Tiger Woods’s final round of The Northern Trust was a lot like his previous three — some good, some bad but a lot more of the in between.
Woods closed the FedEx Cup Playoffs opener with a one-under 70 on Sunday at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J. He made two birdies and one bogey, his only one of the weekend after he had his first bogey-free round of the season on Saturday.
Woods began the day 13 back of 54-hole leader Bryson DeChambeau, who won at 18 under. Woods finished four under for the tournament and T40.
“I played a lot better than my score indicates,” Woods said. “I didn’t make any birdies this week. I didn’t putt well and at the end of the day, I found a piece of my game that has been missing, which is driving it well, but you have to make putts. That’s the only way we’re going to shoot low rounds. I didn’t do it this week.”
Woods’s only birdie of the front nine came when he made an eight-footer on the par-3 2nd hole. He had another good opportunity on the 5th, but he missed a five-footer for birdie.
After missing a nine-footer for birdie on 11, Woods made his first (and only) of the back nine on the 14th. He found the fairway and stuffed a wedge to six feet and made the putt. But he gave that back a hole later on the par-3 15th, when he missed the green left and his chip came up short and stayed on the fringe, 22 feet from the cup. His day ended by missing a 12-foot birdie try on 18.
Woods hit 10 of 14 fairways and 12 of 18 greens. He had just 31 feet, 1 inch of putts made.
Woods’s next start is in five days at the second leg of the playoffs, the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston. The top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings after the Dell move on to the BMW Championship. Woods is currently projected at 27.
