Tiger Woods: Predicting his 2019 PGA TOUR schedule

16) THE NORTHERN TRUST – Liberty National (August 8-11)

The PGA TOUR’s revamped FedEx Cup Playoffs begin on August 8, 2019 at THE NORTHERN TRUST. With the reduction of the playoffs from four events to three, the TOUR also eliminated the “bye week” ahead of the TOUR Championship at East Lake.

If Woods qualifies – and I don’t really see how he doesn’t – then he, along with the rest of the playoff qualifiers, will be banking on playing every playoff event possible to ensure their security inside the top 30 in the FedEx Cup points race.

Woods made no secret of the fact that he didn’t love the setup at Liberty National in its 2009 debut. However, love it or hate it, you can’t argue with his results, as Tiger finished in a tie for second place in both ’09 and ’13.

17) BMW Championship – Medinah C.C. (August 15-18)

The BMW Championship heads to historic Medinah Country Club in August of 2019 for the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The Chicago suburb has hosted five major championships, including three U.S. Opens (in 1949, 1975 and 1990) as well as a pair of PGA Championships, in 1999 and 2006.

Do you know what else those two PGA Championships have in common beyond the host? The champion: Tiger Woods. Woods held off a hard-charging Sergio Garcia in 1999 to win by a single stroke, and he lapped the field on the weekend seven years later, defeating runner-up Shaun Micheel by five.

You know, in case you wanted to draw some parallels or something heading into the playoff finale.

18) TOUR Championship – East Lake (August 22-25)

I know this one isn’t exactly rocket science. Any player who is healthy enough to play and qualifies is teeing it up at East Lake, no questions asked. Four rounds, no cut, and a shot at $10 million as long as the chips fall your way? Yes, please.

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Given the week off between the WGC-FedEx St. Jude and the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, Woods should be fairly well-rested for this stretch run. It’s one last event with an extremely limited field, and a high potential payoff. Majors come first, but the FedEx Cup is prestigious in its own right, money aside. Tiger wants that.

This schedule allows for seven events in a 12-week window to close the year, as opposed to the eight-of-nine run Woods had in 2018. It accounts for all the majors, WGC events and the entirety of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. It also gives Tiger plenty of time to rest while never losing his competitive edge.

Yeah, it’s 18 events – the exact same number that he played last year, and the number he wanted to reduce coming into the new year. But I’m also expecting to see a healthy, energized Tiger Woods hungry to hunt down some big-time milestones.

Will it happen? Only time will tell. But if Tiger Woods starts to get in a groove, don’t be surprised if he plays more than even he might be expecting right now.