So it begins. All season long the players not only play for prize money each week, but also FedEx Cup points to ensure that they secure a spot in the play-offs. At the end of the four play-off events, the leader in the ranking will win a cool $10m bonus.
The play-offs have a new look this year as we say goodbye to two title sponsors, The Barclays and Deutsche Bank Championship, which are replaced by the Northern Trust (not to be confused with Northern Trust Open) and the Dell Technologies Championship (not to be confused with WGC Match Play). The Dell Technologies is just the new title sponsor for the Deutsche Bank Championship and remains at TPC Boston, whilst the Northern Trust is going to be played at a new course this year. This event, unlike the other three in the FedEx Cup play-offs changes course every year however this is the first time it will be hosted at Glen Oaks Golf Club. Since 2008 the host course for this event has rotated between Ridgewood Country Club (hosted three times), as well as Bethpage Black, Liberty National and Plainfield Country Club all hosting twice each.
As we have seen in the past, some players are consistent all year long, whilst others get hot at the right time.
The best example of this was Billy Horschel who did not play his best during the 2013-14 season (the first TOUR Season to span two calendar years, known as the wrap-around). Horschel was struggling to follow up his 2013 breakout season and was sat at No.69 in the FedEx Cup standings at the start of the play-offs and also went on to miss the cut at the first play-off event, The Barclays. This continued a run stretching two months since his last top-40 finish. After missing the cut at The Barclays, Horschel went on to finish T2 at the Deutsche Bank Championship and then win both the BMW Championship and TOUR Championship, enough to claim the $10m bonus.
The last seven winners of the FedEx Cup have also won the season-ending TOUR Championship, so a good performance at East Lake is clearly vital. To get there though you need to make it into the top-30 by the time the fourth and final play-off event comes around.
Once the players arrive at East Lake, the points get reset so that the #1 in the standings gets 2000 points, #2 is allocated 1800 and then right down to #30 who is allocated 168 points. This means that there is a scenario no matter how slim that each of the 30 players can win the FedEx Cup with a win at this event. For the #30 at the start of the week to win the FedEx Cup though takes what can only be described as a miracle.
Take last year for example, the #30 heading into the TOUR Championship was Charl Schwartzel. Schwartzel needed #1 Dustin Johnson to finish T29 or worse, #2 Patrick Reed to finish in a 3-way tie for 6th or worse, #3 Adam Scott to finish T4 or worse, #4 Jason Day to finish T3 or worse, #5 Paul Casey to finish in a 3-way tie for 2nd or worse and #6 Rory McIlroy to finish T2 or worse.
As we can see it was virtually impossible for Schwartzel to win the FedEx Cup, even if he won at East Lake but for those in the top-10 of the rankings, it was much more realistic.
To win the FedEx Cup in 2016, Rory McIlory (#6) needed to win the TOUR Championship and Dustin Johnson to finish T2 or worse, but McIlroy also had a mathematical chance of winning the cup if he finished 2nd at East Lake.
For those that were fighting to keep their TOUR Card, making the 125 ensured they kept their playing privileges for next season, which is almost a win in itself for some of these players.
Being inside the top-125 gets you into this week at the Northern Trust but you will need to be inside the top-100 to make it to next week, the top-70 the week after and finally as we know, the top-30 to get into the season-ending TOUR Championship. The top-70 and ties will make the 36-hole cut in the first two play-off events, as they would each week but the last two events will not feature a cut, so players can bounce back from a bad start, particularly at the BMW Championship.
Those that just snuck in last week will have some work to do to make it to the Dell Technologies Championship next week, before they can even think about the BMW Championship and the TOUR Championship, so will need to be part of the 70 and ties that make the cut this weekend.
Likewise, you cannot afford to rest on your laurels unless you are right up there given the amount of points on offer in these events. A couple of bad weeks can see those at the tail-end of the top-30 slip out of that magic number, so you need to stay committed and focused to make it to East Lake.
Previous FedEx Cup winners Tiger Woods (2007 & 2009), Vijay Singh (2008) and Jim Furyk (2010) will not be playing in this year’s play-offs. These three players won the first four FedEx Cups between them, ranking 1st, 8th and 3rd respectively in the FedEx Cup Career Earnings standings. Furyk and Singh have played limited schedules this season and struggled, whilst Woods has not be playing at all.
The last six winners of the Cup have all finished inside the top-125 this season and have been highlighted in bold.
Here are the top-125 entering The Northern Trust. Should any players withdraw this week, there will be no alternatives and the field will just be reduced.
1) Hideki Matsuyama
2) Justin Thomas
3) Jordan Spieth
4) Dustin Johnson
5) Rickie Fowler
6) Jon Rahm
7) Brooks Koepka
8) Daniel Berger
9) Kevin Kisner
10) Brian Harman
11) Charley Hoffman
12) Pat Perez
13) Adam Hadwin
14) Marc Leishman
15) Matt Kuchar
16) Brendan Steele
17) Kyle Stanley
18) Paul Casey
19) Russell Henley
20) Jason Dufner
21) Charles Howell III
22) Sergio Garcia
23) Henrik Stenson
24) Billy Horschel
25) Webb Simpson
26) Gary Woodland
27) Wesley Bryan
28) Tony Finau
29) Jhonattan Vegas
30) Kevin Chappell
31) Francesco Molinari
32) Justin Rose
33) Xander Schauffele
34) Mackenzie Hughes
35) Louis Oosthuizen
36) Bill Haas
37) Hudson Swafford
38) Patrick Reed
39) Ollie Schniederjans
40) Cameron Smith
41) Si Woo Kim
42) Zach Johnson
43) Bryson DeChambeau
44) Rory McIlroy
45) Sung Kang
46) Keegan Bradley
47) Jamie Lovemark
48) Ian Poulter
49) Jason Day
50) Luke List
51) Phil Mickelson
52) Charl Schwartzel
53) James Hahn
54) Sean O’Hair
55) Lucas Glover
56) Danny Lee
57) Martin Laird
58) Kelly Kraft
59) Ryan Moore
60) Russell Knox
61) Anirban Lahiri
62) Bud Cauley
63) Chez Reavie
64) Brandt Snedeker
65) Scott Brown
66) Adam Scott
67) Graham DeLaet
68) Patrick Rodgers
69) Grayson Murray
70) Rod Pampling
71) Chris Stroud
72) Kevin Tway
73) Chad Campbell
74) Rafa Cabrera Bello
75) Kevin Na
76) Stewart Cink
77) Jonas Blixt
78) Patrick Cantlay
79) Robert Streb
80) Morgan Hoffmann
81) Jim Herman
82) J.B. Holmes
83) Kevin Streelman
84) Nick Taylor
85) Scott Piercy
86) C.T. Pan
87) Patton Kizzire
88) Emiliano Grillo
89) Cody Gribble
90) Branden Grace
91) J.J. Spaun
92) Whee Kim
93) William McGirt
94) Jason Kokrak
95) Michael Kim
96) Byeong Hun An
97) Chris Kirk
98) Camilo Villegas
99) Robert Garrigus
100) Seung-Yul Noh
101) Jimmy Walker
102) Scott Stallings
103) David Lingmerth
104) D.A. Points
105) Ryan Blaum
106) Brian Gay
107) Luke Donald
108) Richy Werenski
109) Brandon Hagy
110) Steve Stricker
111) Derek Fathauer
112) Tyrone Van Aswegen
113) Bubba Watson
114) Harris English
115) Dominic Bozelli
116) Geoff Ogilvy
117) Nick Watney
118) Martin Flores
119) John Huh
120) Blayne Barber
121) Ben Martin
122) Rory Sabbatini
123) Harold Varner III
124) Vaughan Taylor
125) J.J. Henry
It is tight at the top of the standings, with 2017 major winners, Spieth and Thomas chasing down current leader, Matsuyama. It looks to be a thrilling finale, and there are plenty of others outside of these three players who can make a run at the $10m and will use the next four weeks to prove so.
At the other end, Geoff Ogilvy was sitting right on the number (125) last week but solidified his spot in the standings with a T16 finish at the Wyndham Championship. Martin Flores climbed 21 spots to finish inside the number, thanks to his T7 finish last week, whilst Rory Sabbatini (T4), Harold Varner III (T10) and J.J. Henry (T16) also relied on good finishes at the Wyndham to secure their card and spot in the play-offs.
Their are some notable players a fair way down the list at the moment, including World No.4, Rory McIlroy sitting at 44th, who will play this week despite his rib injury that he said may keep him out for the rest of the season.
Just below McIlroy at #49 is Jason Day, who has struggled for consistency all year but looks to be playing some better stuff at the right time.
Major winners, Phil Mickelson (#51), Adam Scott (#66) and Bubba Watson (#113) have also had lacklustre season and Watson in particular has some work to do, to progress further into the play-offs.
2012 FedEx Cup champion, Brandt Snedeker has some work to do, firstly to get fit in time to participate in the play-offs but also improve on his current ranking of #64. At this stage, it looks as though he may well miss out, and shut it down for the rest of the season.
