THE FEDEX CUP

By Mike Firpo
VSP Golf Columnist
Executive Director, The First Tee of Fresno

So, has everyone recovered from the exciting final weekend of action watching the FedExCup Playoffs at Eastlake? The reality of the situation is that if I polled 100 people at Riverside Golf Course this week and asked them to explain how the playoff system worked, 99 of them would not know and the one who did know probably has way too much time on his hands. It should be noted that many of the players actually playing on tour don’t even know for sure how the system works. It may be a confusing system, but our two former Fresno State players, Nick Watney and Kevin Sutherland, once again represented our Bulldogs and the community well during the 2009 playoffs.

Nick finished 12th in overall earnings for 2009 and 12th in the FedExCup points. He made it all the way to the final playoff event, The Tour Championship, and fired rounds of 70, 69, 71, 71, on the Par 70 course at Eastlake CC, good for 13th place. During his four days at the Tour Championship, Nick had his ups and downs on the course, but he always managed to keep his final score right around par. He hit less than half the fairways off the tee, but he was in the top 10 in putts per round and he was tied for 4th in birdies made. His final two rounds each had three bogeys and a double-bogey, but he still managed to shoot 1-over par 71 both days. This is a testament to Nick’s mental toughness.

Nick is continuing to prove what I have been saying about him for a couple of years now. He is quietly becoming one of the best players on tour because he is solid and steady. He does not wow anyone with wild clothes or memorable quotes. He does not do anything to draw attention to himself by being controversial or outspoken. He simply plays golf very well. Do not be surprised if you see Nick battling Tiger or Phil for a major championship late on a Sunday afternoon sometime very soon; I won’t be.

Kevin Sutherland finished 64th in overall earnings for 2009 and 44th in the FedExCup points. Kevin did not play the final week at Eastlake because only the top 30 in points advance to the Tour Championship. Don’t feel too bad for Kevin though because he still made over a million dollars and made it through to the third week of the four week playoff system. A twenty three year veteran of professional golf, Kevin is still a force on tour. He made the cut in 22 of the 25 events he entered and is ranked 60th in the world.

Now, as for the playoff rules, I was going to detail them for you, but instead I am just going to give you a brief summary of how it works. This is the third year of the playoffs and the second time the rules have been tweaked.

•Players are awarded points for playing well in each regular season tournament
•The top 125 in points make it into the playoffs
•Each week the number is reduced until they get to the Tour Championship with only 30 players left
•The points are then recalculated based on their ranking to help level the playing field and prevent someone from clinching the title in the first three weeks
•If you are in the top 5 entering the final week, you are guaranteed the title by winning the last event
•Players 6-30 still have a mathematical chance to win the overall title depending on how everyone else finishes.

The bottom line is the tour has succeeded in creating interest in the late-summer events after the majors are over, but most of us are just not sure why.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed!