Woods returns for Deutsche Bank Championship

BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2007 Deutsche Bank Championship | Preview | 29 Aug 2007

The second event of the FedEx Cup Playoff series, the Deutsche Bank Championship, will take place at the Arnold Palmer designed TPC Boston in the Boston suburb of Norton in Massachusetts starting on Friday to take advantage of a public holiday in the US on Monday.

The event sees the FedEx Cup series field reduced to 116 of the 120 who were entitled to play the event. Four have withdrawn through injury or other issues, the latest withdrawal that of Ernie Els, whose commitment to family activities back home in London will see him sit out the event. Els has suggested that by being on the road for the last eight weeks he felt it was important to be home at Wentworth to be with his children as they prepare for their return to school.

Whether there is more to this than is being disclosed remains to be seen but one can’t help but admire Els’ decision to put family ahead of the riches of the FedEx Cup. Mind you, like Tiger Woods had done last week, Els is in the invidious position of being able to give others a chance to pass him on the points table. Els was in 10th place on the points table but a victory this week could well have taken him to the lead. He will however return for next week’s BMW Championship and the Tour Championship the following week and his decision to miss the event has not yet cost his chance of being the overall champion.

The TPC Boston was opened in 2002 and has played host to this event since the inaugural staging in 2003. The players who have dominated this event since that time are Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh and Adam Scott who have each won and finished runner up during their visits to the tournament. Vijay Singh took the world number one title off Woods when he won at this venue in 2004 with Woods and Scott finishing runner up that year. Scott won by four shots in 2003 and Woods got his revenge of Singh in this event when he beat him by two last year. The only bolter to win the tournament was when Olin Browne beat Jason Bohn in 2005.

Woods is back and no doubt chomping at the bit as he looks to haul in the FedEx Cup points lead that three players, Steve Stricker, K.J. Choi and Rory Sabbatini gained on him last week.

There is little doubt that Woods will be ready to go, as he always appears to be after a break, and it has, after all, been only two weeks since his win at the PGA. His record here is top notch and there is every reason to believe that by the time this event is complete, any dissatisfaction about his decision not to play last week will be well and truly forgotten.

Jim Furyk has only played this event on the two occasions and has played reasonably well when he has. He has not played at his best in recent starts however and that is the concern for those who fancy him as a potential contender this week.

Vijay Singh, like Furyk, has not been at his best in recent weeks but does possess a very good record at this venue. His current form is of great concern for those who otherwise might have seen him a great chance to win.

Phil Mickelson returned to some reasonable golf last week after a several ordinary performances by his standards but surprisingly is playing this event for the first time. In recent years Mickelson has played a very limited schedule if at all after the PGA Championship and so this event has not been included on his schedule.

K.J. Choi is the perhaps the second hottest player in the game in recent months but has played this venue just twice with little success. His form is so good right now that he may well be able to overcome that issue however.

Steve Stricker has raced into the top five in the world following his brilliant win last week. That he finished 7th in this event last year at a time when he was not quite at the peak he is now speaks highly of his chances this week. He played here as a sponsors’ invite in 2006 and his weekend rounds of 69 and 67 highlighted his comfort with this layout. Although it will be difficult for him to back up after such a significant and emotional win last week, he might just do it.

There is a very strong argument for Justin Rose’s chances this week, if not to win then to produce yet another good finish. Rose has not missed a cut anywhere in his last eighteen starts and there have been ten top tens in that time. He has been remarkably consistent in recent weeks finishing outside the top twenty only once in his last ten starts. Importantly for Rose’s chances this week he has finished 4th and 3rd in two of his four starts at the TPC Boston.

A player from outside the obvious chances may be South African Tim Clark who has played very week in his relatively few starts in 2007. He has been inside the top ten in six of his last seven starts and has played well enough in this event on the two occasions he has played to be a consideration this week at longer odds.

Adam Scott holds the tournament record at The TPC Boston, which he won in 2003 and was runner up to Singh the following year. His last two starts have suggested he is close to the sort of form required to continue his good record here.

Geoff Ogilvy looked to be on cruise control last week at Westchester as he contended for the Barclays title. He finished 5th at this event in the first of two occasions he played the event back in 2003. A 6th place at the PGA and his 4th place last week has him close to his peak it would seem.

Other Australians include Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby, Aaron Baddeley, Rod Pampling, Nick O’Hern, John Senden, Nathan Green, Peter Lonard, Steve Elkington and Stephen Leaney.