LEMONT, Ill., Sept. 5 (UPI) -- Tiger Woods will try to regain the lead in the FedEx Cup race beginning Thursday at the BMW Championship -- the third of four PGA Tour playoff events.
With the inaugural season of the FedEx Cup coming in for criticism from several players, Woods finds himself in third place midway through the playoff series.
Phil Mickelson, who took over the points lead last week by edging Woods in a final-round duel, decided to skip this week's tournament. Woods missed the first tournament of the playoffs two weeks ago and Ernie Els sat out last week's event.
Players have complained that four pressure-packed events in a row, coming so soon after the final major championship of the year and just before the Presidents Cup, is too much golf jammed into too little time.
Seventy players are eligible to play in this week's tournament, being contested at the Cog Hill Golf & Country Club, but only 66 will take part.
Mickelson has 108,613 points with Steve Stricker second at 106,200 and Woods third at 103,633. Woods, who has won three times at Cog Hill, would pass Mickelson by finishing first or second.
