Woods in for playoff opener

The disappointment from his loss to Y.A. Yang in the PGA Championship may stick with Tiger Woods for a while, but the world No. 1 apparently doesn't intend to sit around and stew.

Woods committed this morning to play The Barclays next week at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, N.J., a telling indicator that he plans to play all four of the season-ending FedEx Cup playoff events in hopes of locking up his 10th PGA Tour Player of the Year award (if he hasn't already).

Although he skipped The Barclays when it kicked off the inaugural playoffs two years ago, Woods went on to win the FedEx Cup and the $10 million bonus that went with it. He missed all of last year's playoffs because of knee surgery, opening the door for Vijay Singh's win.

The Barclays is being held for the first time at Liberty National, the high-end Tom Kite/Bob Cupp design that boasts prominent views of the Statue of Liberty. When the tournament was held at Westchester Country Club in Harrison, N.Y., Woods played the event only three times as a pro, most recently in 2003. By some accounts, his decision to skip the FedEx Cup opener there may have precipitated the tour's decision to move the tournament out of Westchester the following year.

Conventional wisdom said if Woods was going to skip one of the four events, it would have been the first. His Tiger Woods Foundation is the benefiting charity for the Deutsche Bank Championship the following week, and he has won four times at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club, site of this year's BMW Championship. There is an off week built into the schedule before the Tour Championship, so Woods and others won't have to play four straight weeks.

-- Sam Weinman