How Tiger Woods can avoid elimination from the FedEx Cup Playoffs this weekend

Tiger Woods turned around his otherwise forgettable weekend at The Northern Trust with a solid Sunday round of 66, but he’ll need to produce his best result of 2020 if he hopes to return to the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake.

This week’s BMW Championship at Olympia Fields has a field of the top 70 players in the FedEx Cup Playoff standings, and does not have a cut midway through the event. After the tournament ends, the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings will advance to next week’s Tour Championship.

Entering his first round on Thursday, Woods ranks 57th of the 70 golfers in the field in FedEx Cup points. The PGA Tour calculated where each golfer in the field likely needs to finish to stay alive in the playoffs, and Woods’ target is a projected fourth place finish or better.

Woods has won a PGA Tour tournament during this current wraparound season, but that was last October. Since the season resumed, Woods has played in three events and has not finished better than T-37. The most likely scenario is that Woods’ PGA Tour season will come to a close this weekend – which may not be the worst outcome, as the U.S. Open is only a few weeks away.