Love from Tiger Woods fires up Finau ahead of continued FedExCup push

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Rory McIlroy called it a “PGATOUR dreamâ€� and he might be right. The former FedExCup champion took the 54-hole lead at the World Golf Championships – FedEx St. Jude Invitational by on3 shot over Brooks Koepka, the current PGA TOUR Player of the Year who is favored to once again take that title. But not if McIlroy has his way. The Northern Irishman shot an impressive 8-under 62 on Saturday to get to 12 under at TPC Southwind. Koepka hit 17 of 18 greens on his way to a 6-under 64. He lurks at 11 under. There are most certainly others in this field who can win the tournament – Matt Fitzpatrick (69) is 10 under, Marc Leishman (63) surged to 9 under where he’s joined by Jon Rahm (68) and Alex Noren (66), and Ian Poulter (67) is in part of a three-way tie for seventh at 8 under with Thorbjorn Olesen (65) and Billy Horschel (69). But all eyes will be on the big guns out front. They are battling not just for the tournament, but top spot in the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 regular season race. Should either salute in Memphis, they are guaranteed top spot and the $2 million bonus that comes with it. “PGA TOUR dream, it’s perfect,â€� McIlroy smiled. “I want to go into New York No. 1 in those points because it’s important, and I want to try to stay up there as high as possible and I’m going up again against the best player in the world. He’s won four majors in the last three years. “It’s going to be a fun day tomorrow, I’m excited about it. I got to play alongside him the first two days and his game looked awfully impressive. So I need to go out and try and focus on myself and put a sort of thought or target in my head and just try and go for that.â€� Taking top spot into the FedExCup Playoffs will bring huge momentum as they look to claim the season long crown. The pair are no doubt the favorites to win it all. Both have two wins this season. McIlroy took out THE PLAYERS Championship and the RBC Canadian Open. He was runner up at the World Golf Championships – Mexico Championship and has 11 Top 10s this season including the PGA Championship and U.S. Open. He sat third in the FedExCup leading into the week. Koepka won the PGA Championship and THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES. He was also runner up three times including The Masters and the U.S. Open. He has a total of seven top 10s including a T4 at the Open Championship. He led the FedExCup coming in to Memphis. “There’s a lot on the line and a lot to play for,â€� Koepka admitted. “It will be fun duking it out with him. I don’t know the last time we’ve actually gone kind of toe to toe. I can’t think of anything. But that’s who you want to go up against, especially if he’s going to be playing this good. “You want the best players coming down the stretch on Sunday with a chance to win. This golf course I think really brings out some of the better players.â€� In fact, the pair have never been paired together in a final group, or any final round, on the TOUR. In the nine times they’ve played together on the TOUR, including the opening two rounds this week, McIlroy holds a slender 4-3-2 advantage. McIlroy came into the tournament having missed the cut at The Open Championship. Koepka finished fourth in tough conditions. Koepka brings momentum to Memphis; McIlroy is more rested which could be critical in the Tennessee heat. McIlroy also has a habit of playing well lately after missing cuts. “We’re very fortunate in golf that there’s always next week. You can respond so quickly from setbacks and failures. The last four missed cuts that I’ve had, I’ve finished first, second, first and 12th. I’m a quick learner,â€� McIlroy said. “But tomorrow’s a new day. Whatever happened today is great but I’ve got to reset and try and go again tomorrow. Hopefully Brooks and I can add a bit of excitement tomorrow.â€� Chances are they will.  

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Uihlein, Otaegui share the lead in France

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MAMARONECK, N.Y. - The memories are not great. Tiger Woods shot 76-76 and missed the cut by three at the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, but his head wasn't really in it. "I think it was just - I was not prepared to play and still dealing with the death of my dad," he said Tuesday. At the 120th U.S. Open at Winged Foot this week the questions will be about Woods' body, not his mind. In '06, he was just six weeks removed from the death of his father Earl. RELATED: Tee times for Rds. 1 & 2 | Nine things to know about Winged Foot | Looking back at wild finish in 2006 "Yeah, when I didn’t win the Masters that year, that was really tough to take because that was the last event my dad was ever going to watch me play," Woods said. "He passed not too long after that, and quite frankly, when I got ready for this event, I didn’t really put in the time. I didn’t really put in the practice, and consequently missed the cut pretty easily." Woods went on to win the Open Championship later that summer, sobbing on the shoulder of his caddie, Steve Williams, on the 18th green. But at Winged Foot? A month earlier? No. It wasn't happening. He made six bogeys and a double in the first round, three bogeys and two doubles in the second. He was there but not there. Not really. A lot has changed since, starting with the fact that Woods, 44, made just seven official starts last season due to mobility issues with his surgically fused back. One of those, the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP last October, turned into his 82nd PGA TOUR victory, but there was precious little else for the highlight reel. Woods had only one other top-10 finish last season, a T9 at the Farmers Insurance Open. He did not feel well enough to play in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, which like Torrey Pines is one of his favorite courses on TOUR. He also missed The Honda Classic, his hometown tournament, and elected to sit out THE PLAYERS Championship (cancelled after one round anyway because of the pandemic). And when he came back along with everyone else in June? Meh. He finished T37 at the PGA Championship, T58 at THE NORTHERN TRUST, and T51 at the BMW Championship. "This year I really haven’t putted as well as I wanted to," Woods said, "and the times I did make a few swing mistakes, I missed it in the wrong spots. Consequently, I just didn’t have the right looks at it. I’ve compounded mistakes here and there that ended up not making me able to make pars or a birdie run, and consequently I haven’t put myself in contention to win events." Now he comes to Winged Foot, a course he also played at the 1997 PGA Championship, making history, of sorts. Woods and Phil Mickelson were paired together for the first time as professionals in the final round. Each shot 75 in the rain, each finished T29. (Davis Love III won.) In terms of difficulty, Woods ranks Winged Foot alongside Oakmont in Pennsylvania and notoriously nasty Open Championship venue Carnoustie. "The winning scores here have never traditionally been very low," Woods said. (Hale Irwin won the 1974 U.S. Open at Winged Foot at 7 over par; Geoff Ogilvy was 5 over in 2006.) "I don’t see that changing this week." The Memorial Tournament and BMW Championship brought especially hard conditions, but the rough at Winged Foot is something else entirely. Most players have said it will be impossible to advance the ball from the long stuff. Gary Woodland said he was practicing his chipping, his caddie tossing him balls, when they lost one and couldn't find it for five minutes. Marshalls, Woodland added, are going to be invaluable. Tuesday brought chilly temperatures, with Patrick Cantlay donning a ski hat and Woods wearing rain paints for warmth. He played nine holes with Presidents Cup partner Justin Thomas (they're also together for the first two rounds, along with PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa) and 2019 U.S. Amateur runner-up John Augenstein of Kentucky. The weekend forecast is for even cooler weather. "The golf course is going to be hard," said Woods. "It depends on how difficult they want to set up these pins, give us a chance at it. But with the forecast, it’s going to be difficult no matter what."

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