biggest moneymaker would play in Greensboro for the first time, his agent, Mark Steinberg, pumped the brakes. Tiger had simply entered the tournament because he had to get in under the Friday night deadline, but he was still up in the air and could likely withdraw come Monday. That was the assumption in Greensboro and in the golf media.
Tiger Woods makes surprising confirmation to play Wyndham Championship
In another surprising move, Tiger announces that he will stay in the field in Greensboro.
Sheboygan Press Media-USA TODAY Sports
But in another surprising move on Monday, Woods, via Steinberg, confirmed that he would stay in the field and play the final regular season event on the PGA Tour. ESPN’s Bob Harig got the news from “Steiny.”
Tiger confirmed for Greensboro: "Tiger has heard great things about the event and is looking forwrad to the week,'' via agent Mark Steinberg
— Bob Harig (@BobHarig) August 17, 2015 Woods is currently 187th in the FedExCup standings. Only the top 125 make it into the playoffs and he’s 292 points behind that mark. With that deficit and all the players between him and the postseason cutoff line, he’d likely need to win or place second to have a chance to sneak into the FedExCup at the last minute.
Making the postseason is probably not essential for Woods and not the sole reason he’s going to add this tournament to his schedule for the first time in his career. As Harig noted, it’s the first time since 2012 he has expanded his schedule and put a new tournament in his lineup. Tiger may care less about the FedExCup and more about just getting another competitive tournament under his belt and getting those “reps” we always chide him for neglecting with that exclusive and limited schedule.
Regardless of how he finishes, that Tiger is entering a lower tier event at the end of the season, one that will be filled mostly with Web.com players and guys near the bottom of the standings grinding away to keep their status, is a sign he’s serious about completing this swing change.
There’s been so much speculation about Woods maybe hanging it up or semi-retiring as he gets older and prioritizes his kids and non-golf endeavors. Adding the Wyndham would seem to contradict the notion that he’s not committed to getting back to playing competitive championship golf. It’s a huge get for Greensboro and a nice change from Tiger.
★★★
SB Nation video archives: Urban golfing with a U.S. Open champ (2012)
See More:
