Tiger Woods put together an efficient round on Thursday to open the Tour Championship, and finished the day tied with Rickie Fowler.

Golfer Marc Leishman gives his thoughts on Tiger Woods' great 2018 season and shares why his performance has been so important to the PGA.

The good news—in admittedly the lesser context of a much broader and ongoing tragedy of homes and businesses facing near-record levels of flooding throughout the Carolinas—is that popular golf destinations such as Hilton Head Island, Charleston, Kiawah and Myrtle Beach in South Carolina and Pinehurst and the mountains in western North Carolina have been in many cases spared.

Coming off yet another surgery and yet another layoff, Woods was a vice captain for the team, a fancy name for “guy who grabs sandwiches.” He looked older, puffier, wearier by the day. Asked if there was a possibility that his days of competitive golf were behind him, Woods gave an answer remarkable in its honesty: “Yeah, definitely. If, on that September 2017 afternoon, you’d laid down a bet that Woods would be teeing it up in the 2018 Tour Championship, the showcase for the season’s 30 top golfers on the PGA Tour, well, you’d be able to park your yacht next to Woods’ in the Bahamas.

Tiger Woods is facing long odds of capturing the FedEx Cup and the $10 million bonus. Just having his own parking spot at East Lake, being back at the Tour Championship for the first time since 2013, even feeling lost during a practice round because the nines were flipped, were all reminders that his greatest accomplishment this year was being part of the 30-man field. "I think the season itself has been amazing, to be able to have played this well," Woods said Wednesday.

Tiger Woods is facing long odds of capturing the FedEx Cup and the $10 million bonus. Just having his own parking spot at East Lake, being back at the Tour Championship for the first time since 2013, even feeling lost during a practice round because the nines were flipped, were all reminders that his greatest accomplishment this year was being part of the 30-man field. ''I think the season itself has been amazing, to be able to have played this well,'' Woods said Wednesday.

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. 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.

There is nowhere to hide when playing the final four holes on the Albatros Course at Le Golf National, both literally—save for mounding that separates the 15th and 17th fairways, you can see almost them all nearly in their entirety from behind the 18th green—and figuratively. Matches that reach this part of the course, dubbed "The Loop of Doom" by locals, during the Ryder Cup are likely to be tight to begin with, and the given the stakes, these holes will could prove pivotal in the outcome of the overall competition.

The crowd at East Lake was larger and louder than it has been in five years, which was the last time Tiger Woods played in 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

AMES, Iowa (AP) - Teammates and others who knew an Iowa State University student-athlete who was killed this week while playing golf near the campus shared stories about her and lit candles in her memory. The vigil Wednesday evening to remember 22-year-old Celia Barquin Arozamena drew a large crowd north of the Campanile, a bell tower on the Ames campus. Several speakers, including women’s golf coach Christie Martens, talked about the star golfer from Spain. Barquin, an engineering student, was the Big 12 women’s golf champion this year. Those who attended the vigil also signed cards for Barquin’s family. Barquin’s body was found Monday at Coldwater Golf Links in Ames. Police charged a 22-year-old