Tiger Woods in ‘uncharted territory’ after rising from rock bottom

Woods conjured up his lowest ever final round in a major, a six under par 64, on Sunday to finish second to Brooks Koepka. “I’ve been waiting 18 months to get a touch, to get a feel, for who our eight qualifiers would be, who the eight players would be”.

“It’s important. You want guys who are playing well”, Furyk said as he discussed the attributes needed by contenders for a wildcard pick.

In his eighth month of a comeback season after spinal fusion surgery, Woods ground out four birdies against a lone bogey on both the front and back nines but could never draw level with Koepka, settling for his seventh career major runner-up finish.

He’s a threat at majors or anywhere else. “They really get my attention”.

“Tiger’s been a vice-captain in the team room as a player”. Sixth place at The Open Championship, a second place at the PGA.

“His game has been in a pretty good position all year, and he’s putted great”, Furyk said.

Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson, Webb Simpson and Rickie Fowler qualified on points after the PGA Championship ended Sunday.

Woods huffed and puffed with everything he could muster but in the end could not quite take Brooks Koepka down at Bellerive Country Cub, coming up two shots short. Hogan won a couple of times when it was still match play and Woods won four times.

“We want the players who are going to help us be successful”, Furyk said. “He’s playing very well”. “Everybody thought, ‘Oh well, Tiger’s not hitting fairways, the rough is going to be thick, it’s going to be dense, we’ll see him for two rounds and then he’ll go on his merry way.’ But Tiger did what this new Tiger does, and he just stayed there, stayed tenacious and grounds out”.

“I’m very excited about my team and I have a lot of confidence in my eight players but every one of them knows the task ahead of us and they know it’s going to be tough”. I realize Tiger is a story.

The producers even missed Koepka’s winning putt, with the link cutting out at midnight (3:00 UAE time).

“But Tiger serves that objective as a vice-captain or a player and I looking forward to having his help”.

“And we’ve kind of talked about that all year, what’s best for Tiger, what’s best for the team and we’ll make that decision together and we’ll move on”. It’s a valid argument to suggest the long, light modern-day driver has done him nothing but harm, yet he persists with it, presumably being unwilling to give up yards to men such as Koepka and Dustin Johnson, the world No.1 who now has two fewer majors than the champion. “Hopefully, my name will be part of that process”. He jumped from 20th to 11th in the standings. With one decent week in the playoffs, he most likely would be assured of being in all four of the events, ending with the Tour Championship the week before boarding a plane to Paris.

Four spots – the captain’s picks – remain up for grabs. He’s 48, and this is the first time he failed to make a Ryder Cup team on points. – As much as the golfing world is talking about the top-notch play at the PGA Championship, they’re also heaping praise on the tournament host city. And it shouldn’t come as a surprise if he adds to his already legendary major victory total next year. In other words, Tiger will be playing in the Ryder Cup.

And here are the eight players who just missed the cut. Xander Schauffele is at No. 12.

“I played hard”, Woods said. His form will surely come under scrutiny before Furyk announces three of his picks on 4 September. His game is trending and it is great to see him playing well.

Spieth and Reed have starred at each of the past two Ryder Cups as a team.

“I was pretty ticked at the British Open”, he said of his performance at Carnoustie, where he finished three strokes behind victor Francesco Molinari.