Tiger At Cog Hill

Did anybody see Tiger tear Cog Hill up Saturday in Chicago and leave his fellow competitors in his wake?

It was classic Tiger.

After a first-hole bogey on Saturday, Tiger went on a tear and finished his best round of 2009, a breathtaking nine-under 62 and a seven-shot lead heading into Sunday’s final round.

Yesterday, the drama was less about the head of the Tiger than it was the tail of the field fighting for one of those Final 30 spots at THE TOUR Championship in two weeks in Atlanta.

Most heartbreaking was Brant Snedeker, who’s already had a tough year and who only needed two putts on the 18th at Cog Hill to reserve 30th place.

Snedeker had apparently played most of the day without thinking about the FedEx points, but as he was preparing to hit his third shot into 18, asked on-course Roger Maltbie what he needed to do.  Maltbie explained he only needed a bogie to make the Tour Championship field.

Snedeker proceeded to miss a three-foot putt for bogey and lose his 30th place slot to Australian John Senden. Truly heartbreaking, but maybe next time Snedeker will focus a little harder on those three footers.

What I’ll not soon forget was Wood’s continued imaginative shotmaking ability, even when the pressure was hardly on, considering the size of his lead.

On hole 9, stuck behind a 30-foot high tree canopy, and with only a 20-foot wide corridor of fans to zip through, Tiger hit a precision 3-iron across the fairway only to get stuck behind another tree.

He was a little over 100 yards out, and judging from the angle, there didn’t seem a way to hit the green with his third shot.

But hey, trees are 90 percent air, right?  So Tiger studied the shot for a few moments, then proceeded to hit a 9-iron shaped shot around the tree, onto the green, where he proceeded to take another birdie.

Most mere mortals would have simply chipped the shot out to save their approach, and assumedly, a couple of extra shots.

But not Tiger.

I don’t know what THE TOUR is going to hold in store at East Lake, but if Tiger continues playing in that particular zone, I wish the other players good luck…in the 2010 season.