Patrick Reed (1,447).
Nobody else is even within 400, which suggests that barring a win from somebody else in the top 15 or completely devastating efficiency from both of those golf players at the BMW Championship this week, the odds are good that theyll be Nos. 1 and 2 going into the Tour Championship. Regardless of sharing the record for a lot of FedEx Cup Playoffs wins (5) with Rory McIlroy, hes never ever won the FedEx Cup (McIlroy has actually done it twice). You certainly dont have to be leading the FedEx Cup going into the Tour Championship to win it. Can golfs latest heavyweight carry this thing the distance and actually win the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup? D.J. has enter a chat previously inhabited by just Collin Morikawa (two wins and a major), Justin Thomas (3 wins) and Webb Simpson (2 wins).
With one occasion in the books at the 2020 FedEx Cup Playoffs and 55 players headed home, its time to reset whats in store for the last 70 remaining over the last two weeks. Following his 11-stroke win on Sunday at The Northern Trust, theres a new heavyweight atop the standings (and thus a brand-new favorite for the Tour Championship) and likewise some big names that require huge weeks at the BMW Championship today.
Lets start with Dustin Johnsons new location atop both the FedEx Cup standings and the Official World Golf Rankings as we take a look at whats next with just 8 rounds remaining this season on the PGA Tour.
FedEx Cup Playoffs format, schedule
The structure of the FedEx Cup Playoffs is such that the top 125 players in the FedEx Cup standings (accumulated throughout the season) make it to the Northern Trust at TPC Boston. Following that occasion, the swimming pool is trimmed to 70 for the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields and lastly to 30 for the Tour Championship at East Lake.
Theres plenty of space for movement after each occasion, though, as points granted to the winners of the first 2 will be triple what they were throughout the routine season (i.e. one win here is worth three wins throughout the routine season). Whoever is initially at that point will begin the Tour Championship at 10 under.
Dustin Johnson (2,571 points).
Justin Thomas (2,479).
Webb Simpson (2,163).
Daniel Berger (1,917).
Collin Morikawa (1,902).
Harris English (1,767).
Bryson DeChambeau (1,657).
Sungjae Im (1,633).
Jon Rahm (1,580).
FedEx Cup Playoffs cash prize
Short answer: a lot. Longer response: $60 million will be dispersed amongst the 125 gamers with the winner of the Tour Championship making $15 million. The runner up at East Lake makes a cool $5 million. Third place benefits $4 million. Just making it to the Tour Championship is worth $400,000, and even if you make it to the playoffs and finish last, you still get a good little $100,000 reward.
Present leading 10 (post-Northern Trust).
Last year, Abraham Ancer began the playoffs at 67th, just inside the cut line to make it to the 2nd event. When he finished second at the first event, he moved into the top 10 and made it all the way to East Lake.
Intriguing prospects to do the same this year include Webb Simpson (3rd), Daniel Berger (4th), Harris English (6th), Jon Rahm (9th) and Scottie Scheffler (14th). All had nice weeks to open the playoffs at TPC Boston, and all of them are playing really solid golf. D.J. and J.T. will get the headings over the next two weeks, but any of these golf enthusiasts might play their method into position to win.
Bubble young boys.
Gamers currently outside the leading 30 that will require big weeks to advance to the Tour Championship consist of Matthew Wolff, Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott, Jason Day, Tiger Woods and Bubba Watson. All need varying degrees of success this week (Wolff probably requires a top 15 while Woods requires a leading 5), however all will be battling a little bit of an uphill struggle to advance to the Tour Championship.
The PGA Tour has actually done a great job of making these playoffs not difficult but tough to move up and advance on. Its a great matrix of rewarding who played well in the routine season integrated with who truly appeared the playoffs, and theyve dialed it in pretty precisely over the last couple of years.
New favorites.
D.J. leads with 2,571 FedEx Cup points, and Justin Thomas routes him by 92. Nobody else is even within 400, which suggests that barring a win from somebody else in the top 15 or entirely dreadful efficiency from both of those golf players at the BMW Championship this week, the chances are decent that theyll be Nos. 1 and 2 going into the Tour Championship. Why is that a big offer? Remember, if youre No. 1 entering into the Tour Championship, you start at 10 under. You start at 8 under if youre No. 2. Can you picture D.J. beginning at 10 under with the way hes striking it today?.
One of the couple of holes in D.J.s resume is a FedEx Cup crown. Despite sharing the record for most FedEx Cup Playoffs wins (5) with Rory McIlroy, hes never won the FedEx Cup (McIlroy has actually done it two times). He and Thomas are definitely the 2 favorites going into the last 144 holes of the season.
Darkhorse prospects.
You certainly dont need to be leading the FedEx Cup entering into the Tour Championship to win it. Last year– the very first year with this brand-new format– Rory was in fifth and started the Tour Championship at 5 under (compared to Thomas 10-under score as he entered in very first). However Rory torched the course and won the occasion by four over Xander Schauffele.
Whats in front of Tiger.
He requires a monster week at Olympia Fields. He requires his putter– which often has the widest variation of any club in the bag– to really pop this week if he wants to make it to yet another Tour Championship.
Fascinating storylines.
There are myriad appealing narratives going into the last two weeks, however here are a few of my favorites.
He won at Olympia Fields as an amateur, but that was five years and 45 pounds earlier. Can golfs latest heavyweight bring this thing the distance and in fact win the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup?
– Can Rory solve? McIlroy confessed on Sunday after a dull Northern Trust that he has actually just been a little bit off and a little bit uninspired since the reboot without any fans. Hes won 2 of the last 4 FedEx Cups and is in position to make it three of 5 if he can discover his game over the last fortnight of this season.
– Will we see a super star win the FedEx Cup? Your last five winners of the FedEx Cup have actually all been mega stars. Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth. You need to go back to 2014 when Billy Horschel won to step outside of this, however there are a lot of lurkers like Berger, Scheffler, Sungjae Im, Brendon Todd and others currently in the top 15. Im fascinated to see how this plays out.
– Player of the Year race. Its not the sexiest award in sports, but its absolutely up for grabs right now. D.J. has get in a chat formerly occupied by just Collin Morikawa (two wins and a major), Justin Thomas (3 wins) and Webb Simpson (two wins). If nobody closes, it will probably go to Morikawa or Thomas, however since right now with simply two occasions its absolutely still up for grabs.
Winning the first occasion deserves 1,500 points or more than all but five gamers have collected throughout the entire season. As evidenced by Johnsons skyrocket from 15 to 1 in a week.
