Reuters/Norton, Massachusetts
Tiger Woods says he has shaken off his back problems and is confident his recent weekend struggles are not part of a new trend as he sets his sights on this week’s Deutsche Bank Championship.
Tiger Woods is confident his recent weekend struggles are not part of a new trend as he sets his sights on the Deutsche Bank Championship
Woods entered the PGA Tour’s lucrative four-event playoffs at the top of the FedExCup standings but faded in last week’s Barclays tournament, finishing in a tie for 38th after being inside the top 10 at the midway point.
His slide was partly attributed to a tweaked back after sleeping on a soft hotel bed, although he managed the pain successfully during his second round at Bethpage Black.
“The back is good,” world number three Woods told reporters on Thursday while preparing for Friday’s opening round at the TPC Boston. “It was nice to have the treatment there on the weekend and then have Monday off.
“It’s nice this tournament starts a little bit later, so I’ve got an extra day to kind of get some more treatment at home,” he said of the unusual Friday start. “Yesterday, it felt great. I hit it really well, and had no issues at all.”
Woods slipped to third in the FedExCup standings after The Barclays and, though he is guaranteed a spot in the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta, his recent poor form over the weekend has prompted some to question his ‘killer’ instinct.
“You can’t really look at it as real bad, going on this year,” said Woods, who has fallen backwards in the last three majors after being in contention going into the weekend.
“At the time, most of the year, I was leading the money list, I was number one in FedExCup points and I won three times, so it’s not like it’s been that bad.”
Woods, a 14-times major winner, has won three PGA Tour events this season, more than anyone else.
“It’s just a couple rounds here and there or it’s an up-and-down here and there or it’s making one putt,” said the 36-year-old American who won the Deutsche Bank Championship in 2006, one year before the FedExCup was launched.
“I played all right (in practice) today. I worked on a couple things ... I’m not that far off.”
Ninety-eight players are in the field at the TPC Boston and the top 70 will advance to next week’s BMW Championship in Carmel, Indiana.
Only 30 players will then qualify for the Sep. 20-23 Tour Championship finale in Atlanta where the overall points winner pockets a $10mn bonus.
McIlroy eager to add more majors
Rory McIlroy’s dominant victory in the PGA Championship whetted his appetite for major titles, but the 23-year-old world number one says he has plenty of time to add to his tally of two.
McIlroy, who claimed his first major title at the 2011 US Open, says he will not be turning his career into a pursuit of Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 major golf titles, a mark that 14-time major winner Tiger Woods has unabashedly targeted.
“I never grew up chasing records or trying to put a certain number on it,” McIlroy said Thursday on the eve of the Deutsche Bank Championship, the second of four events in the US PGA Tour’s playoff series.
“I’ve got my second major and I’m looking for my third. Hopefully it’s not too long before I get my third, and then when I get my third, I want to get my fourth. That’s the way I’m approaching it.
“I don’t want to put any number on it because if I just throw a random number out there and I don’t get to it, I don’t want me to be disappointed with a career that’s actually very good or everyone else to feel like I haven’t lived up to expectations.”
McIlroy said he had become used to heightened expectations and scrutiny after winning the US Open, and his PGA victory earlier this month, which put him back atop the world rankings, hadn’t changed things much.
“Life since winning the second one hasn’t changed at all,” he said. “It felt much different than the first. It felt normal, felt like this is what I’m supposed to do, these are the tournaments that I’m supposed to win.”
Although McIlroy will be the youngest winner of Europe’s Ryder Cup team in the match play showdown with the US next month, he says he thinks he is ready to be a leader on the team captained by Jose Maria Olazabal.
“You can’t be afraid to voice your opinion,” said McIlroy, who made his Ryder Cup debut two years ago. “If you really feel strongly about something in the team room, you’ve got to stand up and speak.
“This will be my second one. I know there’s a lot of older guys than me that are going to be on the European team, but I feel like I’m in a position where I’d be one of the leaders of the team, and if I feel strongly about something, I’ll voice that.”