With his game ailing, Tiger Woods announced he underwent a second microdiscectomy surgery on his back.

“This is certainly disappointing, but I’m a fighter,” Woods said. “I’ve been told I can make a full recovery, and I have no doubt that I will.”

Woods made the announcement on his website – www.tigerwoods.com – and reported the microsurgical procedure – intended to relieve pain from a pinched nerve – was performed late Wednesday in Park City, Utah, by neurosurgeon Dr. Charles Rich.

Dr. Rich, who performed the initial operation in March 2014, called it “a complete success.” Woods was discharged Thursday.

The 14-time major champion has not won one of golf’s four biggest events since the 2008 U.S. Open. Woods also has won more than 100 events worldwide, but none since the 2013 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Woods said he would be forced to cancel planned appearances at three events – the Frys.com Open at Silverado in California and the Bridgestone America’s Golf Cup in Mexico City next month and his own Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas in early December.

“I’d like to send my regrets to Frys and all those associated with the America’s Golf Cup … I will be attending my foundation-hosted Hero World Challenge but won’t be able to play,” Woods said.

After experiencing lingering discomfort in his back and hip, Woods elected to have surgery quickly in hopes of returning to the PGA Tour early in 2016, or as soon as possible. He is scheduled to begin rehabbing within a week.

“I appreciate the fans’ concern and support,” he said. “This is unfortunate, but these things happen. I’ve been injured before and played again. It won’t be any different this time.”

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – As Jason Day’s long eagle putt at the last hole rolled down the hill and toward the hole, every revolution of the ball only added to the sense of inevitability.

When it disappeared into the cup for an 8-under 63, a PGA Tour record-tying 36-hole score of 18 under and a five-shot lead at the BMW Championship, Day pumped his fist as playing partners Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler broke into widening grins and then applause.

Their expressions said it all about golf’s man of the moment: Day is making everything that matters.

“I feel like I should be paying to come watch some of this,” said Spieth, tied for fifth at 11 under. “It was special.”

Special enough, anyway, that Day’s closest pursuers, rookie Daniel Berger and Brendon Todd, shot 64 and 63, respectively, on a rain-softened Conway Farms layout and still couldn’t make up any ground. Yet Day’s day could have been more special still.

After heavy rain forced a suspension of the opening round, Day returned to Conway Farms early Friday needing to hole a 44-yard wedge shot for an eagle that would have given him a 59 and tied another tour record. Instead, he hit a low pitch that skidded to a stop 10 feet from the hole and narrowly missed and settled for a 61.

“I came in this morning and obviously didn’t shoot 59 and felt like everyone was disappointed in me,” Day chuckled.

He was kidding, but just barely. Day has won three times – including his first major, the PGA Championship – and is an aggregate 97 under in tournament play since a narrow miss at the British Open in late July.

“I don’t know how else to explain the way I’ve been playing. I feel very free, like there’s no stress. There’s obviously stress,” Day added a moment later, “but I’m enjoying it.”

After shooting 32 on the front nine to start the second round, the Aussie strung together four birdies in a six-hole stretch on the back, then capped it off with an 43-foot putt for eagle at No. 18. But he was far from the only golfer on a roll.

With little wind and receptive greens and fairways, the field averaged 3-under 68 and world No. 1 Rory McIlroy said even that seemed generous.

Citing the conditions, the length of Conway Farms (it played at 6,892 yards Friday) and the number of par-4 holes reachable with a driver, “the par for us out here should be 67 or 66,” added McIlroy, who shot 65 and called it only “a decent score.”

Berger, too, might have done better if not for a lost ball at No. 14, which led to his only bogey of the day.

“We had plenty of people definitely helping us look, probably 25 people” Berger said. “At one point, I offered the crowd $500 if they could find. Seriously, I did.

“We probably found 20 balls,” he added ruefully.

Like Day and Spieth and three other players, Todd made eagle at the 556-yard, par-5 18th. Todd holed a wedge from 81 yards, but didn’t stick around long to celebrate. His wife flew in earlier in the day, but because Todd forgot to add her name to the reservation, she wound up watching the round in the hotel bar.

“She told me `good playing,’ so I assume she caught a little bit,” he said. “They don’t like to show me on TV, but I think they probably showed that one on 18.”

Day’s finish there definitely made it onto the screen. Considering the way he’s playing, no one in the golf world dares take their eyes off him.

He said as a youngster he wanted to dominate the game like Tiger Woods and after the second round, the inevitable question followed: “Are you heading in that direction now?”

“I hope so. That would be nice,” Day said, but caught himself soon after and added, “But he’s won 79 times and I’ve only won six. But it’s something I can shoot for.”

David Hearn posted a 2-under 69 on the day to move to T56.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Jason Day already had seven birdies on his card and one eagle, courtesy of a shot he holed from 79 yards out of a fairway bunker. He was walking across a bridge Thursday at the BMW Championship when someone asked him during an exchange of greetings, “How are you doing, Jason?”

Jordan Spieth was a few steps ahead of Day, and he could hardly contain his laughter.

“Really? You’re asking him THAT?” Spieth said.

Day has never been better. He powered his way around Conway Farms and was at 10-under par through 17 holes when thunderstorms halted the opening round. His final shot was a 346-yard tee shot with the wind at his back that settled in light rough and left him 44 yards away from a front pin on No. 9.

Day has to hole that Friday morning for a 59. And he didn’t even know it.

“I thought it was a par 72, so I’m sitting there going, `10 under, there’s no chance at all I can get it.’ But if it goes in, it goes in,” he said. “Right now, I’m just trying to play the best I can. I’m just trying to get off to a good start.”

He is playing better than anyone at the moment, a winner in three of his last five tournaments, including his first major. A victory in the third FedEx Cup playoff event would send him to No. 1 in the world for the first time, and not many would argue with that.

Day was four shots ahead of PGA Tour rookie Daniel Berger, who had a 6-under 65. Brendon Todd had a 66. Only 17 players completed the opening round.

Spieth finally got on track. Coming off consecutive missed cuts that eventually cost him the No. 1 ranking, he had a hole-in-one on the par-3 second hole to end a peculiar drought. It was the first time in 72 holes that he was under par during any round in a tournament. And then he chipped in from 80 feet for birdie on the next hole.

Little good that did him.

Walking to the fourth tee, Spieth pointed behind him at Day and said, “He’s still the clinic. I’ve barely got the (honors on the) tee.”

Spieth made a hole-in-one and Day poured in a 20-foot birdie putt. Spieth chipped in for birdie on No. 3 and Day matched it with a 5-foot birdie. The play was spectacular.

The 27-year-old Australian was as sharp as he has been all year.

He is 89-under par dating to the British Open. Day is playing so well that he said every round feels like practice.

“No matter what you do, even if you hit a bad shot, it’s going to be all right,” Day said. “That’s kind of the way it feels. It’s hard to explain because I’m just out there and I’m not really paying attention to the score and I’m hitting it down the middle and hitting it on the greens and holing putts.”

It was the best show of the PGA Tour’s postseason, even for a Thursday that was interrupted by a dark and stormy sky north of Chicago. The group of Day, Spieth and Rickie Fowler – Nos. 1-2-3 in the FedEx Cup – attracted an enormous gallery and the players delivered one great shot after another.

Fowler, coming off his third win of the year at the TPC Boston two weeks ago, must have felt like a third-wheel at the end, though he produced four straight birdies on his front nine. When they made the turn, the hits kept coming.

Day’s shot from 79 yards in a fairway bunker on No. 1 landed beyond the hole and spun back a few feet for eagle to get him to 6 under. On the par-3 second, Spieth’s tee shot just covered the bunker, hopped once in the first cut and rolled into the cup for an ace, the second of his PGA Tour career. Day holed a 20-foot birdie putt.

Both made birdie on No. 3, Spieth with his long chip-in and Day with a wedge to 5 feet. Spieth found his groove with a shot into 4 feet on No. 3 for another birdie.

Day’s power was evident on his final few holes.

He tried to drive the green on the 352-yard 17th hole and landed in the collar, 60 feet away. He nearly holed the chip for eagle. On the 600-yard eighth hole into a strengthening wind, he hit his drive 305 yards and then powered a 3-wood high and into the wind. It landed just short of the green, 30 feet from the hole, and he nearly chipped that one in for eagle.

Day gets one more try for an eagle when he gets back Friday morning, a 44-yard pitch for a shot at 59 to tie the course record Jim Furyk set two years ago.

The way things are going, it’s hard to rule him out.

David Hearn was 3-over-par when play was suspended.

DIVOTS: Rory McIlroy, back to No. 1 in the world, was at 3 under through 12 holes. … Jim Furyk withdrew after six holes with a wrist injury, leaving it doubtful he can play in the Tour Championship next week, and possibly the Presidents Cup depending on the severity of it.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – This is one of those weeks where Jordan Spieth felt confident enough to make a guarantee.

He wasn’t talking golf. He was talking hotels.

“When they ask what day I’m checking out I can say, `I’m checking out on Sunday.’ It’s nice,” Spieth said.

He was joking. Maybe.

Spieth missed the cut in the opening two FedEx Cup playoff events, the first time in his career he has gone home early in back-to-back events. He managed to go back to No. 1 in the world for one week before returning the ranking to Rory McIlroy during an off week. The slow start in the PGA Tour postseason did cost him No. 1 in the FedEx Cup, though he still has a clear shot at the $10 million bonus next week in Atlanta.

The BMW Championship starts Thursday with a 70-man field and no cut at all. So the 22-year-old has that going for him.

The third FedEx Cup playoff event is the final stop before the top 30 advance to the Tour Championship next week at East Lake. It’s important to get into the top five because those players only have to win the Tour Championship to claim golf’s biggest payoff. The top three – Jason Day, Spieth and Rickie Fowler – are assured of that.

Most of the drama figures to be at the bottom.

This is how the final stop before Atlanta is shaping up:

THE TOP: Henrik Stenson has moved from No. 41 to No. 4 in two weeks without winning. He was runner-up to Day at The Barclays and runner-up to Fowler at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Another runner-up finish at Conway Farms could move him all the way up to No. 2.

Winners of FedEx Cup playoff events usually only have to win to assure going into the top five. But there has been so much dominance this year – Day, Spieth and Fowler have combined for 10 wins on the PGA Tour – that down to No. 29 has a mathematical chance to get into the top five. That spot belongs to Russell Knox, who says his best club right now is the putter.

THE BUBBLE: Louis Oosthuizen is holding down the 30th spot, and he’ll have to play decent to keep it.

The trouble might be right above him. There’s a history in the BMW Championship of players just inside the top 30 having a poor week and falling out. Bill Haas is at No. 27, and he knows the sting of narrowly missing out. Haas finished at No. 31 in 2010 and at No. 32 in 2012.

Harris English is No. 32 and has bad memories of this event. He wound up No. 32 a year ago and No. 31 the year before that.

The last time the BMW was at Conway Farms, Matt Jones missed a 7-foot putt on the last hole that cost him a trip to East Lake.

THE BOTTOM: George McNeill is at No. 70 and needs a great week to advance.

The focus is on Hunter Mahan at No. 52, mainly because he has never missed a playoff event since the FedEx Cup began in 2007. He tied for fourth in Boston to advance, but needs another big week to keep his streak alive.

Jerry Kelly had to make a 3-foot birdie putt on his final hole in Boston just to get to Chicago. His clock is ticking.

THE LATE ARRIVAL: Sergio Garcia would like to get to the Tour Championship, though the Spaniard is not losing sleep over it. Otherwise, he would have played much sooner than the BMW Championship. Garcia sat out The Barclays and the Deutsche Bank Championship, and his standing dropped from No. 31 to No. 54.

He still earned as many points as Spieth (no points for two missed cuts), although Spieth could afford it.

MICKELSON: Phil Mickelson was planning to shut it down for the year until he was picked for the U.S. team at the Presidents Cup. He is No. 61 and will be done for the year unless he finishes around third. But his enthusiasm for the game suddenly picked up.

“This is the most excited I’ve been this late in the year because I’m looking forward to being on the team,” Mickelson said. “It’s meant a lot to me to be a part of that team, and I want to play well and I want to get some momentum.”

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – The best remaining players on the PGA Tour are north of Chicago for the third straight tournament that features an $8.25 million purse and a chance to claim the $10 million bonus for winning the FedEx Cup.

The rest are in North Carolina for the second event in the Web.com Tour Finals, which offers a $1 million purse and a chance to keep their jobs.

Sean O’Hair knows both worlds.

Less than a year ago, O’Hair finished another fruitless season and was relegated to trying to earn his full card back at the Web.com Tour Finals. He missed two straight cuts, and then came through in the third event with a tie for third that effectively locked up his job status.

And now he’s at the BMW Championship with Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and the rest of golf’s biggest stars. O’Hair is No. 38 in the FedEx Cup, on the cusp of moving into the top 30 and advancing to the Tour Championship, which would get him into the majors next year and give him a mathematical chance at golf’s biggest payoff.

“This is not pressure,” O’Hair said Wednesday. “Pressure is trying to keep your job. This is opportunity.”

Pressure was what he endured a year ago after finishing 160th in the FedEx Cup and being relegated to the Web.com Tour Finals, his world ranking at No. 513 and his doubts about his future starting to fill his head.

It was his second straight year at the tour’s new version of Q-school. It wasn’t much fun.

“I had to ask myself, `Do I still want to do this?’ And then I had to ask myself, `Do I still have the drive to do what it takes?’ And I was able to answer both those questions,” O’Hair. “I had to remind myself that I wasn’t a Web.com player.”

The secret was to keep his game simple.

O’Hair realized that for too long, he was relying on too many people who offered advice and instruction on his game. He began leaning more on them than his own instincts, which ran against how he reached this stage in the first place.

He works with a club pro in Philadelphia, though more as a second set of eyes. O’Hair puts in the work on his own.

Wednesday was no different. He stuck to a strict schedule nearly three hours before his tee time in the pro-am at Conway Farms – a putting drill for 30 minutes, a visit to the physical therapist for stretching, range time and the pro-am. The time was filled more with concentration than chatter.

That’s the work ethic that made this year such a strong recovery.

It started in March when O’Hair made four birdies over the last six holes and saved par on the final hole for a 67 to get into a three-way playoff with Spieth and Patrick Reed in the Valspar Championship. He had a 12-foot putt to win on the second extra hole to win only for the ball to spin hard out of the lip, and then Spieth won it on the next hole with a 35-foot birdie putt.

Still, it was a boost that brought some stability to O’Hair’s game. He had another chance at the Greenbrier Classic, and he started the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship on Labor Day two shots out of the lead and tied for fourth.

One more week like that and he’ll be at East Lake.

But that’s the goal of so many others this week at Conway Farms. Day, Spieth and Boston winner Rickie Fowler are virtually certain to be in the top five in the FedEx Cup going to Atlanta, meaning they only have to win the Tour Championship to claim the $10 million prize.

Henrik Stenson is at No. 4 after runner-up finishes in the opening two playoff events. Hunter Mahan is at No. 52 and is trying to keep alive his streak of never missing a playoff event since the FedEx Cup began in 2007. Harris English is No. 32. He missed the Tour Championship by one spot in 2013 and by two spots a year ago.

So there’s a lot at stake in an event that has no cut. It just doesn’t feel that way to O’Hair, who has turned one corner by getting into the FedEx Cup playoffs, which sure beats where he was at this time a year ago.

DIVOTS: BMW has become an official partner of USA Golf Federation for golf’s return to the Olympics next year in Rio. … The top three in the FedEx Cup will be grouped together – Day, Spieth and Fowler. They have combined for 11 wins worldwide and three majors this year, and Day (27) is the oldest in the group. … Sergio Garcia is playing in the FedEx Cup playoffs for the first time after sitting out the last two events. He fell from No. 31 to No. 54.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Golf funnyman David Feherty is joining NBC for analysis on tournament coverage and to continue his “Feherty” series on Golf Channel.

Feherty had been with CBS Sports for nearly two decades until he did not renew his contract after The Barclays three weeks ago.

NBCUniversal now will be his exclusive network home. The former Ryder Cup player from Northern Ireland will be part of the NBC team for PGA Tour coverage, the Olympics next year and when NBC gets the British Open starting in 2017.

His TV series will continue on Golf Channel. NBC also plans new ventures through a Universal Television development deal.

For tournament coverage, Feherty will split time between the golf course and as a tower analyst for NBC and Golf Channel.

NAPA, Calif. – Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy will play in the PGA Tour’s season-opening Frys.com Open next month at Silverado.

Tournament officials confirmed Friday that Woods and McIlroy are set for the Oct. 15-18 tournament.

Woods and McIlroy had agreed to play in the event by 2015 in a deal with the PGA Tour for releases for a 2012 exhibition event in Turkey.

Woods played in the 2011 tournament, while the second-ranked McIlroy will make his first appearance. Woods is winless since the 2013 Bridgestone Invitational and has slipped to No. 272 in the world.

Phil Mickelson kept alive a streak and earned a footnote in Presidents Cup history Tuesday when he was selected to play on his 21st consecutive U.S. team.

Mickelson was No. 30 in the standings, the lowest of any player to be a captain’s pick.

U.S. captain Jay Haas also took his son, Bill Haas, though that was expected. Bill Haas won his sixth PGA Tour title this year, finished one shot out of a playoff at The Players Championship and was 11th in the standings. His father said he intended to take No. 11 regardless of who it was.

International captain Nick Price selected Steven Bowditch of Australia, who missed qualifying by less than one-hundredth of an average world ranking point, and Sang-moon Bae of South Korea, which attracted the most attention.

The Presidents Cup is Oct. 8-11 in South Korea, the first time it has been held in Asia.

Bae has been ordered to start his mandatory two-year military service in South Korea when he returns home. Price said he has been told that Bae, who won the season-opening Frys.com Open last October, will be able to first play in the Presidents Cup.

Jay Haas said he leaned on his assistant captains and players who already were assured of a spot on the team.

“I am so honored to be on this team,” Mickelson said. “And to have it come from input from so many players and assistant captains wanting me to be on the team means a lot to me that I couldn’t put it into words. It’s just a very special honor to be on the team.”

Mickelson has gone two years since his last victory in the 2013 British Open, and at No. 51 in the FedEx Cup, he risks not making it to the Tour Championship for the second straight year. He was planning to skip the BMW Championship next week north of Chicago if he was not chosen for the Presidents Cup team.

Tiger Woods in 2011 previously was the lowest-ranked player to be a captain’s pick. He was No. 29 when Fred Couples took him to Royal Melbourne, and Woods wound up delivering the decisive point.

The announcement Tuesday afternoon was more compelling than any of the golf that has been played in recent years at the Presidents Cup.

The Americans have not lost since 1998 in Australia – there was a tie in South Africa in 2003 – and leads the series 8-1-1 having won the last five times. The Presidents Cup dates to 1994, the first U.S. team for Mickelson as a pro. That was the only year Mickelson had to rely on being a captain’s pick. The other captain’s pick for the inaugural matches? Jay Haas.

“If anyone deserves a pick, it’s Phil Mickelson,” Jay Haas said. “He is without question the leader of our team in the team room, on the golf course. I think the guys trust him 100 percent. The guys on the team were adamant that Phil is the guy, and I think between the captains and team members, Phil was an overwhelming choice to be a pick.”

Among those with experience that Haas skipped over to take Mickelson were J.B. Holmes, Brandt Snedeker, Webb Simpson, Keegan Bradley and Hunter Mahan. No one had been playing well leading up to the final day of qualifying, including Brooks Koepka, who was under consideration. He missed the cut in both FedEx Cup playoff events.

Bill Haas had a chance to win the Wyndham Championship, but he went flat the last few weeks in a grind to make the team and play for his father.

“I couldn’t sleep last night,” said Haas, who is on a family vacation with his father. “The last few weeks, I really, really wanted to make the team outright. I can’t even explain how I was feeling on the golf course. It just showed how much I wanted it.”

Bae was at No. 20 in the International standings, and his selection gives Price a pair of South Korean-born players. Danny Lee is the other, though he grew up in New Zealand and plays under the Kiwi flag.

Bae had deferred his military service while playing the PGA Tour, but the military said he spent too much time at home last year and denied another deferral. Bae appealed the decision, but the military courts ruled against him six weeks ago.

“I think he’s had a really tough time,” Price said. “His military service has been a cause for concern and it hasn’t allowed him to play his best. But I think once he’s made the decision, he’s played a lot better.”

One other aspect played into Bae’s favor. He has won twice on the Jack Nicklaus Golf Course in Incheon, where the matches will be played.

NORTON, Mass. – Ian Poulter and Kevin Chappell played together at the Deutsche Bank Championship, and their birdie putts on the par-5 second hole during the second round were significant mainly because of how they read the greens.

Both use AimPoint Express, only Poulter had to do without on this occasion. He was just under 20 feet away. Chappell was about 12 feet away, and his marker was in the line of where Poulter ordinarily would have straddled the line of his own putt to feel the slope of the green.

“I thought it may go right-to-left, but I couldn’t tell until I hit it that I picked the wrong line,” Poulter said.

Poulter has been using the method since January, joining a growing list of players that includes Adam Scott, Stacy Lewis and Hunter Mahan. It has become so popular that the R&A and USGA published a joint statement at the start of the year that cautioned players of one pitfall.

One part of AimPoint Express is to pick an area halfway toward the hole where the feet can feel the slope (and from there players will hold up one or two fingers to help them figure out where to start the putt).

Rule 16-1a, however, makes it illegal for players to touch the line of their putts, which is defined as the line players want their balls to take and includes a “reasonable distance on either side of the intended line.”

The European Tour went so far as to post a video explaining how the rule can be breeched if players are not careful. The variance of the line will be greater on longer putts than the shorter ones. No one is believed to have been penalized yet (two-stroke penalty or loss of hole in match play).

“You can’t stand in your own line, but your own line is vague,” Chappell said. “When it first became big, it came up. They were going to try to outlaw it a few years ago, and then it became like, `OK, your line from 4 feet is much smaller and precise than your line from 40 feet.’ But it would be pretty hard to stand in your line from 40 feet and have them prove you have an advantage.

“I haven’t been warned, but I’ve had discussions about it.”

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FINAL MAJOR: The Evian Masters this week in France is the fifth and final major on the LPGA Tour schedule, and it presents another opportunity for an unprecedented feat. Only it doesn’t involve Inbee Park.

Park won the Women’s British Open last month at Turnberry for her fourth different major, and now she goes after the career Grand Slam (all five majors) at Evian.

But she wouldn’t be the first woman to do that.

Karrie Webb won her first major at the du Maurier Classic outside Calgary in 1999, and she wrapped up the career Grand Slam over the next two years (Kraft Nabisco, U.S. Women’s Open, LPGA Championship). But when tobacco sponsorship became an issue, the du Maurier was replaced by the Women’s British Open, and Webb won that (at Turnberry) in 2002. That gave her what the LPGA referred to at the time as the “Super Slam.”

If the Australian can win the Evian Masters for a career Grand Slam of six majors, the LPGA may as well called it the Karrie Slam.

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THE SHORT FUSE: Anyone who plays golf at any level has a story about a short temper or a thrown club.

That includes Jordan Spieth, who spoke before the Deutsche Bank Championship about working with his coach, Cameron McCormick, to turn a short fuse into a longer one. And it led to a story about what he considers his shortest fuse in any sport at any age.

It was golf, of course. He was 11.

He told of slamming his putter into his bag and when he took it out on the next hole, he noticed it was bent. What he didn’t know was Rule 4-3b on using a club that has been damaged other than the normal course of play.

“I think I made three birdies in the last six holes with a bent putter, and I was so excited about it,” Spieth said. “I was telling my dad after the round, `Look, I bent my putter, I finished with three birdies, I’m still in this thing.'”

He said his father called the assistant pro at the club – without Spieth’s knowledge – and the next day, Spieth was invited into his office.

“And they opened the rule book and it showed disqualification,” Spieth said. “I was just absolutely torn apart.”

He said that remains his only disqualification. But he’s still working on the fuse.

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LONG YEAR: Carlos Ortiz of Mexico finished his rookie year on the PGA Tour sooner than he wanted after a season that felt much longer than he imagined. The 24-year-old from Guadalajara can’t recall playing so much golf in his life. The Deutsche Bank Championship was his 30th event.

“I thought it was bad in college,” Ortiz said of his schedule. “I played seven weeks in a row. It’s too much. It becomes work. Hopefully, next year I can play better and have more breaks.”

He fell into the same trap of so many rookies who need a week off but are concerned about their position in the FedEx Cup or money list. As long as they’re at home, they are giving up a chance at points or money.

Ortiz didn’t miss a cut in four starts last fall, and he tied for ninth in Mexico. But his Fedex Cup standing fell out of the top 100 in the summer and he kept playing until he began the playoffs at No. 112 and needed a good week at The Barclays to advance. He was in good shape going into the final round until he opened with a quadruple-bogey 8.

“One of the worst experiences of my life,” Ortiz said. “I wanted to cry.”

Instead, he bounced back to play the rest of the round in 1 under and made it to the TPC Boston. This time, he wasn’t so fortunate. Ortiz made four straight birdies early in the final round to get inside the projected top 70, only to make triple bogey at No. 9 and shoot 41 on the back nine for a 76. He had the look of a tired golfer.

Next year might not be much easier. Ortiz is likely to make the Olympic team for Mexico.

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DIVOTS: Now that the LPGA has gone through the inaugural Crown International, it is moving back the dates to qualify so the cutoff is closer to when the event is played. The eight countries will be determined by the world ranking after the first LPGA major of the year at the ANA Inspiration. The four players who qualify for each team will be determined after the second major in June at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. The tournament will be July 19-24 at Rich Harvest Farms southwest of Chicago. … Keegan Bradley closed with a 69 to narrowly advance to the third FedEx Cup playoff event. That wasn’t the only reason to celebrate. He got engaged at the start of the week to Jillian Stacey.

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STAT OF THE WEEK: The 54-hole leader has failed to win the last six years at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

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FINAL WORD: “Nothing is different. I don’t feel it’s far off, even though my score is far off. It’s just weird. It’s almost like a bad dream. I just need to wake up and get the putts to go in again.” – Jordan Spieth after missing back-to-back cuts for the first time in his career.

NEW DELHI – Anirban Lahiri and Thongchai Jaidee hope their milestones as the first golfers from India and Thailand to be picked for the Presidents Cup inspire kids in their countries.

They qualified on their world rankings, making the top 10 automatically on the International team.

Lahiri, who tied for fifth at the U.S. PGA Championship, was ranked 40th, and Thongchai 44th.

Thongchai, the playing captain for Team Asia in a 10-10 draw with Team Europe in the inaugural EurAsia Cup last year, was looking forward to their participation in the tournament in Incheon, South Korea, next month boosting golf’s popularity in Asia.

“It can help the other young Asian players,” he said. “When they see that I can get into the team, then they, too, will aim for it.”

Golf news is generally buried in the Indian media, unless it’s a home event or an Indian does well. Only in recent years have the majors received prominent attention.

Lahiri said he grew up watching team events such as the Ryder Cup, and was thankful he had something like the Presidents Cup to aim for.

“It’ll be a massive boost for golf in the region,” Lahiri said. “You get so many eyeballs, and everybody in America will be watching.

“To be a part of something historic like that is extremely special. All I want to do is make sure that I get a point for the International team.”

Asian Tour chairman Kyi Hla Han said he was delighted with Lahiri and Thongchai.

“We expect them to contribute immensely toward the International team’s attempt to regain the Presidents Cup, but ultimately, their presence will boost the development of the game across Asia,” he said. “Young golfers will have another reason to aspire for the top, and with Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama also in the team, it proves that Asian golf has grown in stature and strength.”