Fansided

Tiger Woods: The ultimate driving machine at the BMW Championship

By Sam Ofman

PARAMUS, NJ - AUGUST 26: Tiger Woods of the United States plays his shot from the 16th fairway during the final round of The Northern Trust on August 26, 2018 at the Ridgewood Championship Course in Ridgewood, New Jersey. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
PARAMUS, NJ - AUGUST 26: Tiger Woods of the United States plays his shot from the 16th fairway during the final round of The Northern Trust on August 26, 2018 at the Ridgewood Championship Course in Ridgewood, New Jersey. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Tiger Woods enters the weekend at the BMW Championship at eight strokes under par, in need of a strong final two rounds to capture his first victory on the PGA Tour in more than five years.

The top 70 players in the FedEx Cup rankings are taking it to the Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, PA this week. The course yielded birdies in bunches over the first 36 holes of competition, and the weekend promises fireworks from golf’s biggest stars.

Last year’s Tour Championship winner, Xander Schauffele, leads the field at -13 after rounds of 63 and 64, with major championship winners Justin Rose and Keegan Bradley among those within striking distance.

Tiger Woods made headlines with an opening round 62 but failed to maintain his momentum on Friday, rounding out a disappointing round at even par with back to back bogeys.

In recent weeks, Woods has relied on his putter to bail him out of tough spots, grinding out pars to make up for his remarkably poor driving performance. He ranked 145th in Driving Accuracy heading into this week. 

On Friday at the BMW, he was the ultimate driving machine, hitting 11 of 14 fairways to eclipse his season average by more than 20 percent. These stats are a little skewed, as Aronimink’s fairways are about as wide as Chicago’s I-94, which could be why despite the impressive tee game, Tiger only managed an even par 70. 

Tiger isn’t just driving the ball, he’s also driving us all crazy. Just when we think he’s ready to break through, he lips out a short par putt and stalls his momentum.

Drive for show, putt for dough. Tiger didn’t make a putt outside of six feet on Friday, and no matter how well you drive the ball, you need to make putts to win tournaments. Tiger struggled to adjust to the slower conditions on the greens, and the missed opportunities from Friday’s round could cost him a chance at victory.

The good news for Tiger is that he’s only five strokes out of the lead with 36 holes to play, and he’s been consistently performing over the weekends in big events this year. Tiger posted a -10 at the PGA Championship over the weekend, which outpaced eventual champion Brooks Koepka. After starting +2 at the Northern Trust through 36, he put together a combined -4 on Saturday and Sunday. Don’t be surprised to see a big move from Woods on Moving Day.

As much as fans want to see Tiger succeed, it’s hard to stomach the subjective enthusiasm seeping out of the broadcast booth. “Maybe it’s time for a roof-raising ace for Tiger,” they said, moments before Tiger flared one into a bunker on his way to a devastating bogey. Relax, boys, and let him play his game without getting our hopes up.

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Other takeaways from the first 36 holes:

Schauffele vs. Finau — The competition for the final spot on the US Ryder Cup team intensified during the last 48 hours. If Schauffele wins this week, it’ll be very hard not to send him to Paris. However, Finau is coming off a solo second and a T4 in the last two weeks of Playoff golf, and could very well post another top-5 finish this week. Good luck Captain Furyk. If you want my advice, go with Finau. He’s way more fun.

Jordan Spieth — The #10 player in the world rankings is in danger of missing the Tour Championship. Spieth is playing for pride this weekend. I’ll be keeping an eye on how he handles the pressure.

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