NORTON, Mass. — When all was right in the world of Tiger Woods, players wanted to be on the same side of the draw because they figured the world's No. 1 player was getting all the breaks.

That might not be the case at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Woods is among the late starters when the second round of the PGA Tour playoffs gets under way today at the TPC Boston. That's about the time the forecast is for the outer bands of Hurricane Earl to arrive.

Tour officials expected this morning to be just fine, and that could be good news for the likes of Matt Kuchar and Steve Stricker, who are Nos. 1 and 2 in the FedEx Cup standings.

Woods is at No. 65, needing another solid week to make sure he stays in the top 70 and advances to the third round outside Chicago.

The conditions could get so sloppy that tour officials are to meet today to discuss whether to allow players to lift, clean and place their balls in the fairway. If they don't and the first round is halted by wind and rain, they might not be able to resume until the course is dry enough to keep globs of mud off the ball.

"As long as we can play golf by the rules, we're going to play," said Mark Russell, the tour's vice president of rules and competition. "But if the wind blows so hard it blows the ball around on the greens, we can't play. Or if it rains so hard that the hole goes under water, we can't play. But we might get lucky. Who knows?"