PGA / Chris Ryan / 14 September 2009 / Leave a comment Bet Now

Don't make him angry, you wouldn't like him when he's angry, writes Brian Heard.

Fact is, the rest of the PGA Tour has trouble playing against Tiger Woods when he's content and secure with his spot as the best golfer on the planet. But whenever that status comes into question - in even the most negligible or trivial ways - Tiger gets mad, and then he goes out and proves beyond a doubt that he's No. 1 ... and don't you ever forget it.

With Steve Stricker wrestling away the top spot from Woods on the Tour's FedEx Cup playoff standings last week while winning the Deutsche Bank Championship, Tiger took it back - period, exclamation point - at this weekend's BMW Championship, the third of the Tour's four playoff events which culminates with the Tour Championship in Atlanta, Georgia, in two weeks (Sept. 24-27).

Woods's spectacular 9-under 62 Saturday, which actually began with a bogey at the first hole, paved the way for a runaway victory (19-under) at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in Lemont, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. He finished eight strokes ahead of Jim Furyk and 26-year-old Australian Marc Leishman.

The win was the great one's 71st of his PGA Tour career, just two shy of Jack Nicklaus and only 11 behind Sam Snead for first all-time. Estimated time of arrival for Tiger at No. 1: 2011.

As for Stricker - the 42-year-old veteran who has made such a remarkable career renaissance and actually dared to threaten Tiger as No. 1 on the PGA Tour with his win a week ago, but also his play all season long - well, he struggled most of the week (with the exception of a 68 on Saturday), including a 6-over 77 on Sunday to finish in a tie for 53rd. Still he's second in your playoff standings and is the only player with a chance to win the FedEx Cup other than Woods.

The playoffs have now been cut to the top-30 players in the standings. The final cut was Englishman Ian Poulter, whose 4-over 75 Sunday dropped him into a tie for 20th and out of the picture. It looked like Australian John Senden would be the unfortunate final cut, after a double-bogey at 17 Sunday pushed him into a tie for 20th as well, but he finished slightly ahead of Poulter in the standings.

Despite Tiger's massive lead in the points standings over everyone except Stricker, according to the PGA Tour, any of the top five has a chance to win the FedEx Cup by winning the Tour Championship, and depending on how the top five ends up finishing, anyone in the top 10 has a very good chance. But any of the 30 players has an opportunity to win the title by winning in two weeks.

Here's the Tour Championship field:

1. Tiger Woods
2. Steve Stricker
3. Jim Furyk
4. Zach Johnson
5. Heath Slocum
6. Padraig Harrington
7. Sean O'Hair
8. Scott Verplank
9. Kenny Perry
10. Jason Dufner
11. Dustin Johnson
12. Nick Watney
13. Geoff Ogilvy
14. Phil Mickelson
15. Retief Goosen
16. Marc Leishman
17. Brian Gay
18. Kevin Na
19. David Toms
20. Lucas Glover
21. Y.E. Yang
22. Ernie Els
23. Hunter Mahan
24. Angel Cabrera
25. Steve Marino
26. Stewart Cink
27. Mike Weir
28. Luke Donald
29. Jerry Kelly
30. John Senden