Tiger Woods has work to do.
He’s got to do better this week in Boston, better than he did last week in New Jersey.
The 14-time major champion is playing this week for the first time in five years at the TPC Boston, site of the second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs. Woods is hoping he’ll fare better than last week.
His putter was balky for four days at the Northern Trust and as a result, he dropped five spots in the FedEx Cup standings, going from 20 to 25. He’s guaranteed to make it to Aronimink next week in Philly but he doesn’t want to fall out of the top 30.
Woods desperately wants to be in the mix at the Tour Championship and he’ll have to be in the top 30 to realize that.
After taking last week off, Rory McIlroy will insert himself into the playoffs and he needs a good showing in this event, that gets started on Friday to facilitate a final round on Labor Day.
Rory was 21st but was knocked down to 28th with his absence from the Northern Trust.
Rickie Fowler is missing his second straight event, recovering from an oblique muscle tear but good news for Rickie is that he began practicing on Wednesday in Jupiter and appears to be okay.
Now that the buzz from the day after Thanksgiving match between Phil Mickelson and Woods has died down, Woods can try and make up ground on Mickelson, who stands 10th in the FedEx rankings.
Bryson DeChambeau comes in with the momentum from his wind last week, looking to continue to make his convincing case for a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team.
Same for Tony Finau, who has inserted himself into the debate for a captain’s pick.
One hundred players were scheduled to play in Boston, with Fowler and Francesco Molinari not in the field, it will be 98.
