Gary Woodland catching fire

Seventy-seven PGA tour players competed in Sunday’s final round of the Fed Ex St. Jude Classic won by Harris English. Only one of the 77 players shot better than a four-under 66.

Gary Woodland, showing strong signs of returning to his 2011 form that landed him 17th on the PGA money list, fired a six-under 64 Sunday to finish in a tie for 18th place. The previous week, Woodland tied for 16th in the Memorial.

One day after Woodland’s scorecard showed an eagle, four birdies, three bogeys and two double-bogeys for a third-round 71, Woodland had nothing but birdies (six) and pars (12) on his card.

On the final two days of the tournament, Woodland played the first six holes of TPC Southwind in Memphis in 9-under par, a remarkable feat.

Woodland earned $93,000 in the Memorial and $64,600 in Memphis. Those checks pushed his season tournament earnings to $419,157.56. (It is not known what he purchased with the 56 cents.)

Woodland has made nine consecutive cuts and appears primed for a big second half of the golf season. Woodland did not qualify for this weekend’s U.S. Open and the rest of the field can breathe a sigh of relief over that because he’s coming on strong.