Tiger Woods struggles again at Tour Championship

Tiger Woods watched his second round at the Tour Championship in Atlanta fall apart on two of the final five holes Friday, finishing with a one-over-par 71 that left him out of contention at four over after 36 holes.

He began the day in 29th place among the 30 golfers at the East Lake Golf Club in the final tournament of the FedEx Cup playoffs, which award $10 million to the winner.

Amid speculation that he was battling back problems that have plagued him this summer, Woods would only say, “I’m tired.... It’s been just a long, long grind.”

After an opening round of three-over-par 73, Woods had climbed to within four shots of leader Henrik Stenson through 13 holes on Friday with back-to-back birdies at Nos. 12 and 13, moving to five under for the round. Then it all fell apart.

Woods had a double bogey on the par-four 14th hole. Then after a par at the par-five 16th and a bogey at the par-four 16th, he drove into the water at No. 17 and stumbled to a triple bogey.

“I put everything I had into that start and didn’t have much at the end,” said Woods, who hadn’t started a tournament with back-to-back rounds over par since the 2011 PGA Championship. “Just ran out of gas.”
All is not lost for Woods, who entered the Tour Championship in first place in the FedEx Cup standings and could still win the $10-million prize. But to do so, someone other than Stenson, who has a four-shot lead, Zach Johnson, Matt Kuchar or Adam Scott would have to win on Sunday.

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