80 and counting…

Tiger Woods won the Tour Championship. He competed in, contended in, and won the Tour Championship in the year 2018. It is a true joy to be able to say that. Leaderboard

How ‘bout that huh

We have been waiting for Tiger to complete his comeback for the better part of the last year. He sprung a new hope at the Hero World Challenge, showed his competitive ability during the Florida swing, and contended at Carnoustie and Bellerive. Tiger has been rounding into form over the last month and finally put it all together at East Lake.

Tiger’s win this week was patent Big Cat. He built up a big lead on Friday and Saturday, started strong on Sunday, and forced his competition to press. Players like Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy, and Paul Casey all played worse on Sunday when they were faced with chasing down a front-running Tiger Woods. Whether they were intimidated by him or not, they were put in a dire situation by the greatest to ever play and were unable to perform. The Tiger Effect.

The Tiger Effect could also be seen in the crowd on Sunday. Droves of people turned out to watch their hero convert one of the biggest wins of his career, and they were not disappointed. Tiger has been a hero to so many in the sport, and his victory means just as much to us as it does to him. The icon of our sport and the childhood legend to millions just won his 80th PGA Tour event, something we’ll never take for granted.

One last thing on Tiger: he has his confidence back. The idea that he needed to re-learn how to win was an accurate one, and his game has finally been good enough to do just that. Expect big things out of Tiger in 2019.

Rose colored glasses

While the FedEx Cup title was the least of our concerns, it did come to an end on Sunday. Justin Rose squeaked his way to the title after a T-4 finish at East Lake. Rose played in the penultimate group, but his poor play made it so he needed a closing birdie for the title. JR finished in the top 10 in 61% of his starts this season, including two victories and three runner-ups.

Other Notes

The bottom four players at the Tour Championship are all playing for the U.S. Ryder Cup team. That stat is largely meaningless…or is it?

Defending Tour Championship winner Xander Schauffele and defending FedExCup champion Justin Thomas both finished T7 At East Lake (6 behind Tiger).

Playing with Tiger in the final group for the first time in his career, Rory McIlroy fired a final-round 74. Rory has faltered a few times on Sundays in 2018, a troubling pattern.

Shotgun Start: Victory Monday for everyone! Tiger Woods gets his first win in 5 years

Brendan and Andy crack open some Monsters and go long to discuss all things Tiger. They review their favorite moments, some obvious and others random, from Tiger’s weekend at the Tour Championship. They reflect on what the win meant to the golf world and to them personally, and assess what it might mean for Tiger’s future. Then they hit on a recent retiree looking to get his amateur status back and a few players stumbling into the Ryder Cup in the Sunday scaries segment. Listen on iTunes, Stitcher or Spotify.

Quick Hooks

The Web.com Tour Finals finished up at Atlantic Beach Country Club. Denny McCarthy won the final event by four strokes over former U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover. Full Leaderboard

Here’s a list of the 25 Web.com Tour Finals and 25 regular season graduates.

The Tiger haters and losers, of which there are many, were proven wrong this year.

Tiger showed up sleeveless to East Lake.

It pays to make it to East Lake. HERE are the bonuses every player earned by making it to the FedExCup Playoffs.

The U.S. Mid Am is on to Match Play, check out the stroke play scores here and first round matches here.