Starting just one shot behind Steve Stricker and Aaron Baddeley, it didn’t take Tiger Woods long to catch fire and pass them both by a comfortable margin.
This was Tiger’s sixth win of 2007 and increased his lead on the money list by over four million dollars and Woods is poised to break the ten million dollar mark next week at the Tour Championship. More importantly, Tiger’s win allows him to control his fate in the FedEx Cup playoff. Woods’s round of 63 tied the course record, and the eight birdies he compiled were just too much for the competition to catch him on Sunday. Woods said, "Normally, you don’t have to make that many birdies, but with the conditions this soft the guys are just going to beat this place apart. I think the three of us just got wrapped up in it. We were all making birdies and we kept pushing each other. I just made a few more on that back nine."
The turning point in the round began on the par 3 12th hole. With an extreme right hand pin tucked on a narrow peninsula, Woods played a safe shot left of the pin and leaving himself a long birdie putt. With Stricker and Baddeley watching, Woods drained his long putt to take the out right lead he would not relinquish. Stricker and Baddeley both failed to hit the green, with Stricker bogeying the hole to give Woods a two shot cushion. It would be more than enough for Woods who went on to add three more birdies to finish the tournament at -22. "I hit a pretty safe shot into 12 today. I played way left and made a nice bomb there. Then made a nice birdie at the very next hole. So birdieing 12 and 13 back-to-back, I felt — it was about even because I should have birdied 10 and 11, so I was right at the number I should have been anyways," said Woods.
For Stricker and Baddeley it was all they could do just to keep Woods in sight. Stricker said, "There isn’t a lot you can do. You would have had to match that today to beat him. I would have had to shoot 63 today to beat him. I mean, it’s possible, but you have to play mistake-free… It’s tough. You know, it’s tough to make some birdies when you have to. He put the pressure on us really to do that, and neither one of us did coming in." Yet, even Tiger’s masterful performance was slightly muted by Stricker’s hometown support. Stricker, a Wisconsin native and graduate of nearby University of Illinois received quite a bit of support from the crowd and enjoyed it immensely: "It’s a great atmosphere for me. I don’t get this very often. Being a couple hours away from home and where I went to school at U of I is great for me. I get a lot of support and see a lot of family and friends."
And now the FedEx Cup drama boils down to one tournament – next week’s Tour Championship which is already shrouded in an air of controversy. Due to drought conditions in the Atlanta area, the Tour Championship Pro Am and practice rounds for players have been canceled in a final effort to save the greens. Henry Hughes, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the PGA Tour said, "We are working diligently to improve and present the golf course in the best condition possible for next week’s tournament. While restricting players’ practice rounds and canceling the pro-am is not an ideal scenario, we felt this was the best decision in order to allow us a few more days to prepare the greens for the event."
Regardless of the conditions of the greens, the final play for the FedEx cup is become clear – only two players control their own destinies. If either Steve Stricker or Tiger Woods wins the Tour Championship, they win the FedEx Cup. Phil Mickelson’s decision to skip the BMW Championship appears to have hurt him more than he might have thought because even if Mickelson wins a solo second place finish by Tiger Woods still wins him the FedEx Cup. A whole host of scenarios are up for grabs, with five players (Baddeley, Choi, Mickelson, Sabbatini, and Woods) all with a realistic shot of winning the FedEx Cup with a win at this week’s Tour Championship.
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