Tiger Woods Misses Tour Championship Cutoff After 7 Under at BMW Championship
Tyler Conway@jtylerconway
Featured ColumnistAugust 18, 2019
Tiger Woods will not get a chance to defend his Tour Championship triumph from a year ago.
Woods carded an even-par 72 in Sunday's fourth round at the 2019 BMW Championship, sending him into the clubhouse in a tie for 38th place. At 4:10 p.m. ET, he was projected to finish 42nd in the FedEx Cup standings, putting him well short of the 30th-place cutoff for the year-end event.
Entering the day in a tie for 31st after carding a five-under 67 in Round 3, Woods needed a round just as strong to put himself in contention for the Tour Championship. He instead regressed back to his mean of the first two rounds, playing at around his average from the tee and irons throughout the day. Tiger hit 63.9 percent of his greens in regulation and 67.9 percent of his fairways for the week.
Overall, Woods finished with three birdies and three bogeys on the round. Back-to-back birdies at Nos. 4 and 5 put him in a seemingly strong position to make a run in the FedEx standings, but his round lost steam due to his propensity to find sand. Woods found traps on Nos. 6, 9 and 13 that ultimately resulted in bogeys.
Tiger's 2019 PGA season will be remembered for his Masters comeback before his body once again began to fail him. He was forced to withdraw from last week's Northern Trust due to an oblique strain, and he's fought intermittent back pain as his performance suffered.
After winning the Masters, Woods recorded just three rounds in the 60s the rest of the year. He missed two cuts and finished no higher than ninth in any event.
"Just Father Time and some procedures I've had over the time. Just the way it's going to be," Woods told reporters of his health in July. "One of the reasons why I'm playing less tournaments this year is that I can hopefully prolong my career, and be out here for a little bit longer."
The next major event for Woods will be the 2019 Presidents Cup in December. Woods will serve as a captain on the roster against longtime rival Ernie Els.
It's unclear if Woods will play any events between now and December, though it's possible he'll use this time to get his body in shape. Either way, it's a disappointing end to a season that began on one of the highest notes of his career.