Northern Trust: Tiger Woods finds A-game on Sunday front nine
By Tim Letcher
Tiger Woods got his game rolling on Sunday’s front nine at the Northern Trust. Is this something Tiger can build off of for next week?
Tiger Woods started his Sunday round 21 shots behind leader Dustin Johnson, so there was no chance that he would be able to get anywhere near the lead. But Woods may have discovered something on his front nine on Sunday at the Northern Trust that he can take with him to next week’s BMW Championship.
For a while on Sunday, it was like the Tiger of old. Wearing his traditional red shirt on Sunday, Woods came out on fire. Playing in the second group off the tee in the final round, and with Rory McIlroy for the second straight day, Woods made it immediately known that he was focused and ready for Sunday’s round.
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He hit his second shot on the par-4 first hole within three feet of the hole and easily made the putt to get to 1-under on his round. On the par-5 second hole, Woods hit the green in two and barely missed his eagle putt, settling for his second consecutive birdie.
On the third hole, Tiger’s momentum continued. His tee shot left him about 45 feet from the hole. But the red-hot Woods rolled in his downhill putt to make it three birdies in three holes.
He was not nearly done.
On the short par-4 fourth hole, Woods drove the green, setting up an eagle opportunity. That putt was a bit tentative and slid off to the right, but it set up a tap-in birdie for Woods, who was 4-under par through four holes.
On the fifth hole, Woods got up-and-down from a greenside bunker to make a par. Then on the sixth hole, Woods had a good look at birdie from about 16 feet, but his missed and settled for another par.
The birdie train was back up and running on the seventh hole. That’s where Woods was able to get up-and-down from a greenside bunker on the par-5, moving to 5-under par on his Sunday round.
On the par-3 eighth hole, Woods pulled his tee shot into the native area. He pitched out, but could not make his par, settling for what turned out to be his only bogey of the day.
On the ninth hole, Woods hit his drive 300 yards into the fairway, then stuck his second shot about three feet from the cup. He made his putt to finish the front nine with a 5-under par 31.
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However, on the back nine, Woods was never able to get anything going. He ended up settling for nine pars, which left him with a 5-under par 66 for his round.
Woods needs to remember the feeling he had on the front nine on Sunday and take that with him to next week’s BMW Championship. If he can play anywhere near that well next week, it could be an exciting week in Chicago.