When Tiger Woods entered the Tour Championship, he was No. 20 in the FedEx Cup standings. With one round to play at East Lake, the latest projections have Woods all the way up to No. 2 in the FedEx leaderboard, just behind Justin Rose. Coming into Atlanta, Woods needed a long list of things to happen to win the FedEx Cup, per Golf Channel. • Win the Tour Championship and … • DeChambeau finishes T-15 or worse • Rose finishes in three-way tie for 5th or worse • Finau finishes T-3 or worse • D. Johnson finishes in a three-way tie for 2nd or worse • Thomas finishes in a three-way tie for 2nd or worse • Bradley finishes T-2 or worse The stars have aligned as all of this scenario has played out for Woods, except one key thing. Lost in Woods’ stellar play at the Tour Championship has been Rose’s solid form as well. Woods needs Rose to finish in at least a three-way tie for fifth or worse to have a chance at the FedEx Cup. This is in addition to Woods winning the Tour Championship. Heading into the final day of play at the Tour Championship, Woods leads the field at 12-under, three strokes ahead of Rory McIlroy and Rose who are both tied for second at 9-under. As things stand now, Rose is four strokes ahead of the golfers tied for sixth where he would need to drop for Woods to have a chance at winning the FedEx Cup. Yes, we’re telling you there is a chance Woods can win the FedEx Cup and Tour Championship. Unfortunately for Woods, it has a lot more to do with how Rose does today at East Lake than it does Woods’ play given his strong lead over the field. Rose admitted after Round 3 that it would be difficult for him to catch Woods for the Tour Championship. “I’m sure it will be hard for him tomorrow,” Rose told ESPN. “It will probably be for him, trying to win for the first time again. It’s been a long time. But he has as much experience to draw on that he’s going to be a hard guy to chase down tomorrow.” Here’s a look at the latest projections courtesy of the PGA Tour. FedEx Cup Standings Projections Heading into Final Round PLAYER PROJECTED POINTS 1. Justin Rose 2780 2. Tiger Woods 2219 3. Bryson DeChambeau 2160 4. Tony Finau 1887 5. Dustin Johnson 1576 6. Justin Thomas 1560 7. Rory McIlroy 1252 8. Keegan Bradley 1247 9. Brooks Koepka 1099 10. Billy Horschel 1007 11. Bubba Watson 927 12. Jon Rahm 660 13. Kyle Stanley 651 14. Cameron Smith 640 15. Webb Simpson 612 16. Jason Day 560 17. Xander Schauffele 531 18. Paul Casey 518 19. Francesco Molinari 491 20. Aaron Wise 486 21. Patrick Cantlay 453 22. Tommy Fleetwood 451 23. Phil Mickelson 448 24. Patrick Reed 432 25. Gary Woodland 413 26. Rickie Fowler 374 27. Hideki Matsuyama 354 27. Kevin Na 354 29. Marc Leishman 316 30. Patton Kizzire 307 FedEx Cup Standings Prior to Tour Championship<doc-sep>ATLANTA — Wearing shades, his black Nike hat on backwards and a black tank top that revealed massive arms, Tiger Woods, carrying his Sunday red in one hand, strolled to the clubhouse at East Lake Golf Club for the final round of The Tour Championship. It was a picture of confidence, an intimidating one at that, an image of a man who was in total control and knew what lie ahead. Six hours later, and after a wardrobe change, Woods was posing with the championship hardware, a portrait that seemed impossible 18 months ago. With a two-shotvictory in the season finale, a win reminiscent of so many from his best days of yesteryear, Woods capped a comeback for the ages and completed his climb out of an abyss of physical agony, mental anguish and spiritual loss. The 14-time major champion also continued his remarkable climb up the official world rankings, all the way to No. 13 after starting his comeback ranked No. 1,199th. Woods wasn’t the only winner at East Lake. Despite finishing in a tie for fourth, world No. 1 Justin Rose finished No. 1 in the FedExCup and won the $10 million bonus. But this day belonged to Woods and his legion of fans who have been hoping this day would come for some time. Even Woods was among those who didn’t know if this day would come, his body punished enough to require four surgeries to his left knee and four surgeries to his back. But 17 months removed from fusion surgery to his spine, and 16 months after he hit rock bottom and the world saw the alarming mug shot following his arrest for DUI, Woods was a picture of health and joy after PGA Tour victory No. 80 and his first since 2013, or in 1,876 days. After starting his latest comeback with tempered expectations and doubts about how long he could play, how often he could play and how well he could play, Woods steadily pieced together his swing and game. First there were baby steps to make sure his body was whole. Then small strides with his swing. Then confidence boosters and moral victories one tournament at a time, a few moments in contention, too. A key moment came in February after Woods missed the cut in the Genesis Open. It was then that Woods realized he was healthy enough to add a tournament to his schedule instead of subtracting, which he feared he’d have to do at the start of the year. Woods knew then that if he stayed healthy, he’d put together a swing that would work at the highest level in golf. With each passing month, Woods tinkered with his equipment to coincide with his swing. Later in the year, he used three different putter models in three consecutive starts. And before the FedExCup Playoffs began, Woods changed the shaft and the loft of his driver, losing a tad of distance but gaining accuracy and assurance. With a tie for fourth in the BMW Championship in his last start — his sixth top-6 of the year, two of them coming in the British Open and PGA Championship — Woods arrived here with all aspects of his game on point and a look about him that said he knew this week would be the week. After opening with a 65 to grab a share of the lead and then a 68 to maintain a share of the lead, Woods assumed command with a Saturday blitz in which he birdied six of his first seven holes. Armed with a three-shot lead after 54 holes, Woods became the Woods of old, keeping his pursuers at bay with a conservative approach that was still lethal as other scrambled to make birdies. After making birdie on the first to stretch his lead, Woods aimed for fairways and the middle of the greens and two-putted the field, which featured 21 of the other top 25 players in the world, into submission. For the final act of the year, Woods shared the stage with another megastar, one Rory McIlroy, a four-time major winner. But McIlroy wasn’t up to the task — nor was anyone else — and the massive crowds roared their approval of Woods on every hole of the tournament. Just as it was back in his heyday, Woods with the 54-hole lead is money and extremely hard to catch. With this win, he is now 54-4 when he holds at least a share of the 54-hole lead, and 24-for-24 when that lead is at least three shots. For this week, Tiger Woods was Tiger Woods again, the best player on the planet who knew he was the best player on the planet. And now the golf world awaits his encore next season. “It’s a miracle what he’s done this year,” Paul Azinger said. “This wasn’t some ceremonial walk into the sunset. This guy’s got game, some serious game. I’m shocked. There’s no way he’s doing what he’s doing. He’s a living, breathing, walking medical miracle. To be doing what he’s doing at the highest level in golf, it’s truly amazing.” But Phil Mickelson said Woods’ latest victory wasn’t a shock. “He’s played such good golf all year that it’s just not surprising,” Mickelson said. “It was just a matter of time before he won. He’s playing so well on a difficult golf course and we all expected it.”<doc-sep>
Tiger Woods headed into the Tour Championship needing a bit of help to stay in contention to win the FedEx Cup, and he is getting just that. Here’s what Woods needed to happen heading into East Lake for him to win the FedEx Cup, per Golf Channel. [Tiger Woods needs to ] win the Tour Championship and …DeChambeau finishes T-15 or worse. Rose finishes in three-way tie for 5th or worse. Finau finishes T-3 or worse. D. Johnson finishes in a three-way tie for 2nd or worse. Thomas finishes in a three-way tie for 2nd or worse. Bradley finishes T-2 or worse As we approach the weekend, Woods has gotten a lot of that to happen. Woods’ biggest threat to winning the FedEx Cup is Justin Rose, who still sits in first in the FedEx Cup standings by a wide margin. Woods would need to keep up his play, and have Rose fall back this weekend. For the most part in 2018, Woods has tended to get off to a slow start and make up ground during the weekend. However, Woods started out red-hot at East Lake and has not looked back through two days. Woods followed up a stellar 65 in Round 1 by shooting a 68 on Round 2. Woods is currently tied with Rose for the lead at the Tour Championship, but Rose has the overall lead in the FedEx Cup standings based on the latest projections. Tiger Woods Is No. 2 in the Latest FedEx Cup Standings Projections Rose started the week No. 2 in the FedEx standings, while Woods was all the way down at No. 20. Woods has taken advantage of the fast greens at East Lake to make up a lot of ground. Woods reflected on how he feels on the course after the first day of the tournament. “To be able to play golf again and to earn my way back to this level is something that I was hoping I would do at the beginning of the year, but I didn’t know. And I’ve done it,” Woods told the Chicago Tribune. “It would enhance the year…I hit so many quality shots all day, whether it was tee to green or it was putts. I didn’t really mishit a single shot today. The only shot I can honestly say that I necked pretty bad was the tee shot at 17. Hit a 3-wood there, and with an iron, I probably would have shanked it. But ended up in the fairway and made par.” Woods is No. 2 in the PGA Tour’s live projections. Rose still has quite a lead based on the current Tour Championship leaderboard. Woods is about 1,581 points back from Rose atop the FedEx projections, even with his showing at East Lake. Woods needs Rose to have very poor showings this weekend for him to have a chance at winning the FedEx Cup. Regardless of what still needs to happen, Woods sniffing around the top of both the FedEx Cup and Tour Championship leaderboards makes for a great grand finale weekend for the PGA Tour. READ NEXT: Kultida Woods, Tiger’s Mom: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know