Woods takes control of playoffs with win at BMW Championship

The champion at Cog Hill, the front-runner for the FedEx Cup.

Indeed, Tiger Woods is where most everyone figured he would be heading into the final week of the PGA Tour Playoffs.

With a 50-foot birdie putt that got him back on track Sunday, Woods matched the lowest final round of his career with an 8-under 63 that shattered the scoring record at Cog Hill and gave him a two-shot victory in the BMW Championship in Lemont, Ill.

"If you wanted to win this tournament, you had to make putts," Woods said. "And I just happened to make them today."

Woods took the lead for good with a 12-foot birdie on the 13th hole and kept his distance from Aaron Baddeley and Steve Stricker with a swing so solid that he missed only two fairways all weekend. Woods finished at 22-under 262, breaking by five shots the record he set four years ago at Cog Hill.

"There isn't a lot you can do," Stricker said. "I would have had to shoot 63 today to beat him. When you see him ahead of us making the birdies and hearing the roars, you know that he's on a roll and not making many mistakes. It's tough."

It also gave him a commanding lead with one week remaining in the FedEx Cup.

Woods goes to East Lake in Atlanta with a 3,133-point lead over Steve Stricker, who finished third at Cog Hill, and a 4,120-point margin over Phil Mickelson, who decided not to play this week.

Mickelson, the Deutsche Bank Championship winner Monday, will have to win to have any hopes of capturing the FedEx Cup and the $10 million prize. If Stricker does not win at East Lake, Woods could win the cup by finishing second.

Only two other players -- Rory Sabbatini and K.J. Choi -- have a mathematical chance of winning the FedEx Cup.

All that mattered at the moment was winning at Cog Hill for the fourth time. It was Woods' sixth victory of the year, and the 60th in his 11 years on the PGA Tour. He earned $1.26 million to go over $9 million for the fourth time in his career.

Baddeley closed with a 66, while Stricker bogeyed his final hole for a 68 to finish four shots behind.

LPGA Tour

Stacy Lewis finished atop the leaderboard -- and she even received a big trophy. Is she the champion? Not really.

Lewis was the first-round leader at the rain-shortened LPGA NW Arkansas Championship in Rogers, Ark. -- and she'll have to settle for that. The LPGA Tour shortened the event from 54 holes to 18, setting up a strange finish on a nearly empty course.

Only 32 players hadn't finished when play resumed Sunday, and the final day was closed to the public. Lewis, an amateur who plays college golf at nearby Arkansas, finished her first round Saturday at 7-under 65. Lewis, the NCAA champion, isn't considered an official winner because the tournament did not last at least 36 holes.

Kristy McPherson, Katherine Hull and Teresa Lu shot 66s Friday on the 6,238-yard course and were a stroke behind Lewis.

Juli Inkster, Sherri Turner and Pak were another stroke back at 67.

-- The Associated Press