Monday Finish: McIlroy at height of powers in eye-popping win

SAN DIEGO – For the second straight day Tiger Woods hit just three of 14 fairways and nine greens in regulation, but he kept it together with his short game at the Farmers Insurance Open. On another warm, picturesque day at Torrey Pines, Woods got up and down seven times in nine chances to salvage a 2-under 70 in the third round. At 3 under, he is eight shots behind the 54-hole leader, Sweden’s Alex Noren (69). “Well, that’s just fighting, you know, fighting and grinding,â€� Woods said after missing a birdie putt of just over 10 feet at the par-5 ninth hole to end his four-birdie, two-bogey round. “I tried as hard as I possibly could out there. I didn’t have much, but I fought and put up a score and made some putts.â€� When Woods didn’t miss left, he missed right. Or long. Or short. He saw parts of Torrey Pines that probably aren’t even visible from a paraglider. But in his first PGA TOUR start in exactly a year he was in mid-season form around the greens, showing soft hands on pitches and chips, and taking 26 putts. “His short game is probably as good if not better than I remember it being,â€� said Brandt Snedeker (74, 1 over), who along with Sung Kang (75, 2 over) played with Woods. “The long game is there. It’s just, as anybody will tell you, you need reps, you need real-time speed, real-time thought process to get over those nerves. I’ve known Tiger for a long time; he gets nervous for the first five or six holes, and the swing is a little bit out of sequence and it throws you off. “The things I look for is his fight and his grind, and is he doing the short-game stuff, and it’s all there. It’s not as far away as I thought it would be, just starting out and not being able to play professional golf for two years.â€� Woods is a 79-time TOUR winner and has 14 major championship titles to his name, so it was only human to wonder how his fused back would hold up, and how he would perform under tournament pressure. He had looked comfortable making his professional comeback at the unofficial Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas last month, finishing ahead of such players as Justin Thomas. But Albany is generous off the tee, and the rough is friendly. Not so at Torrey Pines. The most telling stat so far this week: Woods has hit just six of his last 28 fairways. “I didn’t hit it worth a darn all day,â€� he said. “I was really struggling out there trying to find anything that was resemblance of a golf swing. But I was scoring, I was chipping, putting, I was grinding. “I was trying to miss the ball on the correct sides because I knew I didn’t have it, trying to give myself the correct angles, and I did that most of the day. Then I had to rely on my touch, my feel, my putting, and it’s been good all week.â€� Thick crowds followed Woods all the way around. There was a woman in a tiger onesie, a man in a T-shirt with a photo of a steely-eyed Tiger and the words, “Who said I was done?â€� The air over Torrey was filled with planes towing banners, paragliders, a helicopter, and the Goodyear Blimp. And the weather was the sort that compels people to move to California. The fans said, “Have you ever seen a living legend?â€� And, “C’mon, this isn’t 25-year-old Tiger Woods.â€� The man they’d come to see got up and down from the steep embankment behind the green at the par-3 third hole, and from the collar just in front of the fourth green. His play from tee to green may have been “grossâ€� (Woods’ word), but it was also tidy. Saturday marked the second straight day in which Woods went seven-for-nine in scrambling. “His short game is unbelievable,â€� Snedeker said. “I was impressed. He hit a bunch of tough ones out there that could have gone either way. He hit some really quality pitch shots. This rough is tough to judge. You normally hit some 10 or 12 feet by, and he didn’t do that, judged it very well all day. He rolled it fantastic, obviously, which helps.â€� As for the rest? Coming back from an injury takes time, as Snedeker can attest. He missed half the year with a strained rib last season, and as a two-time Farmers champion he thought he was headed for something special this week when he shot 65 on the South Course on Wednesday. It just hasn’t happened for Snedeker yet. Or for Woods. “He hit some wild ones early, and then on the back nine started getting some more findable, on the planet,â€� Snedeker said. “Tiger brings the excitement, people going crazy on every hole, and it’s fun to have that back. We need that in golf.â€�

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THE OVERVIEW NEWTON SQUARE, Pa. – Good news for the rest of the field at this week’s BMW Championship. Bryson DeChambeau, at age 24, is tired. “Not going to lie. Winning two in a row is a lot more than I thought it would be mentally and physically,â€� he said Wednesday. Not that he’s complaining. With wins in the first two FedExCup Playoffs events, DeChambeau has a lock on the No. 1 spot in the points standings. No matter how he performs at Aronimink, he will remain at the top when the TOUR Championship tees off in two weeks. Although a player has won two tournaments in the same season nine times in the Playoffs’ 12-year history, no player has even won three Playoffs events in the same year. DeChambeau would like to be the first. Of course, in all honesty, if forced to choose, he’d rather win at East Lake than Aronimink, since winning the TOUR Championship would guarantee him the FedExCup. Of the 69 players in this week’s field, DeChambeau is the only one who needn’t bother with points projections or FedExCup movement. He can focus solely on the tournament itself, knowing that the points reset after the BMW Championship will not impact him. It’s a unique position for golf’s most unique player. Not since Vijay Singh in 2008 has a player won the first two Playoffs events – and that was before the points were adjusted to prevent a player from wrapping up the FedExCup prior to East Lake. With less on the line than anybody else, DeChambeau could have easily taken the week off and gained a valuable week of rest while his competitors battle in the Philly heat. Give him credit for simply showing up at Aronimink. “I thought about taking a week off,â€� he said. “I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t do that to the BMW and I couldn’t do that to all the fans and the sponsors that have helped put this event on. “It would be easy for me to say, ‘Hey, I’m just going to skip this week because I’m tired.’ But no, I want to win three in a row and get some world ranking points as well.â€� If DeChambeau does win this week, he would be the first player in the FedExCup era to win tournaments in three consecutive weeks at any point of the season. Tiger Woods won events in three straight weeks near the end of the 2006 season. While he faces a smaller field (69 players) this week than he did at THE NORTHERN TRUST (119 players) or last week’s Dell Technologies Championship (98 players), he realizes the odds are not in his favor. “Going back to statistics, it would be harder to win three in a row,â€� he said Monday after winning at TPC Boston. “But I’ve got a couple of days to prepare on a golf course I’ve never seen before … If I keep executing shots well, I’m going to give myself a chance – just like these last few weeks.â€� Even if he doesn’t win, DeChambeau will at least get a chance to rest in the off-week prior to the TOUR Championship. Well, not really. Two months ago, he bought a house. He closes on it next week. THREE PLAYERS TO PONDER THE FLYOVER At 242 yards, the eighth hole is the longest par 3 at Aronimink. Expect it to be the toughest hole at the course. In 2011 when the course last hosted a PGA TOUR event, the stroke average at the eighth was 3.379, making it the third hardest par 3 on the PGA TOUR that season (out of 206 par-3 holes). An elevated back tee to a narrow green bisected by a mound – par all four days will be more than acceptable. LANDING ZONE The 13th is the shortest par 4 at Aronimink, listed at 385 yards on the scorecard. In 2011, tournament officials moved the tees up in the third, encouraging players to go for the green. Bill Haas had the only successful tee shot of the 41 attempts that round. On most days, players will avoid driver and simply try to find the fairway for a short iron into a guarded green. Here’s a look at where all tee shots landed at the 13th in 2011. WEATHER CHECK From PGA TOUR meteorologist Joe Halvorson: “There is a risk for scattered thunderstorms after 2 p.m. Thursday as a cold front approaches from the north. Storms will be likely along this front Thursday evening into Thursday night. With this boundary stalling just south of the area, showers and thunderstorms will remain possible on Friday, with likely chances forecast during the afternoon hours. Rain will continue overnight into Saturday, likely becoming light and isolated after 10 a.m. Afternoon showers are possible Sunday afternoon as a system lifts though the Great Lakes. The heat index will be in the mid-90s on Thursday.â€� For the latest weather news from Newton Square, Pennsylvania, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK He’s answered a lot of questions, I think, for a lot of people the last two weeks. I’m actually inside the number right now. You might forget. BY THE NUMBERS 0 – Number of three-putts in 144 holes played by Tony Finau in the Playoffs. That’s the longest active streak of any player. 42 – Number of players who have the opportunity to move inside the top 5 in FedExCup points. The number doesn’t include Bryson DeChambeau, who is guaranteed to remain No. 1. The 42 players are chasing Nos. 2-5, who will also control their own destiny at East Lake. 48 – Number of spots Hideki Matsuyama has improved in FedExCup points since the start of the Playoffs. That’s the largest move by any player in this week’s field. 1,418 – The projected number of FedExCup points needed to move inside the top 30 for the TOUR Championship. Currently, just 20 players are above that total. Click here for this week’s Scenarios. SCATTERSHOTS Jordan Spieth grew up in Dallas and is a diehard Cowboys fan. As you might imagine, that doesn’t go over well in the land of the reigning Super Bowl champions. During a practice round Tuesday, he kept hearing the same thing from the gallery: “How ‘bout the Eagles?â€� Jordan tried to ignore it, but finally couldn’t. “If you don’t respond, they’ll yell it louder and louder and louder,â€� he said. “So finally just like, ‘Yes, I get it. Thank you.’â€� Added Spieth: “I don’t work for the Cowboys. I’m born and raised in Dallas. Can’t hate a person for being a fan of their hometown team. … I’m sure that won’t be the last time I hear it this week.â€� A year ago, Tony Finau shot a final-round 64 at the BMW Championship at Conway Farms to claw his way inside the top 30 and reach the TOUR Championship. Not only has he already a secured a spot this season, he’s now vying for a coveted top-5 position. “The BMW was a turning point I feel like in my career,â€� Finau said. “I was on the outside looking in going into the final round. I knew I had to put a special round together – and I shot 64. I’ll never forget.â€� If you see players wearing red-and-black ribbons this week, it’s for a good reason. Defending BMW champion Marc Leishman has encouraged the rest of the field to wear the ribbons in honor of Sepsis Awareness month. Leishman’s wife Audrey had a near-death experience with sepsis in the spring of 2015 and soon after started their Begin Again Foundation. 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“It’s one of the most shocking, tragic days that I’ve ever been a part of in a very quick span here,” Tiger Woods said Sunday, reacting to the news of Kobe Bryant’s death.

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