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Woods aims for $10m to ease major disappointments

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-28 13:54

JERSEY CITY, New Jersey: Tiger Woods aims to ease the sting of a rare season without a major title when he launched his bid on Thursday for the FedExCup series title and the $10 million bonus it awards the winner.

Woods is playing in the Barclays Classic for the first time since 2003 and tees off with fellow Americans Steve Stricker and Zach Johnson at scenic Liberty National, in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty.

The world No 1 lost a Sunday duel with Yang Yong-eun of South Korea at the US PGA earlier this month, failing for the first time to capitalize on holding the lead heading into the last round of a major after 14 such triumphs.

The runner-up finish sealed Woods's first season since 2004 without a major title.

"That night was tough, no doubt," Woods, 33, said on Wednesday about his defeat to Yang at Hazeltine. "It was disappointing that I didn't win.

"But it's just like golf, you move on to the very next week. Went home and took a few days off away from golf and didn't touch the clubs after three straight weeks of playing golf just about every day.

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"I was a little tired of it, and (then) started working for it this week."

Woods played a light schedule early in the year to ease his way back after season-ending knee surgery last June. He still racked up five wins, including victories in the two events preceding the PGA.

"It's worked. I feel great now," Woods said about his pacing. "The whole idea is to make sure that I was ready for this long haul at the end of the season and I didn't hurt myself at the beginning of the season."

However, Woods said he felt the effects of the grind of playing three weeks in a row, culminating in a major.

"Three weeks is fine, but being in contention just about every day, it puts a toll on you," he said. "Still, I was in position to win the championship on the last day and just didn't get it done. It was a long three weeks."

Woods said returning to action at Liberty National was important given the tweaking of the format for this year's playoffs to add suspense after Vijay Singh virtually clinched the 2008 series by winning the first two events.

"You want to put more weight at the end of the season which they are trying to do, trying to make it a little more interesting," said Woods, who heads the field of 124 players in the Barclays.

The top 100 players on the points list, now led by Woods, advance to the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston, with 30 more players eliminated for the BMW Championship in Chicago.