The running joke in golf circles is that the PGA Tour will find a way to give Tiger Woods a special exemption to get into the FedEx Cup playoffs if he fails to qualify. At the last minute, it will create a former champions category, right? After all, he won two FedEx Cups.
Well, that category doesn’t exist yet, and that means plenty of people in golf are pulling hard for the former No. 1 to have a big week at this week’s PGA Championship. The group includes the folks at the Western Golf Assn.
The WGA would love to have Mr. Woods in the field for the
BMW Championship, which will be Sept. 15-18 at Cog Hill in Lemont. The BMW is the third leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs series. Currently, Mr. Woods isn’t even eligible for the first tournament.He sits 129th on the
points list, outside the top 125 who will qualify for the playoff opener, the Barclays Championship. There are two more tournaments remaining to accumulate points: The PGA Championship and the Wyndham Championship next week. Mr. Woods, though, has said he won’t be playing the Wyndham because of previous commitments. So the PGA is it for him.According to
PGATour.com, Mr. Woods will need to finish 14th or higher this week to move into the top 125. That’ll be tough considering he could only muster a tie for 37th at the Bridgestone Championship last week in his return to action. This was on a Firestone course where he previously posted seven victories.To reach Cog Hill, Mr. Woods will need to move up to the top 70 on the points list. Again, hardly a sure thing.
The WGA, though, is hoping. Even though he hasn’t won in nearly two years, Mr. Woods still remains the top draw in golf. According to BMW tournament director Vince Pellegrino, the golfer’s return at Bridgestone had the phones ringing a bit more for BMW tickets.
“People still want to see him,” Mr. Pellegrino said. “Of course, we hope he’s in the field.”
