Tiger Woods shoots best score in 2 years as he makes desperate FedExCup push

Tiger Woods, in need of a win this week in Greensboro to make it to the PGA Tour postseason, holed out a flop shot for a birdie on his first hole of the Wyndham Championship and from there went on a birdie binge reminiscent of the Eldrick of yore.

With the former world No. 1 firing a nearly flawless 6-under 64 to get to two shots back of early leader William McGirt, it was one of those days that Tiger fans have not witnessed for a couple of years (and did not again unless they ponied up to buy PGATour Live since Woods teed off long before Golf Channel coverage began).

It was Woods’ lowest round since a 61 at the 2013 Bridgestone Invitational.

Tiger watched putts that weren’t supposed to go in drop, like the shoulder-shrugging one for birdie on the par-4 fourth (Woods, Brooks Koepka and Hideki Matsuyama started on the 10th hole).

Woods’ putter, in his first competitive start at the Wyndham, was his best friend. That was certainly not the case at Whistling Straits, where he managed just five birdies in 36 holes of golf.

At 187th in the FedEx Cup rankings, Woods entered the week way out of contention for the playoffs that start next week at The Barclays. A victory in North Carolina, or possibly a solo-second finish, would get him into the top 125 who are eligible for the New Jersey kickoff to the four-game postseason.

Tiger, who was unsure about playing the Wyndham even after committing to appear last Friday, made it clear that his goal was to play more golf that counted before the season ended.

“I just wanted to see, first of all, how my body was going to be feeling,” Woods said in explaining his decision to tee it up this week. “After grinding it out trying to play Whistling Straits, practicing, to see how everything felt if I was ready to go and then make a push to try and get in the playoffs.”

He believed the Sedgefield CC track set up well for his current game, which has involved a notoriously wayward driver.

“This is fun,” he said after playing Wednesday’s pro-am with NBA star Chris Paul. “I don’t get a chance to play a golf course that I get to use my 2-iron anymore.”

Though Woods cruised in his maiden voyage on the Donald Ross track, a little pumping of the brakes on the inevitable “Tiger’s back” chatter may be in order. A reminder that he carded three rounds in the 60s at the Greenbrier last month for the first time since his T2 at the Barclays two years ago and put up another three sub-70 at the Quicken Loans National.

Each effort appeared to be a huge step forward from a miserable start to his season, which included two missed cuts and a withdrawal in his first six tournaments. Sandwiched between the Greenbrier and National, though, was the missed cut at the British Open. Then came his third consecutive major championship MC at last week’s PGA Championship.

So let’s not go etching Tiger’s name on the FedExCup trophy just yet. Here’s his final card from this throwback Thursday round, which had him tied for fifth when he got off the course (via PGATour.com):

SB Nation video archives: Urban golfing with a U.S. Open champion (2012)