Despite Saturday 74, Woods’ National final round still important
GAINESVILLE, Va. — Tiger Woods is not going to win the Quicken Loans National. However, all is not lost.
Woods can make progress in prolonging his season with an aggressive, well-played final round at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. The world No. 266 sits nine shots behind 54-hole leaders Troy Merritt and Kevin Chappell, but his target is the top 10. Tied for 42nd place, Woods is six shots below that water mark. Why the top 10? That’s a borderline must for Woods to have even a chance to sneak into the FedEx Cup playoffs and avoid missing the PGA Tour’s postseason for the third time in five seasons.
Entering this week, Woods was 315 points out of 125th place and the final qualifying spot. Winners of PGA Tour events get 500 points for each victory, with points awarded to every player who makes the cut. If Woods finishes in the top 10 on Sunday, he’ll snag somewhere in the area of 75 points, still leaving him well outside of the playoffs.
Woods still has at least one remaining start this season, coming at the PGA Championship, where FedEx Cup points are boosted by 20 percent. A runner-up finish — however unlikely that sounds right now — at Whistling Straits would get Woods into the playoffs. If that doesn’t materialize, then Woods has the nuclear option: playing the Wyndham Championship.
The 14-time major champion has never teed it up as a pro at the Greensboro, N.C., event, but Woods surprised on Friday when he suggested there’s a first time for everything.
“Well, I’m playing the PGA in a couple weeks,” Woods said after his second round. “Hopefully I can play next week at Bridgestone if everything goes well this week, and then we’ll see about Wyndham after that and hopefully I’ll be in the playoffs.”
With the stated goal of extending his season, even if by a week or two, into the playoffs, Greensboro is in play. However, even if Woods plays Sedgefield Country Club, he’ll have to post what would be a third-consecutive high finish to skate by into the playoffs.
If Woods flails about again on Sunday after a Saturday 74, then his season is all but over. Woods won’t be doing the mental FedEx Cup math by the shot, but it should become clear pretty quickly if he is long for September golf.
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
