FanHouse Zach Johnson

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 -- 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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Greg Norman will play hurt at next week's Presidents Cup.

OK, as captain of the International Team that is taking on the Americans at San Francisco's Harding Park Golf Club, Norman will not hit a shot, but no question he is ailing.

Captain Shark has his right arm in a sling, the result of arthroscopic shoulder surgery performed Wednesday.

"A bit of a surprise," Norman said Friday. "I was trying to delay it until January of next year, but the doctor said I needed to get it done now."

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 -- 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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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.

Five players remain capable of winning the FedEx Cup playoff series as the PGA Tour prepares for the Tour Championship in two weeks.

Four of them are not Tiger Woods.

Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson and Heath Slocum, the tee box belongs to you. Any of the four will overtake Woods by winning the regular-season finale to be played at Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club.

Unlike the two previous seasons of the event's history, when Woods in 2007 and Vijay Singh in 2008 clinched the cup and $10 million bonus before the final event began, real drama is guaranteed this year after an offseason redesign of the points system.

Just like we did with Augusta, we present your Sleepers for the U.S. Open. Bethpage Black is 7,426 yards of pure nastiness, and will play to a gruesome par of just 70. It is one of the toughest tests in golf, and will be home to the best golfers in the world this weekend. So who are the sleepers you should bank on when the big boys tee up on Thursday? Here's a list of five.

Every Monday during the PGA Tour season, Monday Pin Placement will run as a wrap-up of the weekend's action. Basically, we'll focus on what you missed while you were out grinding on the putting green.

Johnson Delivers Another Playoff Victory -- Before April of 2007, Zach Johnson was a relative nobody in the golf world. He'd won the BellSouth Classic back in 2004, but he hadn't been making noise before he headed to Augusta National last year.

Yet twelve strategic lay-ups and a bunch of well played golf had Johnson wearing his first green jacket. Johnson's 2007 Masters win made us believe that golf isn't just about booming tee shots and big names.