Tiger Woods announced via social media Friday that he will compete next week in The Northern Trust at TPC Boston, the first event of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs.
When asked about his schedule last week at the PGA Championship, after finishing T-37 at TPC Harding Park, Woods would not say when he was playing next but did discuss how he was working on building his strength and endurance to handle playing consecutive tournaments. The implication was that he was gearing up for a run in the tour’s three-event Playoffs series.
Woods has played just five events during the 2019-’20 tour season, and only two since the tour returned to action in June after a three-month stoppage due to COVID-19. With his victory last fall at the Zozo Championship, though, Woods sits currently 47th on the FedEx Cup points list, comfortably qualifying for not just the Northern Trust but also the second Playoff event, the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields outside of Chicago, where only the top 70 off the points list are eligible to compete.
However, to reach the Tour Championship in Atlanta, set to be played over Labor Day weekend, Woods, a two-time FedEx Cup winner, must move into the top 30 on the points list. By playing this week and next, he’ll give himself two chances to earn the necessary points.
“We’ve been training for that,” Woods said at Harding Park regarding playing in consecutive events. “Trying to get my strength and endurance up to that ability to making sure that I can handle that type of workload. We knew once I started playing again when I committed to Memorial that this was going to be a heavy workload, and my training sessions, we’ve been pushing it pretty hard, making sure that I kept my strength and endurance up. This week off will be no different. We’ll be pushing it hard to make sure that I can stay strong and have the endurance to keep on going.”
The last time Woods played three straight weeks was the 2018 playoffs, which culminated in his victory at the Tour Championship. He has not played back-to-back 72-hole events since February 2019. And a year ago at The Northern Trust, Woods was forced to withdraw prior to the second round due to an oblique strain
Woods record at TPC Boston is strong. In 10 starts at the Gil Hanse-designed course in Norton, Mass., he has a win (2006), two runner-up finishes and a third-place showing.