Tiger Tracker: Follow Tiger Woods' Thursday round shot-by-shot at the Tour Championship

Adam Woodard USA TODAY

Published 4:22 PM EDT Sep 20, 2018

Tiger Woods has one last chance to notch a win in his most-recent comeback.

Tiger is back on the course this weekend at Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club for the Tour Championship, the final PGA Tour event of the year and the finale of the FedExCup Playoffs.

A two-time FedExCup champion, Tiger is a longshot to win the $10 million prize, but should be one of the favorites to win this weekend's tournament. Two of Tiger's 79 PGA Tour wins have come at the Tour Championship, the last in 2007, when he won by eight strokes.

Tiger tees off at 12:30 p.m. ET alongside Tommy Fleetwood. Follow his opening round shot-by-shot.

Final thoughts

Vintage Tiger. This is exactly what he needed to do today (bogey on No. 1 aside). Tiger was almost perfect off the tee, hitting 10/14 fairways (his misses weren't awful) and was almost as good with his approach shots. He gave himself a chance to score, took advantage of opportunities and avoided big mistakes. A two-time winner at the Tour Championship, Tiger's in position for his third win at East Lake and his 80th on the PGA Tour.

Leaderboard update: Tiger walks off the course tied for the lead with Rickie Fowler at 5-under. Gary Woodland is in third at 4-under, followed by Brooks Koepka and Justin Rose T4 at 3-under.

Hole 18 - Par 5

Driver on the final hole and Tiger kept his pose and stared this one down the whole way. It landed in the rough and trickled into the first cut rough. After a 320-yard drive, his 255-yard approach with his 3-wood finds the green to set up an eagle putt. The PGA Tour's shot tracker has this at 27'8", and Tiger buried it. The eagle moves Tiger into a tie for the lead with Rickie Fowler at 5-under.

Hole 17 - Par 4

3-wood here on the 430-yard par 4 that doglegs to the left. It was a mishit, but he's still in the fairway on the right side. Yikes, another miss here for Tiger. This one went long, coming to rest behind the green in an area of fairway-cut grass. Nice execution here for Tiger, hitting a little chip into the slope and coming to rest around five feet from the cup. He converts the par save. 3-under thru 17.

Hole 16 - Par 4

Driver. Left fairway. Nice. His approach from there is pretty "meh" by today's standards. He's on the green, short and right of the hole. This one had some left-to-right movement coming down a slope and Tiger lags it to within three feet. He sinks the par putt to remain at 3-under thru 16.

Hole 15 - Par 3

Nothing fancy here, just a solid swing off the tee. tiger finds the middle of the green, the safe play with the pin guarded by water in the front and a bunker to the left. WOW. Tiger hits this putt just about perfect, coming up an inch short. It was rolling at the hole the entire way but needed an ounce more speed. Par. 3-under thru 15.

Hole 14 - Par 4

Tiger finds yet another fairway on the long par 4, and from 200 yards out, his approach shot gets to within five feet for another birdie chance. He walks that one in and drops to 3-under thru 14.

Hole 13 - Par 4

Fore! Tiger's tee shot goes left, and he knew it right away. With a tree in his way, Tiger's forced to punch out here, but it came out too hot and finds a greenside bunker. He's got plenty of green to work with from the sand, floats this one up and lands it right next to the hole. It took a hop forward but comes to rest inside 10 feet. He holes the putt and saves par. 2-under thru 12.

Leaderboard update: Rickie Fowler leads the way at 4-under, followed by Gary Woodland, Jon Rahm, Tiger, Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka at 2-under.

Hole 12 - Par 4

Tiger goes with 3-wood off the tee and he's in the fairway. He sticks the approach inside five feet and converts the birdie. That was by far his best hole of the day and he moves to 2-under thru 12.

Hole 11 - Par 3

Tiger went right at this one, landing inside 10 feet and rolling a foot further away. Not bad. This one had some big break to it and Tiger misses low right left. Par. 1-under thru 11.

Hole 10 - Par 4

Tiger misses this one left off the tee (I've got to stop jinxing his tee shots). He didn't love his effort from here as the approach comes up short of the green. He goes with the putter from the fringe but this one never had a shot at going in. He'll settle for another par. 1-under thru 10.

Leaderboard update: Rickie Fowler and Rory McIlroy are tied atop the leaderboard at 3-under par, followed by Gary Woodland and Brooks Koepka T3 at 2-under. Five players are T5 at 1-under: Tiger, Jon Rahm, Paul Casey, Tommy Fleetwood and Webb Simpson.

How's that for a leaderboard?

Thoughts at the turn

All-in-all, pretty solid round here for Tiger. He only missed one fairway and one green in regulation on the front and nailed back-to-back birdies early after a disappointing bogey on No. 1. He should probably be at three or four under, but so far so good.

Hole 9 - Par 3

Tiger goes with the 5-iron here and finds a bunker to the left of the green. Not much to say, he saves par after a great bunker shot. 1-under thru 9.

Hole 8 - Par 4

Another great drive here from TW after missing his first fairway on the last hole. Tiger went pin-seeking here at the back-right pin guarded by a bunker and he's safely on the green, inside 10 feet for another birdie putt. He's got a 41% make percentage from this length at just over nine feet, but this one fails to drop. He kept it slow and played the break almost perfectly, but it's another par. 1-under thru 8.

Hole 7 - Par 4

Jinxed him. For the first time today Tiger misses the fairway off the tee. From the right rough he manages to get his approach on the green, about 40-feet short and right of the hole. Tiger lags this one within three feet and taps-in for birdie. 1-under thru 7.

Hole 6 - Par 5

Tiger's a big fan of the fairway today and he finds the short stuff again here on the par 5 6th hole. He pulls the 5-wood to go for the green in two and wound up in the rough left of the green. He gets on the green from there with about 15-feet or so left to convert the up-and-down birdie. Here we go. Tiger sinks the putt to make back-to-back birdies. 1-under thru 6.

Hole 5 - Par 4

BOOM! Tiger's drive on No. 5 goes 327 yards down the left side of the fairway. With the pin at the back of the green, Tiger leaves this one short. He'll have a little over 20-feet for birdie and he buries it. What a putt. Even thru 5.

Hole 4 - Par 4

Another solid drive down the right side of the fairway, this one just south of 300 yards. His second shot finds the green, but it's nothing special: Pin-high to the right of the hole and inside 20-feet. His birdie putt runs three feet past the hole and he coverts the par. 1-over thru 4.

Hole 3 - Par 4

Tiger's tee shot on No. 3 is solid down the right side of the fairway. His approach shot from there is a beauty. The green is guarded by a bunker that runs along the front, and his approach lands on the green, pin-high to the left inside 10 feet. Another close miss and another blown opportunity. 1-over thru 3.

Leaderboard update: Gary Woodland is out to the early lead at 2-under, followed by Rory McIlroy at 1-under and almost everybody else at even.

Hole 2 - Par 3

Tiger's iron finds the green, left of the hole just over 16-feet away. Nothing to see here, two-putt par. 1-over thru 2.

Hole 1 - Par 4

Driver here for TW and this is blasted down the right side of the fairway. From 156 yards out Tiger lands this one about 20-feet behind the hole and it sits still. You'd think from there with a front pin he'd try and add some spin with a great fairway lie, but that didn't move an inch after landing. Tiger kept this one slow going slightly downhill with some break to the right, but he misses right. His 5-footer for par also misses, and that's an opening bogey. Yikes. 1-over thru 1.

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