McIlroy rips Trump’s handling of COVID-19

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. - Tiger Woods won't be contending for a third FedExCup next week at the TOUR Championship unless he can pull off one of the biggest performances of his career. With scores of 73-75-72, the BMW Championship is the third non-major, and sixth tournament overall, that Woods has opened with three over-par rounds. At 10-over the 82-time PGA TOUR winner is tied 55th, and nine strokes off the pace he'd need to be to have a chance to progress to East Lake. RELATED: Full leaderboard | McIlroy chases FedExCup as fatherhood looms | Rahm cards 66 despite Rules gaffe So he will need to post a low number on a course that has averaged more than two shots over par through three rounds. Only once did he post an under-par final round (2007 PLAYERS Championship) on the above mentioned occasions. Sadly for Woods he could've been much closer to pulling off a miracle. After birdies on the third and fourth holes on Saturday he was climbing slowly up the leaderboard and even a bogey on the 10th kept him within a good run of applying some pressure. But his tee shot on the par-4 17th hole sailed right and into a water hazard and his third shot after a drop went miles left. In the end he carded a triple bogey seven and likely killed off any hope of being around next week. International Trio Set to play on... Three International players sit in position to play their way into the TOUR Championship through three rounds of the BMW Championship. Presidents Cup players Adam Scott (Australia) and Joaquin Niemann (Chile) are joined by Canadian Mackenzie Hughes as those who currently project from outside in for a place at East Lake. All three currently sit in a tie for third place and will start Sunday just two shots off the lead. As such their focus in winning the tournament rather than the projections. For the record, Nieman projects from 31st to 18th, Hughes is set to move from 36th to 22nd and Scott from 38th to 23rd. Of course they will need to continue their good play for 18 more holes. "This golf course is actually a pretty good distraction because it’s so hard that you have to just focus on every shot so much that it’s easy to just kind of get in your own world out there and just the task at hand, the task at hand. So that’s been kind of nice," Hughes said. "Obviously in between shots your mind wanders sometimes, but this is kind of where you want to be. Obviously I would have loved to have locked it up by now, but I’m happy to have this opportunity and I’ll go embrace it tomorrow." For Scott, a spot in the TOUR Championship, which he won in 2006 a year prior to it becoming the FedExCup finale, would be impressive given he only returned from the COVID-19 break at the recent PGA Championship. "It would be a great achievement to reach East Lake. I’ve played very well this year. I had one really great week, but I’ve left myself a lot of work to kind of get in there," he said in reference to his win at the Genesis Invitational in February. "Better late than never. I’ve got a chance to do it tomorrow, so if I can play a really good round tomorrow, I’d be very proud to be there at East Lake and kind of roll the dice and see what happens there." Of course if three project in, that means three project out. At this stage Cameron Champ (T59) projects to drop from 25th to 31st, Adam Long (T59) from 27th to 32nd and Kevin Streelman (T63) from 28th to 33rd.

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Eight times this season, Sam Burns has been atop the leaderboard after every round except the one that mattered. That changed, finally, at the Valspar Championship, as he finished with a 3-under 68 on Sunday for his first PGA Tour victory.

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• COURSE: TPC Summerlin, 7,255 yards, par 71. Carved from rugged desert on the western outskirts of Las Vegas, TPC Summerlin opened in 1991 as a collaboration of Bobby Weed and two-time major champion Fuzzy Zoeller. The course winds through arroyos and canyons, leading to a four-hole closing stretch bursting with risk/reward – the drivable par-4 15th, the par-5 16th, the water-lined par-3 17th and a strong par-4 No.18. Originally part of a three-course rotation for the PGA TOUR’s annual Vegas stop, TPC Summerlin became the sole venue in 2008 as part of tournament restructuring. • FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 points. • CHARITY: Shriners Hospitals for Children, a system of 22 facilities offering specialty pediatric care and medical teaching. The network boasts the largest full-time staff of pediatric orthopedic specialists in the United States, and its burn centers and spinal cord rehabilitation programs are recognized worldwide. • FIELD WATCH: Charley Hoffman and Kevin Chappell, part of last month’s U.S. Presidents Cup romp at Liberty National, headline a roster that also includes 2016 John Deere Classic champion Ryan Moore. … Hoffman and Chappell are among five entrants who competed in last month’s TOUR Championship at East Lake. So is Tony Finau, who also finished runner-up at the Safeway Open to start the new season. … Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson, who was eliminated after the first two rounds of the 2017 FedExCup Playoffs, is set for his Las Vegas debut as he opts to get in at least one fall start. … New professional Maverick McNealy, formerly the world’s top-ranked amateur, is in the field on a sponsor invitation. • 72-HOLE RECORD: 260, Ryan Moore (2012), Webb Simpson (2013). • 18-HOLE RECORD: 59, Chip Beck (3rd round, 1991 at Sunrise GC). TPC Summerlin record: 60, J.J. Henry (1st round, 2013), Rod Pampling (1st round, 2016). • LAST YEAR: Rod Pampling hit the jackpot for the first time in eight years, tying the Summerlin record with an opening 12-under-par 60 and capping a two-shot triumph with four birdies in his final six holes. The 47-year-old Aussie began the final day one shot behind Lucas Glover, but caught him with three straight birdies from Nos. 13-15. They were still tied before Glover bogeyed his final two holes and Pampling birdied No.18 to leave no doubt. Pampling hadn’t tasted victory anywhere since the 2008 Australian Masters, and his last PGA TOUR win came at Bay Hill in 2006. He had spent the previous two years on the Web.com Tour, using a strong run through the Web.com Tour Finals to regain PGA TOUR status. • STORYLINES: Las Vegas has proven to be a haven for first-time winners, with 10 of the event’s past 15 champions making it their first. Smylie Kaufman (2015) and Ben Martin (2014) were the latest to do it, and there was a six-year run of debut winners from 2004-09. … Hoffman is among more than a half-dozen entrants with Las Vegas ties seeking to keep the trophy in local hands. Kevin Na did prevail on home turf in 2011, followed by UNLV grad Ryan Moore a year later. … Pampling has a chance to become just the second man to claim back-to-back titles in Las Vegas, accomplished by Jim Furyk in 1998 and ’99. … Finau, Marty Dou and Xinjun Zhang arrive straight from playing the WGC-HSBC Champions in China. Dou and Zhang are among last month’s graduates of the Web.com Tour. • SHORT CHIPS: This year’s winner will be the first to have his name on the new Howard Hughes Cup, created by The Howard Hughes Corp. to honor the late billionaire’s longtime relationship with the event. The Summerlin development is named after Hughes’ grandmother, built on land he purchased in the 1950s. … A total of 23 Shriners Hospital patients will serve as standard bearers during the final two days. Among them: 11-year-old Christina Juris, born with a deficient left arm who competes in national cross country meets, skis and recently took up golf. • TELEVISION: Thursday-Saturday, 4:30-7:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Sunday, 3:30-6:30 p.m. (GC). • PGA TOUR LIVE: None. • RADIO: Thursday-Friday, 2-8 p.m.; Saturday, 3-8 p.m.; Sunday, 2-7 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).

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