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MEDINAH, Ill. – Tiger Woods addressed the media after his pro-am round Wednesday and said he’s feeling ready to play in the BMW Championship at Medinah No. 3, the second week of the FedExCup Playoffs. After shooting an opening 75 at THE NORTHERN TRUST last week, Woods withdrew Friday with a mild oblique strain. He arrived at Medinah on Tuesday and took treatment, and with his pro-am partners on Wednesday he played nine holes and chipped and putted for nine more. “Oh, way better, yeah,â€� he said of his health compared to a week ago. “It was nice to take those days off, and I had to just let it calm down and get a bunch of treatment on it, and it feels so much better. I played nine today, played the front nine, and played well, which was nice to see, nice to feel. Took the back nine off, chipped and putted quite a bit, and it feels like – definitely doesn’t feel like it did on Friday, that’s for sure.â€� Woods is slated to play with Billy Horschel and C.T. Pan in the first round at 12:54 p.m. ET Thursday, and he has plenty to play for. At 38th in the FedExCup, he is projected to need no worse than an 11th-place finish to break into the top 30 and make it to the TOUR Championship. It was at East Lake that Woods notched his 80th victory a year ago. The win capped off a terrific comeback season for a player with a fused back whose career once seemed to be over. He landed his 81st victory at the Masters Tournament this past April, another epic win. Then reality hit. Admittedly worn out, Woods slowed down. He played less – just five starts since April – and his clubhead speed dipped. He fizzled at the PGA Championship at Bethpage (MC), and didn’t contend at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach (T21), despite having won on both courses. He missed cut at The Open Championship (opening-round 78) and WD’d at THE NORTHERN TRUST. The Windy City, though, is a Woods favorite. He won the 1999 and 2006 PGA Championships at Medinah, and five BMW Championships at nearby Cog Hill Golf & Country Club. “Yeah, I’m excited to be back in Chicago,â€� he said. “I mean, this is one of the places that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed playing over the years, and this was – going back to it, this is the area that I made my first cut on the PGA TOUR, a long time ago, and I’ve had some really good memories and some wins here that have been pretty memorable for me.â€� When he’s healthy, Woods is still a formidable player; he’s still ranked sixth in the world. He will captain the U.S. Team at the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne this December, but has not ruled out playing on that team. At 13th on the U.S. points list, he wouldn’t crack the top eight even with a win – the BMW is the last chance for players to work their way into the top eight in points for automatic inclusion – but he could make a case for himself as a pick. All of that, though, takes a back seat to his health. “Yeah, swinging,â€� he said, when asked if he knew what caused his latest injury. “As I’ve said before, the forces have got to go somewhere, and unfortunately when I make any kind of tweaks and changes to my swing, it’s like a new body part is aching. Unfortunately, I can’t play around the back like I used to, and unfortunately things flare up. “I tried to make tweaks all year,â€� he added, “trying to ease the stress off my back while I was still playing. Unfortunately, I haven’t really done a very good job of that, and when I have, I’ve hit the ball quite well. I was really excited about what I was doing at Liberty (National). I made some nice changes and obviously didn’t feel very well on Thursday.â€� Medinah was the longest course in major championship history in 1999 and is still brawny and difficult. It will play to a par 72 of 7,613 yards, with forced carries over water and juicy rough. “The golf course is a lot bigger,â€� Woods said. “It’s a lot longer than I remember.â€� Is that a concern? Perhaps. At the PGA at Bethpage Black, Woods couldn’t match the brawn of the golf course, making double bogey on his very first hole and never quite recovering. At the BMW at Medinah, where the rough is up, Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy are among those who have already predicted that the course will make similar demands of the world’s best. In other words, Woods’ improved feeling and range of motion will be tested. “Body-wise it’s the same,â€� he said. “If it’s not one thing, it’s another. Things just pop up. That’s been one of the biggest challenges coming back from last year. You saw I’m making tweaks and changes trying to play around this back and trying to be explosive and have enough rest time and training time. That’s been the biggest challenge of it all. “This week is no different,â€� he added. “I’m trying to win this tournament just like anybody else in this field and trying to get to East Lake and trying to get to a place where a lot of things changed for me last year, and hopefully I can make that happen.â€�
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MEDINAH, Ill. – By Sunday night, two-thirds of this year’s Presidents Cup participants will be identified. The top eight spots on the U.S. and International teams after this week’s BMW Championship will be locked in for Royal Melbourne in December. The four Captain’s Picks from Tiger Woods and Ernie Els will be announced after the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in early November. Although some players on both teams have guaranteed a trip to Australia, there is still uncertainty with the final few automatic spots. Here’s a look at the possibilities for each team heading into Thursday’s first round at Medinah. UNITED STATES CURRENT TOP 8: Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Matt Kuchar, Webb Simpson, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Cantlay A win this week at the BMW Championship is worth 1,100 Presidents Cup points. The formula for arriving at that number? Presidents Cup points in the FedExCup Playoffs events are weighted the same in points as World Golf Championships events, with the points doubled for this year’s Playoffs. Cantlay currently has 5,268 points, so that means anybody behind him with 4,168 points or better can catch him with a victory. Thus, No. 9 Gary Woodland (4,912), No. 10 Tony Finau (4,872), No. 11 Rickie Fowler (4,547) and No. 12 Patrick Reed (4,413) remain alive going into Medinah. Oh, and No. 13th on that list? U.S. Captain Tiger Woods, who cannot move inside the top eight with a win. Of course, he could enhance his argument for being a playing captain as a pick. But that’s for a later time. Reed – fresh off his victory at THE NORTHERN TRUST — or Fowler each have to win for any hope of a top-8 spot. A solo second doesn’t give either one enough points to catch Cantlay. Finau or Woodland each need a third-place or better finish. So who’s vulnerable among the American players inside the top 8? According to our projections, Koepka, Johnson and Thomas can rest easy. Even if they are pushed down the standings, there are no scenarios in which they fall out of the top eight. For Kuchar and Simpson, the odds are in their favor, but it remains mathematically possible for each one to finish outside the top eight. Simpson, DeChambeau and Cantlay are in the danger zone. Enough scenarios are in play this week to prevent them from feeling comfortable. It would behoove each one to have a solid performance at Medinah while keeping one eye on the leaderboard in case something spectacular is required. INTERNATIONAL CURRENT TOP 8: Marc Leishman, Louis Oosthuizen, Adam Scott, Hideki Matsuyama, Abraham Ancer, Haotong Li, Cameron Smith, C.T. Pan Outlining exactly what needs to be done in order to secure a spot for Els’ team is a bit tricky, given that it’s based on Official Golf World Ranking points and involves tournaments (including their strengths of field) on three different tours. So please take the following information as our best-guess information (our Aussie staff writer Ben Everill is pretty spot-on about these things) but realize nothing is definitive. Leishman, Oosthuizen, Scott, Matsuyama and Ancer, the top five in the standings, have separated themselves from the pack and can be considered locks. Ancer made the big leap from 10th to fifth with his runner-up finish Sunday at THE NORTHERN TRUST and will become the first player to represent Mexico at the Presidents Cup. “That’s huge,â€� Ancer said Sunday. “I get a little bit of goosebumps right now just talking about it.â€� Li, Smith and Pan – each seeking his first Presidents Cup appearance — are all within six points of each other in the final three spots. Li and Smith are not in action this week; Li is not a TOUR member and Smith is not inside the top 70 players in FedExCup points who advanced to Medinah. So they will be unable to improve on their ranking totals. Pan is on the bubble and in the BMW Championship field this week, so he controls his own fate. He knows it’s a big opportunity to guarantee his spot for Royal Melbourne. In his threesome for the first two rounds this week is Tiger Woods. It’ll be the first time he’s played with Woods. I know it’s going to be crazy playing with Tiger,â€� said Pan, who at 37th in FedExCup points and needs a big week also to move inside the top 30 for East Lake. “… It will be wild. So I’m just looking forward to enjoying it and making the best out of it.â€� And as for the pressure of playing for a Presidents Cup spot? “All you can do is let good golf take care of everything,â€� Pan said. “I’ve been trying very hard out there and trying to finish strong every single round, last week or last two months, and definitely put me in a really good spot here, and I’m just very grateful and thankful for the opportunity. At least I have a shot.â€� It’s the next three players closest to the bubble who make things really intriguing, since each one is playing a different event. Jason Day, having fallen from seventh to ninth in International points at Liberty National, is in the BMW Championship field. While the Aussie seems almost certain to be a captain’s pick if he doesn’t earn a spot on merit, Day would obviously prefer moving back into the top 8. It likely requires him to finish 19th or better this week. Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond, 10th in points, is the highest-ranked OWGR player (56th) in this week’s field at the Sarawak Championship on the Asian Tour. A win there would net him 14 ranking points, good enough to surpass the current totals of Smith and Pan. South Africa’s Justin Harding, 11th in points, is the highest-ranked OWGR player (53rd) in this week’s Korn Ferry Tour event, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship. A win there is worth 16 points; that would barely be good enough to surpass Pan’s current total. Pan will earn points this week if he finishes inside the top 60 in the 70-man field, so Harding faces the toughest task. Still, it’s not inconceivable that if Day, Janewattananond and Harding each win their respective events this week, all three could move inside the top eight. Meanwhile, there are a few wildcards still in play. South Korean Sungjae Im could be a factor with a top-3 finish in Chicago. Countrymen Sung Kang, Si Woo Kim and Ben An likely need a win or solo second. Canadians Corey Conners and Adam Hadwin, along with Argentina’s Emilio Grillo and South Africa’s Dylan Fritelli, could also make an impact by winning at Medinah. After all, Ancer showed last week that a big result in the Playoffs can have huge Presidents Cup implications. Chile’s Joaquin Niemann is 70th in FedExCup points and thus the last player in the field at Medinah; he could conceivable move into the top 8 with a win.
