Tiger Woods has played a fairly light schedule since returning from his fourth back surgery earlier this year, but that’s set to change, as the 14-time major winner has committed to playing in the FedEx Cup events that begin later this month.
Combined with his existing commitments and his qualification for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Woods is set to play five of the next six weeks, a schedule that includes next week’s PGA Championship.
Solid Season, Playoff Position
On Tuesday, the PGA Tour announced that Woods had entered the Northern Trust and the Dell Technologies Championship, the first two legs of the FedEx Cup series of tournaments that act as a playoff for professional golf.
At the moment, Woods is ranked 47th in the FedEx Cup standings. That will easily qualifying him for the first two cup events: he only needs to rank in the top 125 to enter the first event (held August 23-26), and the top 100 for the Dell Technologies Championship. He’s also almost certain to qualify for the third leg – the BMW Championship – which takes the top 70 players.
If Woods does play all three, it will be the first time he plays three consecutive weeks since he came back from his most recent surgery. But while it will be a lot for Tiger to take on, he says he has been preparing himself for the eventuality of a busy schedule.
“Early part of the summer, [I realized that] if I played well, this is what I was going to have to endure, coming with a pretty big schedule at the very end,” Woods told reporters in Akron while preparing for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. “My training schedule, how to build myself, my recovery breaks even had to factor in how much I can practice, just to make sure I’m physically fit enough to get through this section.”
Woods Hopes to Play at Ryder Cup
Woods’ schedule could get even busier if he performs well in the first weeks of the FedEx Cup. The fourth and final event of the series is the Tour Championship, which takes only the top 30 players in the standings heading into that week. Woods is also likely to be an at-large pick for the United States in the Ryder Cup, which takes place the week after the FedEx Cup ends.
“I’m outside of the top eight [automatic qualifiers] and I’m going to be there either case [as a vice captain], but I would like to be there as a player as well,” Woods said of the Ryder Cup.
Tiger’s busier schedule comes at a time when when the 42-year-old appears to be recapturing the form that has helped him put together one of the greatest careers in golf history. Woods’ last PGA Tour victory came at the WGC-Bridgestone in 2013, but he was a factor at the British Open earlier this month, briefly taking the lead in the final round before a double-bogey took him out of contention. He would finish three strokes back of winner Francesco Molinari.
Woods’ recent play has made him popular with bettors again: William Hill lists him at 10/1 to win the WGC-Bridgestone, and 16/1 to win the US Open. According to GolfOdds.com, Woods is also a 16/1 pick to win the FedEx Cup championship.
