For Tiger Woods this week in Greensboro, it’s win or go home.
How Tiger Woods can make it to the postseason: Just win at Greensboro
Tiger Woods must win this week’s Wyndham Championship to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs. A solo-second finish might also get him to The Barclays.
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In a last-ditch bid to extend his season and make it to the FedEx Cup playoffs, Woods surprised the golf world by sticking with his commitment to play in the final event of the regular season. He will lug his missed cut at last week’s PGA Championship to the 10th tee at Sedgefield CC on Thursday in his first-ever start in the Wyndham Championship and needs a win to guarantee a spot in next week’s first leg of the four-tournament postseason, The Barclays.
Tiger says that he'll decide in the next few days about Wyndham. Says it's more about "building" than making the playoffs.
— GC Tiger Tracker (@GCTigerTracker) August 15, 2015 With the Wyndham awarding 300 points, a solo second finish might get Woods to New Jersey, as well.
At 187th in FedEx Cup points according to Las Vegas bookmakers, the odds of Tiger ending his two-year winless drought and climbing within the top 125 eligible for the playoffs are extremely long, at 50-1. Even though Woods is down to 286th in the world rankings after his third straight MC at a major, he will face a field not exactly brimming with the Jordan Spieths, Jason Days and Rory McIlroys of the golf world.
There are, however, 14 other former major champions among the 156 players vying for Wyndham glory this week. So, it’s not exactly a cakewalk for the former world No. 1, even if he does figure out a way to put all the pieces of his golf game together.
Woods enters the week in the wake of five cuts made in 10 starts this season.
Tiger Woods commits to playing in Wyndham Championship (first time at event). Since start of 2014, Woods has missed cut/WD in 9 of 18 events
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) August 17, 2015 His best finish so far was a T17 at the Masters, after which he made early exits from the next three grand slam events -- the first time in his professional career he has failed to make it to the weekend of majors three consecutive times.
Woods is not the only player hoping to regroup this week. Adam Scott, also fresh off a MC at the PGA and struggling mightily with an anchored putting style that will become illegal in January, entered the field before the 5 p.m. Friday deadline, as did Woods. Tiger alerted tournament officials on Monday that he would keep his playing commitment.
Should Woods fail to make it to the playoffs for the second year in a row, his next PGA Tour start would likely be the 2015-2016 season-opening Frys.com Open in October. He also has plans to play abroad and in his Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas in December.
Woods was scheduled to play early in Wednesday’s pro-am with Los Angeles Clippers star Chris Paul, according to PGA.com. He was set to begin his playoff quest on Thursday at 7:50 a.m. ET, with Brooks Koepka and Hideki Matsuyama, 16th and 19th, respectively, in FedEx Cup points. Both players are trying to strengthen their FedEx Cup positions.
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