FanHouse Jim Furyk

He is Tiger Woods, and sometimes, it seems we forget this. He wins six events in 2009 and we complain about his performances at the majors. He is one of the better match play golfers to ever wrap his hands around a cord grip, yet we worry about his team record.

And then he goes and does stuff like he did Saturday morning at Harding Park in San Francisco, and we remember, this guy is so good at golf it's sickening. Playing alongside Steve Stricker for the third time this week at the Presidents Cup, Woods and Stricker found themselves in trouble. Serious trouble. Needing a 22-footer for birdie on 17 just to say in the match, Tiger eyed the putt with the International team of Mike Weir and Tim Clark in tight for birdie.

Woods' putt looked like it might be short the whole way, but one more revolution lead to the biggest Woods fist pump since the 2005 chip-in at Augusta National and a breath of air to Fred Couples' A team. Weir missed the short birdie, and the match went to 18 all square.

There, Tiger did something only Tiger can do.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The greatest shots in Presidents Cup history? No, not a chance. All the same, Justin Leonard played them perfectly.

Let's talk shot making.

He drained them.

"It was knowing I needed to come out and play well today," he said.

Leonard teamed with Phil Mickelson for Friday's Presidents Cup second round and played top shelf. He birdied the first hole to get the American twosome going in the best-ball competition. He kept pounding until finally rolling in a 12-footer at No. 16 to finish off the International team of Retief Goosen and Adam Scott 3 and 2.

It was a performance instrumental in allowing the United State to lead 6½-5½ going into Saturday's third round.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Of all the various formats used during four days of this week's Presidents Cup match-play competition, alternate shot is the indisputable meat grinder.

Two golfers with a single golf ball. One player hits a shot, the other finds it and gets to take the next whack.

Rinse and repeat as necessary.

"Alternate shot -- we all know it's difficult," U.S. captain Fred Couples said. "But it's also an emotional thing."

Copy that, as Jack Bauer would say.

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SAN FRANCISCO -- The eighth Presidents Cup begins play Thursday afternoon at Harding Park Golf Club, but the action started Wednesday when team captains, American Fred Couples and International Greg Norman, matched twosomes for six first-round foursome matches.

The alternate-shot competition will begin at 12:10 p.m. PDT with the International pairing of Canadian Mike Weir and South African Tim Clark taking on Americans Anthony Kim and Phil Mickelson.

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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:

ATLANTA -- East Lake Golf Club has a lot going for it.

Players seem to honestly like the historic course designed by Donald Ross and, if you are looking for history, this is where Bobby Jones learned to play the game as a kid.

There is, however, the finishing hole.

It's a par 3. At 235 yards with an elevated green and front bunkers to the right and left, it's a bear of a par-3, mind you, but still a par 3 to end a golf tournament. A very important golf tournament.

ATLANTA -- Arriving to the first tee box at East Lake Golf Club before starting Thursday's opening round of the Tour Championship, Sean O'Hair felt the need to do something Tiger Woods does not.

"Hi," he said, extending a right hand to announcer Tom Kerbo, whose job it was to introduce each golfer to the surrounding gallery. "I'm Sean O'Hair."

That O'Hair needed to identify himself in a field of 30 golfers would be only the first thing on a hot, sunny and humid Georgia day that made him different from you know who.

O'Hair shot 4-under 66, one shot better than Woods, who is joined by Padraig Harrington and Stewart Cink at 67.

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ATLANTA -- As you might expect, there is no consensus on exactly where this week's Tour Championship fits into golf's tournament landscape.

It is big, but not major. With a $1.35 million winner's check and $10 million FedEx Cup playoff bonus in play, the Tour Championship demands attention, but prize money will never buy the sophistication of a green jacket. And while it would be nice to raise the FedEx Cup, a drink from the Claret Jug will always be sweeter.

"You try and have this season-ending championship be our big event, but there's four other ones that are pretty big, too," Tiger Woods pointed out.

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Normal PGA Tour playoffs are important on a number of levels, one of the major ones being financial improvement. A guy winning a playoff normally pockets around a million bucks, along with an extended exemption of at least two years. But what if a playoff were worth $11.35 million? That's what could happen this week at the Tour Championship.

For all the complaining from the players and the media about the continued project that is the FedEx Cup, one thing's for sure -- the third year has been a lot smoother than the previous two. We've had a random winner (Heath Slocum) toss himself in the mix. We've had the Zeus of the golf world (Tiger Woods) put himself in his rightful position atop the standings, but with a decent shot of not winning if someone else were to win the Tour Championship.

For all the good, there is still some uncertainty in the system, with one of those possibilities coming to light this week -- the FedEx Cup could end, on Sunday at East Lake, with two potential playoffs.

The Tour Championship wraps up the golf season this week, and with it will come our third FedEx Cup champion. With the new rules, only five golfers have a guarantee of winning the $10 million bonus (and the shiny trophy they give out to the champ) if they pull out the victory. The tournament has 30 participants -- here are the five that could walk away as the playoff champion, and how they got here.