Chip Harp | Live from East Lake Golf Club for Valdosta Today
ATLANTA – What a season it has been for Tiger Woods in his quest to return to the top of a sport he ruled for years. After struggling with personal problems and injuries that affected his game, Tiger now appears poised to make an astounding return as a PGA TOUR winner.
Better, it could be at one of golf’s most important events, the TOUR Championship, held this week at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
Woods leads the tournament with Rickie Fowler who both shot 65. Gary Woodland and Justin Rose are one shot back.
The home to Bobby Jones is proving its usual challenge to the 30 top players in golf, who earned their way to East Lake via merit alone. And that included Woods who jumped to the top of the leaderboard after a splendid round. Others saw challenges with water, trees, and the Bermuda rough.
It was Woods and Fowler who are finding opportunity. Fowler jumped briefly to the top spot in the FedEx Cup standings after his round. Woods moved to second and Fowler to third after today’s round.
It was new World Golf Number 1 Justin Rose, of England, who took the lead in the FedEx Cup points standings. He finished -4 with birdies on 17 and 18 after a bogey on 15 set him back.
The FedEx points leader going into the tournament, Bryson DeChambeau, had a rough day shooting a 1-over 71 and dropping back to fourth in FedEx Cup points, behind Rose, Woods, and Fowler. He’s tied for 21st for the tournament.
“I played well today”, Woods said in the tournament interview room after his round. “It wasn’t exactly the start I was looking for, but I made two good putts there at 5 and 6 and got to under par, and then from there I hit it pretty good.”
“But more than anything” Woods continued, “I missed it all on the correct sides. Even the fairways I missed, all were on the correct sides. I had nice angles. The shots I missed were on the greens, all had beautiful angles. All in all, I had a lot of control today.”
Though everyone seems excited to see Tiger back on top with large galleries following him, there is still a lot more golf to be played and 29 more golfers who will have a say as to whether Woods can make his return as a tournament champion with golf’s biggest purse and season finale at stake.
