Tiger Woods closer after bogey-free Saturday at BMW Championship
Tiger Woods isn’t out of the running yet.
With a pair of disappointing rounds to kick off the BMW Championship — the second of three playoff stops on the PGA Tour — Woods needed to make a big move this weekend at Medinah Country Club near Chicago if he was going to qualify for the Tour Championship next week at East Lake in Atlanta.
After Saturday, the 81-time Tour winner is halfway there.
Woods fired a bogey-free 5-under 67 on Saturday in the third round, jumping 17 spots on the leaderboard into a tie for 31st. He’s still 14 shots behind Justin Thomas, who erupted on Saturday to fire an 11-under 61 and grab a six-shot lead over the rest of the field.
The top-30 players in the FedExCup standings after Sunday’s final round will advance to the Tour championship next week. Woods started the week just outside the bubble at No. 38 in the standings. He will need to finish in 11th or better to make the field.
“I felt good,” Woods said after his round, via USA Today. “Basically, the only difference between today and last couple of days I was able to clean up the card. I didn't have any stupid mistakes where I made bogey from bad spots or from easy spots. I did the little things that was able to keep the momentum going and made a couple putts here and there.
“At least, I've got a shot at it.”
Even after his impressive bogey-free round — which marked his first bogey-free round on Tour since last year’s third round of the BMW Championship — Woods was still projected to drop a few spots in the FedExCup standings.
“I figure I'm going to have to do something in the mid-60s for two straight days here," Woods said, via USA Today. “Left myself pretty far behind after the first two rounds.”
Woods has had an up-and-down season this year. He has played in just 10 official Tour events, and withdrew from last week’s The Northern Trust after an opening-round 75. While he has four top-10 finishes — including a historic win at The Masters in April — he missed the cut at the PGA and The Open Championships.
“I shoot 60, it should be right,” Woods said, via the PGA Tour.
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