Woods ‘way better’ in advance of BMW Championship

The three-week FedExCup Playoffs begin with THE NORTHERN TRUST at TPC Boston. The 125-man field will be cut down to the top 70 at the end of play Sunday, then the top 30 at the culmination of next week's BMW Championship in Chicago. As always, the season-ending TOUR Championship in Atlanta will then determine who wins the FedExCup, as current No. 1 Justin Thomas looks to join Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy as the only players to win it more than once. Woods, who has slipped down the standings some since winning the inaugural ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in Japan last fall, returns to action at TPC Boston. So does last year's FedExCup winner McIlroy, while Patrick Reed defends his title from 2019 at THE NORTHERN TRUST. FIELD NOTES: A few spots in the top 125 will be confirmed this weekend at the Wyndham Championship... For now, all 125 golfers who are eligible to play THE NORTHERN TRUST are committed... Current FedExCup points leader and Wyndham Rewards Top 10 winner Justin Thomas will lead the pack in Boston... Collin Morikawa will return to action for the first time since winning the PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park... There will be eight past winners at TPC Boston in the field, including Woods, McIlroy, Webb Simpson, Bryson DeChambeau, Adam Scott, Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler, and Charley Hoffman. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 1,500 FedExCup points. COURSE: TPC Boston, 7,342 yards, par 71. Originally an Arnold Palmer design, the course was established in 2002 and redesigned five years later by Gil Hanse with eight-time TOUR winner Brad Faxon serving as a consultant. Golf Digest named the effort by Hanse and Faxon as the Best Private Remodel in 2007. TPC Boston's par-5 18th hole was altered in 2012 to feature a smaller, elevated green. STORYLINES: Only the top 125 golfers in the FedExCup standings are eligible for THE NORTHERN TRUST. The field for the BMW Championship gets trimmed to the top 70, while the TOUR Championship features only the top 30... THE NORTHERN TRUST will rotate between TPC Boston and Liberty National Golf Club. It will return to TPC Boston in 2022… This is the second year the FedExCup playoffs feature only three events, so look for it to be a sprint to East Lake... Tiger Woods is making just his sixth start this season after a T37 at the PGA Championship. He withdrew from last year's THE NORTHERN TRUST, citing a mild oblique strain. This will mark the 11th time Woods has played TPC Boston; he won in 2006... THE NORTHERN TRUST is the only FedExCup event to feature a 36-hole cut. 72-HOLE TOURNAMENT RECORD: 261, Jason Day (2015 - Plainfield Country Club) TPC BOSTON RECORD: 262, Henrik Stenson (2013), Charley Hoffman (2010), Vijay Singh (2008). 18-HOLE TOURNAMENT RECORD: 61, Brandt Snedeker (3rd round, 2011 - Plainfield Country Club). TPC BOSTON RECORD - 61, Vijay Singh (2006), Mike Weir (2008). LAST TIME: Patrick Reed won his second THE NORTHERN TRUST title by one over Abraham Ancer. After an up-and-down opening nine Sunday that featured three birdies and three bogeys, Reed birdied two of his final five holes for 69 and the victory. The runner-up was Ancer's best on the PGA TOUR. Harold Varner III, Jon Rahm, and Adam Scott rounded out the top five. Past FedExCup champs Jordan Spieth, Brandt Snedeker and Rory McIlroy (who would go on to win the 2019 FedExCup) tied for sixth with Louis Oosthuizen. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 3 p.m.-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (CBS). Sunday, 12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday 7:10 a.m.-7 p.m. (Featured Groups). Saturday, 7 p.m.-3 p.m. (Featured Groups), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes). Sunday, 7:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. (Featured Groups), 2:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. (Featured Holes). Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.-6:30 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. Sunday, 1 p.m.-6:30 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio).

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FORT WORTH, Texas – News and notes from Saturday’s third round of the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational, with Webb Simpson leading by two shots after a 3-under 67. Click here for more from Colonial Country Club. SIMPSON HOPES TO SOLVE SHIFTING WINDS The good news: Temperatures for Sunday’s final round should be about 10-plus degrees cooler than Saturday’s scorcher of 96 degrees with a heat index of 108. That should make it slightly more palatable for players and fans at Colonial (but you’ll still need to drink plenty of water!). More good news: Strong overnight thunderstorms should improve scoring conditions on softer greens. In addition, wind gusts are not expected to be as severe as the previous three rounds. The storms also forced tournament officials to adjust the tee times, with threesomes now going off on two tees starting at 11:14 a.m. ET. Now for the challenging news: The wind is expected to shift, and will come out of the north for the first time since the tournament started. It had been a southerly wind the first three days. Thus, the player who makes the quickest adjustment might very well have the advantage Sunday. Tournament leader Webb Simpson (9 under) hopes it’ll be him. “There is going to be probably six holes where we hit a different club off the tee, knowing it’s a north wind,â€� Simpson. “I’m thankful I played in the practice round. I’ve seen this wind before. “You know, just got to map it out a little different.â€� Simpson has the 54-hole lead for the first time in four years. While it’s been a while, he did convert that lead into a victory at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in 2013, the last of his four wins on TOUR. The 2012 U.S. Open winner had a chance to end his victory drought earlier this year at the Waste Management Phoenix Open but lost in a playoff to Hideki Matsuyama. That remains his only top 10 in 16 starts this season, but he feels his game is on the upswing. He tied for 11th at the RBC Heritage in April, and tied for 16th earlier this month at THE PLAYERS Championship. “I feel like Hilton Head, I had a chance to win Sunday,â€� Simpson said. “PLAYERS Championship, I was in the mix after two days. So I feel like that’s starting to happen more, where I’m part of the conversation of contending.â€� CINK, CASEY SEEK TO END DROUGHT Paul Casey’s only TOUR win remains the 2009 Shell Houston Open. Stewart Cink’s last TOUR win was also in 2009 – The Open Championship. Casey, tied for second with Danny Lee, is two shots back of Webb Simpson; Cink is three shots off the pace. Both are excited about the possibilities on Sunday. “I think in your career out here, season after season, you give yourself five or six chances to win, being in the mix on Sunday,â€� Cink said. “One of those times, it might happen, maybe more. “You can’t expect it to happen unless you get yourself in position on Saturday. Got 18 more holes to go. I would love to be down the stretch in the mix here, too, and enjoy that challenge.â€� Cink actually has been in the mix before at Colonial. In 2000, he led by three shots after 54 holes, but closed with a 71 and lost to Phil Mickelson, who shot a 7-under 63. “When I finished that tournament, that was one that I remember I probably let get away,â€� Cink said. “… I took it and learned what I could from it and tried to get a little bit better that day and the rest of the year. It did become a good year for me.â€� As for Casey, he’s won five times on other tours since his win in Houston, the last in 2014 at the European Tour’s KLM Open. He said the few times since then that he’s been in contention, “I haven’t been firing on all cylinders. If I can string together the ball-striking that I’ve been doing and hole putts, then my chances are better than they were before.â€� Casey said he feels “a pretty good calmnessâ€� about entering Sunday’s round in contention. “I would like this to be kind of like a new norm, if possible,â€� he said. SHOT OF THE DAY HEAT TALK Stewart Cink said Saturday’s heat was the No. 1 topic of conversation in the locker room. Here’s what a few of the contenders said about it. Jordan Spieth: “It was tough out there because it was so hot. Legs getting jello-y. Real loose. … I got a little lapse of concentration for a few holes, just a dizziness where anybody would have, where you just kind of not fully there. It kind of let me down. Made a mental mistake hitting my putt too hard. Pounded a bunch of waters and got it back at the end.â€� Jon Rahm: “It really is tough. There’s been some putts where you’re like standing on it and couple sweat drops came down. I’m like, Oh, boy. That’s why I had to move back. Your hands get sweaty. Just be patient and take a couple extra seconds to hit the ball and make sure you stay hydrated.â€� Stewart Cink: “I think the main thing is it’s really the first heat of the year we’ve experienced. You have to go back all the way to, you know, well back into 2016. So we’re just not accustomed to it. Not yet. It’ll be hot like this again in Memphis. Who knows? Could be hot anywhere. We’re getting to that time of year.â€� Paul Casey: “It’s not good. I’m a dry heat kind of guy. God forbid what this place is like in the summertime. Texas is just so extreme. … All credit on the people coming out and watching. I don’t know how they do it. I don’t know how they drink and watch golf in this kind of heat, but I’m glad they do.â€� Webb Simpson: “My trainer says hydration is more important before and after than during [a round]. I’ve just been drinking about a 1,000 ounces of water a day.â€� Kevin Kisner: “Didn’t bother me. I’m fine with it. I love it.â€� CALL OF THE DAY   ODDS AND ENDS Webb Simpson has played Colonial’s Horrible Horseshoe (hole Nos. 3, 4 and 5) in 1 under this week. That three-hole stretch is the toughest on the course. Closest chasers Paul Casey and Danny Lee are each even par for those holes … Until Jordan Spieth won last year, the 54-hole leader at Colonial had not won in the previous seven years … Paul Casey has played seven rounds on the weekend at Colonial, and has broken par each time, including Saturday’s 2-under 68. In his three previous final rounds, his average is 67. … Sergio Garcia’s 1-over 71 dropped him into a tie for eighth, five shots off the pace. Meanwhile, Phil Mickelson shot a 1-under 69 and moved into a tie for 32nd, 10 shots back. BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA #TopTracerGoals pic.twitter.com/f3JvpPWASb — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 27, 2017 If only it was this easy.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/CH7cnWss42 — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 27, 2017 147 yards to 11″. 🎯#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/qoG6SwarN4 — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 27, 2017

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Thomas latest ‘young gun’ to capture major glory

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