Rory asks Irish, Scottish events to swap dates

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AUGUSTA, Georgia – Tiger Woods was always told he was the chosen one but only now does he fully believe he’s a walking miracle. Less than a year after back fusion surgery finally released him from years of pain – Woods is not only back at Augusta National for the first time since 2015 – he’s firmly in the mix to win. That is according to all of his peers and the majority of pundits. Woods is the favorite in many circles. “He’s got a great chance. Look at how he’s played the last few weeks. He’s had four wins here. He’s very comfortable around this golf course, and his game is right there,â€� Rory McIlroy said. “Any time Tiger Woods is healthy and in this sort of form, he’s dangerous at any golf tournament. But given his history here, I think even more so.â€� In his last two starts on the PGA TOUR Woods was runner up and T5 – he felt the cauldron of contention in both. But can he claim PGA TOUR win number 80 on the major championship stage? With his swing speed at near unbelievable levels … anything is possible. It is easily the most amazing aspect of this version of his comeback – the force in which he’s been able to swing the club again. Woods has the fastest recorded swing on TOUR this season at 129.2 miles per hour and his average club head speed of 121.9 miles per hour is fourth on TOUR. It has some players joking with Woods that they need to go under the knife to fuse their own backs for more distance. “The reason why I say I’m a walking miracle is that I don’t know if anyone who has had a lower back fusion that can swing the club as fast as I can swing it,â€� Woods said. “That’s incredible. I went from a person who really had a hard time getting up, walking around, sitting down, anything, to now swinging the club 129. That is a miracle, isn’t it?â€� Woods admits he never expected this sort of result. He thought he’d have a nice comfortable life but was resigned to not being able to generate his old speeds. A year ago he could barely sit at the Champions Dinner. He was trying cortisone shots, epidurals … but in his own words his back was fried. “But all of a sudden I have this pop and my body and my speed’s back and my timing. I’m hitting speeds that I hit in my prime,â€� he continued. “That’s what’s the shocking thing, is I didn’t think I would ever reach north of 120, and I’m cruising at 120. “So that part is very exciting because I know that if I can maintain this, I can play out here for a very long time and be able to have the length to get around pretty much any of the golf courses.â€� This week’s course has always been kind to Woods. With wins in 1997, 2001, 2002 and 2005 and seven top-6 results in nine starts since his last triumph Augusta National is certainly a place he could rekindle the old magic and claim TOUR win number 80. Woods likened the hype to that in 2001 when he came to the Masters with three straight major wins and in search of the famous “Tiger Slamâ€�. “I have four rounds to play, so let’s just kind of slow down,â€� Woods smiled. “I got to go play and then let the chips fall where they may, and hopefully I end up on top. But I got a lot of work to do between now and then.â€�

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The PGA TOUR released today the four featured groupings for Thursday-Friday at the penultimate event of the FedExCup Playoffs, the BMW Championship at Medinah Country Club (No. 3) in Medinah, Illinois. Friday’s featured groupings on PGA TOUR LIVE will include Tiger Woods, C.T. Pan and Billy Horschel, while the second will be determined by a Fan Vote. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 3-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 12-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (NBC). Sunday, 12-2 p.m. (GC), 2-6 p.m. (NBC) PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 9:45 a.m.-7 p.m. (featured groups). Saturday, 8:15 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups), 3-6 p.m. (featured holes). Sunday, 8:15 a.m.-2 p.m. (featured groups), 2-6 p.m. (featured holes). International subscribers (via GOLF.tv): Thursday-Friday, 11:15 to 22:00 GMT. Saturday-Sunday, 12:30 to 22:00. RADIO: Thursday-Friday, 1-7 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com). RELATED: FedExCup standings | Seven things to know about Medinah | Course, field preview Featured Groups Thursday, August 15, 10:48 a.m. Friday, August 16, 12:54 p.m. Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Rory McIlroy (FedExCup Nos. 1, 2 and 3) Koepka enters the event No. 1 in the FedExCup standings on the strength of three wins (THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, PGA Championship, World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational) and three runner-up finishes on the season Reed moved to No. 2 in the standings with a win at THE NORTHERN TRUST, his second career victory in the FedExCup Playoffs McIlroy, winner of the event in 2012 and the only past FedExCup champion in the top 10 of the standings, is looking to become just the second player with multiple FedExCup titles (Tiger Woods/2007, 2009) Thursday, August 15, 1:05 p.m. Friday, August 16, 10:48 a.m. Matt Kuchar, Jon Rahm, Patrick Cantlay (FedExCup Nos. 4, 5 and 6) Kuchar held the lead in the FedExCup standings for a TOUR-best 17 weeks during the Regular Season; he will return to the TOUR Championship after missing out in 2018 for the first time in nine seasons Rahm is coming off a T3 at THE NORTHERN TRUST, clinching a berth in the TOUR Championship for the third time in his third full season on TOUR Cantlay, winner of the 2019 Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, is second on TOUR in Scoring Average (69.170; leader: Rory McIlroy) Thursday, August 15, 10:37 a.m. Friday, August 16, 12:43 p.m. Xander Schauffele, Abraham Ancer, Gary Woodland (FedExCup Nos. 7, 8 and 9) One of four players to win multiple events this season, Schauffele is No. 7 in the FedExCup standings and finished in the top 15 in both the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons With a runner-up at THE NORTHERN TRUST, Ancer moved to No. 8 in the FedExCup standings, clinching a berth in the TOUR Championship as well as a spot on the 2019 International Presidents Cup Team The 2019 U.S. Open champion, Woodland has been in the top 10 in the FedExCup standings since the third week of the season, the longest active streak on TOUR Thursday, August 15, 12:54 p.m. Friday, August 16, 10:37 a.m. Dustin Johnson, Webb Simpson, Justin Rose (FedExCup Nos. 10, 11 and 12) Johnson has four career wins in the FedExCup Playoffs, tied with Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods for the most all-time Simpson, runner-up in three of his last six starts, has top-10s in each of the last two seasons at the BMW Championship Rose lost to Keegan Bradley in a playoff at the 2018 BMW Championship before going on to win the FedExCup

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