Titleist Pro V1, Pro V1x go through TOUR seeding and validation process in Las Vegas

ATLANTA – When Tiger Woods won the 2007 TOUR Championship at East Lake, he won by eight shots over Mark Calcavecchia and Zach Johnson. It was a different time. Now making his first start here in five years, Woods’ biggest win of late has been of the medical variety. His 2017 back fusion surgery continues to hold up, allowing him to summon just enough of his old magic between the ropes to play his way back amongst the game’s elite. “What I’ve missed most about playing this event is that in order to get into this event, I would have earned my way in here in being part of the top 30 most consistent players of the year and the best players of the year,â€� Woods said in his pre-tournament press conference Wednesday. “No exemptions into this event. Either you get here or you don’t. It’s a very hard line.â€� This season began with uncertainty and turned into thrills reminiscent of a time gone by, with Woods compiling six top-10s, including a solo second at the PGA Championship and T2 at the Valspar Championship. Woods played like Woods again, even if only in fits and starts. Now the question is when he’ll shoot the lowest 72-hole score to notch his 80th PGA TOUR win and first since the 2013 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. In addition to crushing the field here in ’07, he finished second in ’09. As he reiterated Wednesday, he likes it here, putts well on the Bermuda greens, even if it’s going to take some time to get used to the reversal of the nines, which happened while he was gone. What will it take for him to turn one of these top-10s into a win? “Well, it’s always been something (this year),â€� said Woods, who is 20th in the FedExCup. “You know, it’s been I haven’t driven it well, I haven’t hit my irons well, I haven’t chipped well, I haven’t putted well. Just pick one of those things, and it happens to be that particular week. “I seem to have gotten most of those things going well,â€� Woods added, “but there’s always something missing. It could be any of those facets of the game; I just haven’t put it all together at the same time. That’s something that hopefully will come together this week.â€� Whether or not it does, this season will go down as a ‘W’ in the larger sense. Woods has gone from immobility and pain (2017) to the TOUR Championship and a Ryder Cup pick (2018). As he might say in his understated way, that’s pretty good. Oddly enough, he said he realized he might be onto something pretty good this season came after he missed the cut at the Genesis Open, one of his worst performances of the year. The aha moment: Woods felt well enough to add a tournament, the Valspar. “I felt good enough to add a couple more rounds at Tampa,â€� he said. “If I stayed healthy enough and was progressing along the way I was progressing, I would figure out a way to play this game. I would have to alter my swing a bit, alter my equipment a bit, but I would figure out a way to do it … and so it started early in the year that I could actually do this.â€� That said, he added, a day does not go by that he doesn’t think about his fused back. He’s not the same player he was in ’07 or ’02 or 1997, which perhaps makes it all the more remarkable that he’s the envy of everyone who didn’t make the 30-man TOUR Championship and 12-man U.S. Ryder Cup team. He was even asked about playing in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. As he allowed Wednesday, Woods didn’t know at the start of this season whether or not he would survive to see the TOUR’s Florida swing. Now he’s here, at this gathering of the season’s best. He said he’s met his goals, one of which was making it back to the WGC-Bridgestone at Firestone South, where he won eight times and finished T31 this time around. More than that, he said, he has exceeded his expectations. “The ‘W’ category doesn’t compare to some of the years I’ve had where I’ve won eight or nine times in a year,â€� Woods said, “but to have come off the last few years of inactivity and to be able to have qualified for East Lake and to be as consistent as I’ve been and to have put together a game from pretty much nothing, that’s something I’m very proud of.â€�

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• COURSE: East Lake Golf Club, 7,385 yards, par 70. The original home of the Atlanta Athletic Club, the course opened in 1908 as a Tom Bendelow design and was revamped five years later by Donald Ross. It’s best known as the place where Bobby Jones learned the game, shooting 80 by age 11 and later stamping his name in history by completing the 1930 Grand Slam. East Lake hosted the 1950 U.S. Women’s Amateur and 1963 Ryder Cup before a decaying neighborhood sent members moving to the north suburbs. The AAC itself followed in 1967, leaving East Lake in the hands of 25 members opposed to the move. A revival began in 1993 when a partnership was formed to restore the club as a tribute to Jones. The TOUR Championship came to East Lake for the first time in 1998, becoming the annual host in 2004. • FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 2,000 points. • CHARITY: The East Lake Foundation, established in 1995 to spearhead revitalization of the neighborhood surrounding the historic course. The foundation has spurred such projects as the Charles R. Drew Charter School, East Lake Family YMCA and Charlie Yates Golf Course. Funding also is directed to The First Tee. • FIELD WATCH: FedExCup leader Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, separated by just 27 points entering the BMW Championship, headline the 30-man lineup in pursuit of a $10 million bonus for the season champ. World No.1 Dustin Johnson rounds out a strong headline trio. … At least 11 members of the U.S. Presidents Cup roster are projected to tee it up at East Lake, with Phil Mickelson the only one needing to play his way in at Conway Farms. … The International team will send Hideki Matsuyama, Marc Leishman, Jhonattan Vegas, Adam Hadwin and Louis Oosthuizen to Atlanta, with Jason Day on the bubble. • 72-HOLE RECORD: 257, Tiger Woods (2007). • 18-HOLE RECORD: 60, Zach Johnson (3rd round, 2007). • LAST YEAR: Rory McIlroy took home the $10 million season crown with his second victory in three weeks, going four extra holes to survive a wild finish with Ryan Moore and Kevin Chappell. McIlroy fired a 6-under-par 64 to get into the playoff, getting a lift at No.16 when his wedge from 137 yards found the cup. Still, Moore had a chance to win in regulation – and give Johnson the FedExCup – but an 8-foot birdie try at the par-5 18th grazed the edge. Chappell held a two-shot lead with two holes to play when he bogeyed No.17 – just his third of the week – while McIlroy and Moore birdied ahead. The playoff began with McIlroy facing a 6-foot eagle putt, but he missed while Moore drained a 10-foot birdie. Moore’s silver lining was selection to the final spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, where he later tallied the clinching point at Hazeltine National. • STORYLINES: Spieth, Thomas and Johnson are assured of heading to East Lake among the top five in points, allowing them to capture the FedExCup simply by winning the finale. Matsuyama and Jon Rahm have the inside track to the other top-five spots, though the winner at Conway Farms also figures to be in the mix. … Points are reset after the BMW Championship, allowing everyone a mathematical chance of claiming the crown. For No.30 to win, though, the points leader would have to finish in the bottom two at East Lake. … Barring a top-4 finish from McIlroy at Conway Farms, it’ll mark the eighth time in 10 years that the reigning FedExCup champ hasn’t defended at East Lake. The exceptions: Brandt Snedeker in 2013 and Spieth last year. • SHORT CHIPS: Each of the past seven FedExCup champions have done so while winning the TOUR Championship. The last one who didn’t was Tiger Woods, who claimed the 2009 crown while second to Mickelson on the East Lake leaderboard. … Last year’s playoff was the longest in the TOUR Championship’s 30-year history. In 2011, Bill Haas went three extra holes to outlast Hunter Mahan for the twin trophies. … Mickelson is eyeing what would be his 19th TOUR Championship start, extending his own record. • TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 1-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 12:30-2:30 p.m. (GC), 2:30-6 p.m. (NBC). Sunday, noon-1:30 p.m. (GC), 1:30-6 p.m. (NBC). • PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. (featured groups), 1-6 p.m. (featured holes). Saturday-Sunday, 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. (featured holes). • RADIO: Thursday-Friday, noon-6 p.m.; Saturday, 1-7 p.m.; Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).

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