Tour Championship Notebook: Tiger Has FedEx Cup Within Grasp

ATLANTA -- Tiger Woods is guaranteed to win the FedEx Cup and $10 million playoff bonus Sunday at East Lake Golf Club with a victory in the Tour Championship.

Considering he is two shots back of third-round leader Kenny Perry's 8 under, while both Sean O'Hair and Phil Mickelson are within two shots of Woods, that's not necessarily guaranteed. Also in the picture is Padraig Harrington, five shots back of Perry.

Possible scenarios for claiming the bonus:

Perry: Wins the Tour Championship, while Woods finishes in a three-way tie for third or worse and Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk or Zach Johnson do not finish solo second.

Stricker is six shots back of the leader, while Furyk is nine back and Johnson 11 behind.

Mickelson: Wins and Woods finishes tied for eighth or worse.

O'Hair: Wins, Woods finished in three-way tie for second or worse, and Stricker ties for second or worse.

Harrington: Wins and Woods ties for second or worse.

Woods Wondering

Tiger Woods didn't get much out of Saturday's round, a 1-under 69.

Instead of trailing Kenny Perry by two, the world's No. 1 could easily have turned Sunday's final round into an early runaway, but did not make the needed putts.

"I hit the ball well all day," Woods said. "It was amazing how I had about four or five putts that the grain was kind of going up the hill, and I didn't know which one to play. Do I play the grain or do I play the slope? I got fooled a few times."

Golf to Tiger. Nobody cares about the grain. Either the putt goes in or it does not.

Get Out and Go

Geoff Ogilvy and Y.E. Yang were the day's first pairing, well out of contention, and more than happy to get out of the way.

The pair played in three hours and 23 minutes.

"That's the pace we should play more often," Ogilvy said.

It didn't seem to hurt them. After rounds of 75 and 73, Ogilvy shot a third-round 64.

Yang shot 66.

Good Call

The PGA Tour moved up Saturday's tee time almost three and a half hours in an effort to finish the day's play before predicted afternoon storms moved into the area.

The decision may have forced NBC to broadcast a tape-delayed product, but it sure beat the alternative.

Within minutes of the 2:30 p.m. finish, lightning and thunder moved in and hard rains fell for a couple of hours.