Five Remain With FedEx Chance

Five players remain capable of winning the FedEx Cup playoff series as the PGA Tour prepares for the Tour Championship in two weeks.

Four of them are not Tiger Woods.

Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson and Heath Slocum, the tee box belongs to you. Any of the four will overtake Woods by winning the regular-season finale to be played at Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club.

Unlike the two previous seasons of the event's history, when Woods in 2007 and Vijay Singh in 2008 clinched the cup and $10 million bonus before the final event began, real drama is guaranteed this year after an offseason redesign of the points system.

"That's just our new system,'' Woods said. "No matter what kind of year you have, it really does pay to be in the top five. That certainly builds some excitement; certainly different than the last two years.''

In theory it means Woods' birdie-whipping of the field at Chicago's Cog Hill on his way to Sunday's eight-shot victory was little more than window dressing. No matter how complete Woods' performance may have been on the way to his sixth win of the season and 71st of his career, it did nothing to protect him should any of the four closest contenders win at East Lake.

"I've got an opportunity to win again and Tiger is going to probably be the guy to beat, as we all knew he would be coming into the whole thing," Stricker said. "But I'm just excited that I have the opportunity to do it. I'm going to be 250 points behind. I don't know what that means. All I know is I have a chance, and I'm just going to have to play well."

It is not hard to pitch the idea of a FedEx surprise.

Improving the likelihood that one of the four contenders can blindside Woods is the Tour Championship's limited field of 30 golfers. Simple mathematics suggests it is easier to beat a field of 29 competitors rather than a typical full-field entry list of 154.

Also, while Slocum -- 124th on the money list when the playoffs began with the top 125 -- may not have the resume to suggest a Woods take down, the others most certainly do.

Stricker has three wins this year, more than anyone with the exception of Woods, and has climbed to the No. 2 world ranking. Furyk is a U.S. Open winner and a time-tested competitor who has long been one of the tour's top players. The fact he is winless since 2007 only suggests he is due. And then there's Johnson, the 2007 Masters champion, who has two wins this season and six for his career.

"There's going to be a number of guys in the mix," Stricker said. "It won't just be Tiger and I. Three, four and five control their own destinies, too. There will be a bunch of guys involved.''

Furyk thinks so and sounds like man on a mission.

"I've played well this year," he said. "I've played solid, but obviously I haven't won a golf tournament. That bothers me more than anyone else, trust me. And I'm reminded of it every time I play well.''

All that said, is golf really ready to start doubting Woods?

Sure, he gave away the final-round lead at the PGA Championship and lost to Y.E. Yang. It's a fact, he wobbled down the stretch when Slocum won the playoff series opener. And two weeks ago at the Deutsche Bank Woods putted like Stevie Williams was goosing him with a cattle prod.

The results were a second at the PGA, T-2 at the Barclays and 11th at Deutsche.

Then on Sunday at Cog Hill he completed an absolute thrashing of the field. He shot 68-67-62-68 to finish 19 under and eight shots in front of Furyk and rookie Marc Leishman. He did not miss a putt from inside seven feet all week. He was seventh in the field in driving accuracy, fourth in greens hit in regulation, and second in putting.

"Winning, that's the ultimate goal,'' Woods said. "And to play as well as I have of late and not get the W's has been a little bit frustrating. It's just been a matter of making a couple putts here and there and I would have won the tournaments.

"And lo and behold, boom, I hit the ball just as well, just as consistent this week, and I made a few putts. That's how close I've been to putting it together and scoring well. I've been playing well, I just haven't gotten a lot out of my rounds. This week I did. And you know, it does feel good. There's no doubt about that.''

Kind of like next week?

All-Time Wins

Woods 71st victory leaves him two short of tying Jack Nicklaus for the second tally in PGA Tour history, and is 11 behind Sam Snead's record 82.

Snead won his 71st tournament at the age of 42 years, 10 months and 21 days. Nicklaus reached that number at age 42 years, three months and 25 days.

By comparison, No. 71 came for Woods at 33 years, eight months and 14 days.

Noteworthy

Sunday's win by Woods was the 48th in 52 attempts when holding at least a share of the third-round lead. ... It was the 163rd top-10 finish in 238 PGA Tour starts as a pro, a 68.49 percentage. ... Woods has won a tournament by eight or more strokes 10 times in his career. ... He now has won six or more tournaments in six of 14 seasons.