PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA – The PGA TOUR announced today that Brooks Koepka has been named the 2018 PGA TOUR Player of the Year as voted by the TOUR’s membership for the 2017-18 season.

PGA TOUR members who played in at least 15 FedExCup events during the 2017-18 season were eligible to vote. The balloting process ended on October 1.

Koepka, a 28-year-old native of West Palm Beach, Florida, finished a career-best ninth in the FedExCup following a season that included victories at both the U.S. Open and PGA Championship. He earned four additional top-10 finishes, including runners-up at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions and Charles Schwab Challenge.

“On behalf of the PGA TOUR, our congratulations to Brooks Koepka on being voted PGA TOUR Player of the Year by his peers,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “Brooks has brought a new brand of athleticism to the PGA TOUR, and we saw the results this year with his historic season at the major championships and a top-10 finish in the FedExCup. These feats were accomplished despite missing significant time due to injury, a testament to his work ethic and perseverance throughout the season.”

Following the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January, Koepka did not compete on TOUR while recovering from a left wrist injury, making his return in late April at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. He collected his first top-10 post-injury at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club, a second-place finish to Justin Rose.

With his victory at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, Koepka became the first player since Curtis Strange (1988-89) to win back-to-back U.S. Open titles. Five starts later, Koepka won his third major title in his 100^th PGA TOUR start, capturing the PGA Championship by two strokes over Tiger Woods with a tournament record 16-under 264. At age 28, Koepka became the fifth American since 1945 with three or more major wins before the age of 29 and the fifth player to win the U.S. Open and PGA Championship in the same season.

Koepka posted season-low rounds of 63 on four occasions in 17 PGA TOUR starts, including the lowest final round ever at THE PLAYERS Championship. He closed the season with 13 of 16 rounds in the 60s over the four FedExCup Playoffs events.

Kopeka competed in his first ever RBC Canadian Open in 2008, where he failed to make the 36-hole cut.

Koepka, who will receive the Jack Nicklaus Trophy for winning PGA TOUR Player of the Year, was selected for the honor over Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Francesco Molinari, Justin Rose and Justin Thomas.

Some Canadian golfers are long-standing members of the PGA TOUR, while others secured status for the 2018-19 season at the last minute.

Add them all up and the CanCon will hit a record level at this week’s Safeway Open.

Eight Canadians are in the field for the season opener at the Silverado Resort and Spa North in Napa, Calif. That’s the most at a PGA TOUR event outside of Canada since the TOUR started keeping track in 1970.

TOUR regulars like David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., and Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., are joined by Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., and Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont.

Silverman, who’s entering his sophomore campaign, was among the group of Canadians who broke through in the last few years after spending time on lower-level TOURs.

“I think we were just pushing each other to get better,” Silverman said. “We were all very talented at the time but just not there yet, not at TOUR level yet. Just knowing that there was only two or three Canadians to look at — yet we were all right there in the mini-TOUR ranks — it just probably pushed us all and motivated us all to make it.”

The previous high for Canadians in a non-domestic TOURnament was seven, according to PGA TOUR senior communications manager Doug Milne. It happened twice in 1987 (John Deere Classic and BMW Championship), at the 2008 U.S. Open, and twice last year (Safeway Open and CareerBuilder Challenge).

The number could grow again when Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., makes his return. He has status on the PGA TOUR with a major medical extension but isn’t ready to play after undergoing back surgery in August.

Silverman needed a strong finish at the recent Web.com Tour Championship to book his return to the PGA TOUR. A tie for third did the trick as he moved into 22nd on the Web.com Tour Finals money list, just inside the 25-man cut.

Sloan was 10th on the list while Svensson earned his card by finishing 14th on the Web.com TOUR’s regular-season list.

Silverman’s best finish on the PGA TOUR last season was a tie for seventh at the Sanderson Farms Championship last October. His other top-10 result came a few weeks later when he was tied for eighth at the RSM Classic.

He earned US$793,140 over the campaign, made the cut at 17 tournaments and finished 136th in the FedExCup standings.

Reached this week in Napa, he said he was very pleased with how his rookie campaign played out.

“A whole slew of courses that I’ve never seen before, which is always tough to get used to,” Silverman said. “I think I handled it pretty well. I had some good finishes. I learned a lot about myself in terms of how many TOURnaments I can handle.

“I think 28 regular-season events was kind of a lot for me. I’m going to learn from that and try to manage my schedule a little bit differently so I can get some more rest this season.”

Ben Silverman (Getty Images)

Silverman said he was inconsistent at times due in part to his effort to develop a more well-rounded game. He wanted to be able to hit high-, medium- and low-trajectory shots either straight or with a draw or fade, all while trying to add different short-game skills.

This season, he plans to keep it simple and go with what got him to the PGA TOUR in the first place. He’ll go with more bump-and-run shots around the green and will stick with his “little fade” off the tee and on the fairways.

“The biggest adjustment with my game is I’m pretty much just sticking to one ball flight and never changing it,” Silverman said. “Whether it suits the hole from a traditional standpoint or not doesn’t matter to me anymore. I’m just going to stick to hitting shots that I feel comfortable with.

“That was my gameplan in Jacksonville in the Web Finals and I had great control of the ball all week. I’m just going to keep that strategy going moving forward.”

Hadwin is the lone Canadian in the top 100 of the world golf rankings at No. 58. Silverman is next at No. 240, followed by Taylor (No. 280), DeLaet (No. 294) and Hughes (No. 297).

Play begins Thursday on the 7,203-yard course. American Brendan Steele is the defending champion.

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France – Payback belongs to Europe, and so does the Ryder Cup.

Two years after the Americans thought they had their Ryder Cup problems figured out, Europe reminded them Sunday why it practically has owned this shiny gold trophy for the last quarter-century.

British Open champion Francesco Molinari was just as good on his own as he was with Tommy Fleetwood. The best year of the Italian’s golfing life got even better at Le Golf National when he became the first European – and only second player since the current format began in 1979 – to win all five of his matches.

The last one set off a wild, champagne-soaked celebration.

Europe already was assured the 14 1/2 points it needed because they were guaranteed halves in two matches. Molinari made it official. He was 2 up and safely on the green at the par-3 16th green when Phil Mickelson hit into the water, removed his cap and conceded the match.

The finish was most appropriate.

The celebration and singing had already begun. The Europeans were treated like rock stars before more than 50,000 fans. All that remained was Alex Noren in the anchor match. He was 1 up on the 18th hole when DeChambeau stuffed his approach to 2 feet for a conceded birdie. Noren hit the final shot in this Ryder Cup, a 40-foot birdie putt to win the match, and the stoic Swede hurled his cap.

Europe won, 17 1/2-10 1/2, the most lopsided victory since consecutive 18 1/2-9 1/2 victories by Europe more than a decade ago when the Americans looked utterly lost. They formed a Ryder Cup Task Force, spearheaded by Mickelson, after the 2014 loss. The idea was to build continuity and momentum, and it seemed to work when they won at Hazeltine in 2016.

Now, maybe it’s back to the drawing board.

Mickelson was desperate to make this team because the 48-year-old saw it as his last chance to win a Ryder Cup on European soil. He wound up losing both his matches. He started the week by setting a record with his 12th Ryder Cup appearance. He ended it by setting a more dubious Ryder Cup record with 22 losses.

He wasn’t alone. Tiger Woods went 0-4, the first time in his eight Ryder Cups that he failed to contribute a single point.

But this was more about the Europeans as a team, and they were tougher than ever on a course they know well.

“This team has been incredible from the start,” Molinari said. “We were determined to do the job. Nothing was going to stop us. And you saw it on the course.”

Trailing 10-6 going into the final day of singles, the Americans needed to put red points on the board early to build momentum. It never happened. Justin Thomas won the leadoff match over Rory McIlroy, but not until the 18th hole.

Webb Simpson and Tony Finau, the lone bright spot among the wild-card picks for U.S. captain Jim Furyk, won easily. Behind them, Woods was hanging tough against Jon Rahm and Dustin Johnson started to pull ahead of Ian Poulter.

“There’s always a moment where it looks like a spark of light,” Furyk said. “When it was there for us, Europe played really well.”

It wasn’t there long.

Rahm won two straight holes with pars to seize control. Johnson went from 1 up to 2 down in a four-hole stretch that ended his chances.

Rahm dropped his putter after making a 5-foot birdie on the 17th hole as Woods stood to the side of the green, arms crossed. One week ago, he overcame four back surgeries to win for the 80th time on the Tour Championship, a signal that he was all the way back.

And then at the Ryder Cup, it was another result with which he is far too familiar. Woods has played on only one winning team in 1999.

“It’s disappointing because I went 0-4, and that’s four points to the European team,” he said. “And I’m one of the contributing factors to why we lost the cup, and it’s not a lot of fun. It’s frustrating because I thought we were all playing pretty well, and I just didn’t perform at the level that I had been playing, and just got behind early in the matches and never got back.”

Thorbjorn Olesen, who had played only one match the previous two days, went 5 up at the turn over Jordan Spieth and won in 14 holes. Spieth is now 0-6 in singles matches in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup.

Sergio Garcia was in tears.

He played so poorly this year that he failed to qualify for the PGA Tour’s post-season. Thomas Bjorn picked him anyway, saying he was like the captain of a football team. Garcia showed why by going 3-1. That final victory over Rickie Fowler made Garcia the biggest contributor in Ryder Cup history with 25 1/2 points.

But this was more about team, and about redemption, even for a team that now has won nine of the last 12 times.

“We took a really tough loss at Hazeltine a couple of years ago and that stung,” McIlroy said. “That was my first experience of what it feels like to be on the other side, so coming in here, obviously none of us want to feel like Sunday afternoon.”

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France – Phil Mickelson is used to being a spectator when the Ryder Cup comes to Europe.

In a repeat of four years ago, Mickelson didn’t play at all Saturday at Le Golf National, reduced to a role of cheerleader and occasional coach while the rest of the team got on the course for at least one session.

Mickelson wasn’t happy with his omission in Gleneagles, ripping into captain Tom Watson after the Sunday singles finished off Europe’s 16 1/2-11 1/2 triumph.

The leader of this team, Jim Furyk, said Mickelson was more understanding about getting left on the sideline. He was out cheering during the afternoon foursomes, even allowing his teammates to rub his belly for good luck.

“Phil is a really good friend,” Furyk said. “We talked earlier this week about his play and how he was playing and his opportunities for play this week. He fully understood the role that he had today. Gave me a pat on the back and put his arm around me … (and) we had a great conversation. He said he would be ready tomorrow.”

Mickelson lost his only match Friday, dropping his career Ryder Cup record to 18-21-7. He has the most losses than any player in U.S. history, though Tiger Woods is now only one behind after three straight defeats in France.

Mickelson went out to practice Saturday morning, hopeful of getting another shot at playing the afternoon. But Furyk texted him about the time the pairings were submitted, letting him know he would be sitting out again.

Furyk conceded that he expected Mickelson to play more at the beginning of the week. But he’s struggled with his driving, and a poor showing Friday led the captain to go a different way.

But Furyk said Mickelson is still an asset to the team, even when he’s not playing.

“You’ve got him in your team room,” Furyk said. “He’s funny, he’s sarcastic, witty, likes to poke fun at people, and he’s a great guy to have in the team room. I think the younger players had fun having a go at him as well this week, which was fun to see. He provides a lot more than just play.

“I know Phil. He wants to be out there just like everyone else. That’s part of being a team and part of this event. We have 12 amazing players, and they can’t all play every match, and you accept what you get.”

Lefty will be back on the course one more time for singles matches Sunday, facing one of the hottest European players, Francesco Molinari. The British Open champion teamed with Tommy Fleetwood to win all four of their matches, propelling Europe to a 10-6 edge heading to the final day.

Furyk is counting on the 48-year-old Mickelson to give the Americans a boost at the back end of the singles draw. He’ll be playing in the ninth of 12 matches.

“I hope that our guys get off to a fast start and put him in that position,” the captain said.

FINAL MESSAGE

Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas won both their matches Saturday, both at the expense of Ian Poulter, who has built his reputation at these matches. Poulter’s signature move is to pound the Ryder Cup crest on his chest with his fist.

Spieth had the final word.

When he made birdie on the 15th hole to close out Poulter and Rory McIlroy in fourballs, he pounded his chest four times.

“He pounded his chest earlier on us today, so I was waiting for the right moment, and I think to win the match this afternoon felt like the right time,” Spieth said. “Clearly, we’re down four points, so in the scheme of things, we shouldn’t necessarily be celebrating. But for us two to get that point and the way that we played today and the battle that we had with those guys both matches, it was emotional.”

Spieth has one TV memory of Poulter, from the 2012 matches at Medinah. Poulter is most famous for making birdie on the last five holes to win the last team match Saturday evening. He pounded his chest because of the raw emotion, and Europe rode the momentum to rally from a 10-6 deficit the next day.

RORY’S OUTBURST

A taunt from a spectator beside the third green prompted an aggressive response from Rory McIlroy.

After rolling in an 8-foot putt for birdie to halve the hole with Ian Poulter against Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas in the foursomes, McIlroy reacted by turning to the crowd and seemingly picking out one spectator in particular.

“Who can’t putt?” McIlroy shouted, before tapping his chest. “I can putt. I can putt.”

As he spun to pick the ball out of the cup, McIlroy uttered some more words.

European captain Thomas Bjorn said he was unaware of the incident.

“If it was a big problem for Rory,” Bjorn said, “he would have mentioned it to me.”

CAPTAINS’ PICKS

European captain Thomas Bjorn apparently picked the right four players for his team, even though three of them have not won a tournament this year.

Sergio Garcia, already a boost in the team room, teamed with rookie Alex Noren to split their two foursomes matches and with Rory McIlroy to win in fourballs. Henrik Stenson delivered the key putts in a foursomes victory with Justin Rose. Ian Poulter won a fourballs match Friday and gave a boost to McIlroy.

Add them up and his picks have contributed a combined six points.

As for Jim Furyk?

Tiger Woods is 0-3. Phil Mickelson lost his only match – he didn’t even play on Saturday. Bryson DeChambeau has lost foursomes matches while paired with Mickelson on Friday and Woods on Saturday. The only point came from Tony Finau – his final pick – in the opening match of the Ryder Cup.

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France – He’d had a rough morning, the only player to start Day 1 of the Ryder Cup without making birdie.

The afternoon for Rory McIlroy at Le Golf National wasn’t proving that much better. He found a bunker on No. 2, missed a sinkable putt on No. 3, then another on No. 11. Had it not been for the steadying dependability of partner Ian Poulter, it seemed McIlroy might melt down altogether.

So when, on No. 13, McIlroy decided to go for what seemed like an impossibly optimistic approach shot, alarms rang. Really, Rory? Is this wise?

–The ball was nastily placed, stuck on a steep grass bank and below his feet. McIlroy had to squat to reach it. Slip and he’d slide into the lake directly in front of him. Another lake lurked up ahead, ready to swallow the ball if McIlroy failed to get under it.

That McIlroy delivered the ball onto the green with an assured plop, as though the outcome had never been in doubt, said as much about his mental strength as it did about his golfing skills. It was quite possibly the shot of Day 1 . McIlroy’s grin was ear to ear.

“I had full faith in Rors to get it somewhere on the green,” Poulter said. “I said 60 foot would be nice, but what a clutch shot to get it to 25, 30 feet.”

From there, Poulter did the rest, ignoring the stiff breeze that scratched at the ancient oaks which surround the hole. When the ball dropped, Poulter thumped his chest and shoulder-barged McIlroy, who tipped his head back and roared at the sky in joy.

“A little bit of a wind assist to hold its line as it was rolling towards the hole,” Poulter said. “It was nice to see it drop in.”

The one-two blow from McIlroy and then Poulter on that hole knocked the last fight out of the U.S. pairing of Webb Simpson and Bubba Watson. The birdie putt moved the European pairing to 3-up. They wrapped up victory three holes later, winning 4 and 2 to do their bit in an historic Friday afternoon for Europe. All four European pairings won, the first time that has happened in foursomes.

Although McIlroy and Poulter played fourballs together at the Ryder Cups of 2014 and 2012, this was their first pairing in foursomes. They started poorly: Poulter hit into water off the first tee. They were 2-down after three holes.

McIlroy kick-started the recovery with a 7-foot birdie putt on No. 6. Staring intently at a group of U.S. fans in the crowd, he raised a finger to his lips. The message was clear: Zip it.

The European pair won the next three holes, too, for a shift in momentum that McIlroy’s magical shot on No. 13 then helped set in concrete.

Having lost his morning match in a fourballs pairing with Thorbjorn Olesen, the win was a welcome fillip for McIlroy, given that there’s plenty more golf to play.

“You have to persist,” he said. “Persist, persist, persist, until it turns around for you.”

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France – Tony Finau took the scenic route around Le Golf National.

Down to the edge of the water at the first hole.

Up and over a fence at the seventh.

Right into the water at the 15th.

Then, with three holes to go Friday and the Americans desperately needing a break in the opening match of the Ryder Cup, Finau went to his bank shot.

That would seem a better option in basketball, a sport he once played so well he was offered a college scholarship.

Well, Finau made it work at the golf course.

“Sometimes the ball rolls your way,” he said with a shrug, “and sometimes it doesn’t.”

At the par-3 16th, where the water spreads out in front of the green, promising to swallow up any errant shot, Finau launched one toward the flag 177 yards away.

As soon as he struck the ball, he knew it was close.

So did his caddie. So did his fourballs teammate, Brooks Koepka. So did everyone who watched it get caught by the stiffening breeze.

“I knew it needed to get up,” Finau said. “I was kind of wishing for that while it was in the air. I got lucky.”

Lucky, indeed.

His shot caught one of the wooden planks that divide the water from dry land, deflected onto the green and stopped about 3 feet from the cup.

A few minutes later, with the European fans actually booing his good fortune, Finau tapped in the birdie to even the match. At the 18th hole, Justin Rose dumped one in the water, Jon Rahm missed a putt and the Americans somehow escaped with a 1-up victory.

It was the first time they had led all day.

Afterward, all the talk was about No. 16.

“That was a huge turning point in our match,” Finau said. “I was able to brush that one in and get our match all-square. Honestly, the momentum was on our side because they were 2-up and looking to close us out, and we were able to stretch that match out, and then we played incredible golf on 18 to win the match.”

Not bad for a Ryder Cup rookie.

Finau, who is Tongan and Samoan descent and grew up in Utah to working-class parents who scraped together every spare dollar so he’d have a chance to play, earned his spot on the U.S. team with a strong season that included Top 10s at three of majors and a spot in the finals of the FedEx Cup playoff.

Still, it was a bit of a surprise when he was picked to play the opening fourballs match with Koepka – and then got the honour of hitting the very first shot of the weekend.

Clearly pumped as he stood before a massive grandstand holding nearly 7,000 fans, Finau nearly knocked his ball into the water – some 300 yards away – with a 3-iron that was merely intended as a lay-up.

“The first tee shot was not like anything I’ve been involved in before,” Finau said. “It was like a feeling of a football game back in the States, an NFL football game, and I’m in the middle of the field and I have to hit a tee shot. I have to make a golf swing with all that adrenaline. It was incredible.”

So began an adventurous day that included a tee shot slicing out of bounds, a shot that did get wet, not to mention a chip-in for eagle at No. 6.

Koepka had his struggles, too, notably when a woeful tee shot caught a fan in the eye, leaving her bleeding and in need of medical care. It wasn’t immediately known how seriously she was injured.

Through it all, Finau and Koepka never got flustered.

“In these type of matches, you can’t show your weakness. You can’t show that you have any kind of emotional weakness or you’ll get eaten alive,” Finau said. “It’s frustrating not to hit the shot you want to hit, but you’ve got to control your emotions. We were able to do that and that’s why we were able to pull this match off.”

That, and a big break at No. 16.

ATLANTA – Tiger Woods, in his Sunday red shirt, both arms raised in victory on the 18th green.

For so many years, the scene was familiar.

This time, it was surreal.

“I can’t believe I pulled this off,” Woods said Sunday during the trophy presentation at the Tour Championship, where he gave thousands of delirious fans at East Lake, and millions more around the world, what they wanted to see, and what they thought they might never see again.

And at that moment, Woods was overcome with emotion and paused.

After two back surgeries six weeks apart, he couldn’t lie down, sit or walk without pain. Golf was the least of his concerns, so much that he once said anything else he achieved would be “gravy.”

One year ago, while recovering from a fourth back surgery, he still had no idea if he could come back to the highest level of golf.

“Just to be able to compete and play again this year, that’s a hell of a comeback,” he said.

Woods delivered the perfect ending to his amazing return from back surgeries with a performance out of the past. He left the competition feeling hopeless as he built a five-shot lead early and then hung on for a 1-over 71 and a two-shot victory over Billy Horschel.

It was the 80th victory of his PGA Tour, two short of the career record held by Sam Snead that is now very much in play. And it was his first victory in more than five years, dating to the 2013 Bridgestone Invitational.

And that brought a new version of Tigermania.

After he hit his second shot to the par-5 18th safely in a bunker in front of the green, the crowd came through the ropes and followed behind in a chaotic celebration. It was like that when he walked from the left side of the 18th fairway at the 1997 Masters he won by 12. It was reminiscent of that walk up the 18th fairway later that summer at the Western Open in Chicago.

This was pure pandemonium. Fans chased after any inch of grass they could find to watch the ending.

“I didn’t want to get run over,” Woods said with a laugh.

This felt just as big as a major, maybe better considering where Woods had been.

Several players, from Zach Johnson to Rickie Fowler to Horschel, waited to greet him. It was Johnson who unveiled red shirts at the Ryder Cup two years ago in the team room that said, “Make Tiger Great Again.”

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“They knew what I was struggling with,” Woods said. “It was special to see them.”

Woods played only one PGA Tour event over two seasons because of his back. Off the golf course, he had to overcome the embarrassment of a DUI arrest in the early morning of Memorial Day in 2017 when he was found asleep at the wheel, later found to have a concoction of pain medication in his system.

He was becoming a legend on in video highlights.

And then he brought it back to life this year, especially the last four days at East Lake. The players who have turns at No. 1 during his absence caught the full brunt of Woods in control. McIlroy faded early. Justin Rose faded late.

All that was left was the 42-year-old Woods in that red shirt, blazing brighter than ever, and a smile he couldn’t shake walking up the 18th to collect another trophy.

“The 80 mark is a big number,” he said. “It’s a pretty damned good feeling.”

He finished at 11-under 269 and won $1.62 million, along with a $3 million bonus for finishing second in the FedEx Cup.

The only disappointment – a minor one under the circumstances – was realizing as he came down the 18th that Rose had made birdie to finish in a three-way tie for fourth, which gave him the FedEx Cup and the $10 million bonus.

Without that birdie, Woods would have won his third FedEx Cup title after starting at No. 20 going into the Tour Championship.

“Congrats, Rosie,” Woods told him. “World No. 1, hell of a season.”

Actually, former world No. 1 for Rose. His four bogeys over the last 10 holes cost him the No. 1 ranking back to Dustin Johnson, who shot 67 and finished third.

But this wasn’t about the FedEx Cup or even the world ranking.

This is Tiger’s big day, and nothing was going to change it.

Woods had never lost when leading by three shots or more going into the final round. That was when he was regularly winning multiple times every season, compiling trophies at a rate never before seen in golf.

Was anything different having gone more than five years without winning?

Rose had said it was a bit more unknown, and “there’s a lot on it for him” as well as everyone else.

But this was still Woods’ arena. The walk from the putting green snakes some 80 yards across the road and through a gallery, and everyone could hear him coming from the procession of cheering. And within the opening hour, the Tour Championship had that inevitable feeling.

No one brings excitement like Woods, even when he plays so good and so smart that he eliminates any potential for drama.

The buzz was endless. A couple of teenagers climbed into a tree to see him made a 10-foot birdie on the first hole. When the putt dropped and cheers died, there was a wild sprint some 200 yards up the hill as fans tried to get into position for the next shot. He tapped in for par, and another stampede ensued to line the third fairway.

On and on it went. No one wanted to miss a shot.

A year ago, there was no guarantee anyone would see much of Woods, much less Woods winning.

He’s back again. This victory, his first since the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone in August 2013 – 1,876 days, to be exact – brought him to No. 13 in the world. Not bad for a 42-year-old with four back surgeries who returned to competition in December at No. 1,199 in the world.

The next stop for Woods is to board a plane with the rest of his U.S. teammates for France and the Ryder Cup.

After that?

There’s no telling.

ATLANTA – Tiger Woods made it look and sound as if he had never been gone.

More than turning back time, every hole seemed like the one before Saturday at the Tour Championship. A tee shot striped down the middle of the fairway. The clean strike of an iron as he held his pose. A sonic boom of the cheers from around the green. Another birdie.

“I got off to an ideal start,” Woods said. “And the next thing you know, I was off and running.”

With the most dynamic golf he has played all year, Woods built a five-shot lead in seven holes before he cooled from there, settled for a 5-under 65 that gave him a three-shot lead over Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose and an ideal chance to end this comeback season with a moment that has defined his career.

Winning.

Woods has the 54-hole lead for the first time since his last victory in 2013 at the Bridgestone Invitational. He has never lost an official tournament when leading by more than two shots going into the final round, and his closing record with the lead is 42-2 on the PGA Tour.

He has never been in better position to show he’s all the way back from four back surgeries that once made him fear he might never play again.

“I’ve gone through a lot this year to get myself to this point, and understanding and fighting my way through it,” Woods said. “I’m certainly much more equipped than I was in March because of what I’ve gone through.”

Wood was at 12-under 198 and will be paired for the first time in final group with McIlroy on the PGA Tour.

McIlroy birdied two of his last three holes for a 66.

“It’s obviously exciting for the golf tournament. It’s exciting for golf in general that he’s up there,” McIlroy said. “But for me, all I can do is concentrate on myself. The game is hard enough without looking at other people. Go out there, take care of my business, and hopefully that’s good enough.”

Rose started the third round tied with Woods, but not for long.

Rose opened with two straight bogeys before battling back, but the world’s No. 1 player already was four shots behind after four holes. He narrowed the gap with a birdie on the 16th as Woods had to scramble for bogey, a two-shot swing.

“In some ways, it felt like a Sunday just with the energy,” Rose said after a 68. “But I knew that it was halfway through a Saturday. Just wanted to sort of chisel a few back and give myself a chance going into tomorrow.”

Rose forgot about Woods and tried to beat East Lake, a game of match play in his mind, in a bid to stay in the game. He wound up with a hard-earned 68.

There used to be no chance against Woods when he was atop the leaderboard going into the final round. His only losses with the 54-hole lead were the Quad City Classic in 1996 when he was 20 and making third start as a pro, and the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine against Y.E. Yang. He also lost a two-shot lead to Lee Westwood in Germany at a European Tour event in 2000.

Now?

Woods has gone more than five years without winning. He also has won enough times – 90 tournaments around the world – to remember how.

“It’s a little more unknown now,” Rose said. “Obviously, his history, his statistics from this point are impeccable. They’re incredible. But he’s human, and there’s a lot on it for him tomorrow, as well as the rest of us.”

Woods has had four finishes in the top 5, a runner-up by one shot at Innisbrook and by two shots at the PGA Championship. Only once this year, however, has he started the final round within closer than four shots of the lead.

Being up by three is a much better view.

“Simple math says that if I play a clean card, the guys behind me have to shoot 67 to force it into extra holes,” Woods said. “That helps. I don’t have to shoot 63 or 64 and hope I get help. This is a spot I’d much rather be in than four or five back.”

The Saturday start was simply mesmerizing.

Woods poured in a 20-foot birdie putt on the first hole. His wedge settled 8 feet below the hole on No. 3. His 20-foot birdie putt on No. 4 tumbled into the centre of the cup with perfect pace. Two short birdies followed. And when he finally missed a fairway at No. 7, Woods hit a 9-iron from the bunker that hopped out of the first cut to about 5 feet for a sixth birdie in seven holes.

The cheers were endless, and there was no doubting what was going on.

“I’ve heard the roars all day, and it’s been phenomenal,” Paul Casey said after his 66. “What an atmosphere it is out there this week.”

Woods, however, made only one birdie over his last 11 holes, a wedge to 7 feet on No. 12. He missed badly on his tee shot at the par-3 ninth, and the shaggy rough to the right of the 16th fairway caused the face of his club to open, missing to the right. His flop shot didn’t get up the hill and rolled back toward him, and his next pitch was a bump-and-run played to perfection that kept him from another double bogey.

McIlroy also started strong, and being in the group ahead of Woods, he knew exactly what was happening. On Sunday, he get a front-row seat. The only other time they were paired together in the fourth round was at the 2015 Masters, when both were 10 shots behind Jordan Spieth.

Rose won’t be in the final group, but he has plenty on the line even if he doesn’t catch Woods. He likely needs to finish in the top five to be assured of winning the FedEx Cup and the $10 million bonus.

ATLANTA – The crowd at East Lake was larger and louder than it has been in five years, which was the last time Tiger Woods was at the Tour Championship.

It was no coincidence.

Woods played one of his best rounds of the year in his return to the FedEx Cup finale and caused the biggest cheer of a sun-baked Thursday afternoon by making an eagle putt from just over 25 feet on the par-5 18th for a 5-under 65 and a share of the lead with Rickie Fowler.

It was the second time in as many FedEx Cup playoff events that Woods was tied for the 18-hole lead. He shot a 62 at Aronimink in the opening round of the BMW Championship two weeks ago on a rain-soaked course that allowed just about everyone to go low.

This felt even better on a dry, tougher East Lake course.

“This was by far better than the 62 at Aronimink,” Woods said. “Conditions were soft there. This, it’s hard to get the ball closer. If you drive the ball in the rough, you know you can’t get the ball close. You just can’t control it.”

Fowler, who missed two playoff events recovering from an injury to his right oblique, putted for birdie on all but two holes for his 65 as he tries to avoid ending the season without winning.

Justin Rose, in his debut as the No. 1 player in the world, got up-and-down from the bunker for birdie on the 18th for a 66 and was tied with Gary Woodland. Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy, all of whom will be in France next week for the Ryder Cup, were another shot behind.

Woods already considers this a successful year just by making into the 30-man field at East Lake for the FedEx Cup finale, where everyone has a mathematical shot at capturing the $10 million bonus. He started the season in January after a fourth back surgery that limited him to only 16 PGA Tour events in the previous four seasons.

“To be able to play golf again and to earn my way back to this level is something that I was hoping I would do at the beginning of the year, but I didn’t know,” Woods said. “And I’ve done it?”

What would winning mean in this comeback?

“It would enhance the year,” he said.

Woods still has 54 holes remaining. Two weeks ago, he went from a share of the first-round lead to five shots behind on a course where attacking flags on soft greens was the only option for low scoring.

This was more about precision, and Woods felt in total control. He opened with a three-putt bogey from 25 feet, and he twice ran birdie attempts farther beyond the hole than he would have liked. But after making birdie putts from 25 feet on No. 5 and from 15 feet on No. 6, he figured out the speed of the greens and was on his way.

“I hit so many quality shots all day, whether it was tee-to-green or it was putts,” Woods said. “I didn’t really mishit a single shot today. The only shot I can honestly say that I necked pretty bad was the tee shot at 17. Hit a 3-wood there, and with an iron, I probably would have shanked it. But ended up in the fairway and made par.”

Woods will play in the final group Friday with Fowler, who has seen plenty of him at home in Florida in the months before Woods returned to golf. He had finished his round and was doing interviews when he heard the head-turning roar of Woods making eagle.

They will be teammates next week at the Ryder Cup. Fowler has other objectives at East Lake.

“The biggest win for him is just staying healthy and being out here all year consistently,” Fowler said. “Definitely happy for him. It’s obviously great for our sport. It’s great to have him as part of the team next week. We hope he continues to play well. I just want to play a little bit better and beat him.”

Sixteen players in the 30-man field broke par on a hot afternoon with only a light breeze, and Thursday was all about staying in the game, especially as it relates to the chase for the FedEx Cup.

Bryson DeChambeau, the No. 1 seed after the points were reset, had to birdie two of the last three holes for a 71. For someone like Woods or Fowler to win the FedEx Cup, they would need the top five seeds to falter.

Rose and Thomas didn’t go along with that with strong opening rounds. Finau overcame a pair of early bogeys for his 67.

The key for Woods could be Friday. Only once this year, at the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook, has he stayed consistently in the thick of it all tournament. He figures to have plenty of support. Houses along the side streets outside East Lake, and even one funeral home, offered parking and their yards were packed. It hasn’t been like that in several years.

“I hadn’t played this tournament in five years, and some of the people said they haven’t been out here in five years,” Woods said. “That’s kind of nice that they’re coming out and supporting this event and supporting me, as well.”