FedEx Cup Playoffs/The Barclays Preview
What: Playoffs Tournament #1; The Barclays
Where: Plainfield Country Club, Edison NJ
When: 8/25-8/28
TV: Golf Channel T/F 3-6pm, Sat 1-230 pm, Sun 12-130; CBS 3-6pm Sat, 2-6pm Sun
PLAYOFFS? YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT... PLAYOFFS? Ah, yes. The now infamous tirade from former NFL head coach Jim Mora Sr.(or, the old dude in the Coors Light commercial) At any rate, the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Playoffs begin on Thursday, and I am very much looking forward to the next 5 weeks. The 1st event is this week's The Barclays, at Plainfield Country Club. Interestingly enough, this course has not held a Tour event before. As such, I am not familiar with it, so it will be hard to do much of a preview for the event. The Tour takes next week off, and then it is a frantic 3 weeks to crown a champion at the Tour Championship. The top 125 players this season are eligible for the playoffs based on their point totals accumulated from how they placed in the tournaments they competed in. The rankings coming into the playoffs shape up like this:
After this week's event, players 101-125 will be eliminated from the competition. Next week, the remaining players will compete in the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston. Players 71-100 will be eliminated after that event. After a week off, the remaining players will participate in the BMW Championship at Cog Hill outside of Chicago. The top 30 players will compete in the final tournament, The Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta. The first 3 FedEx Cup tournaments carry 5x the points of a regular Tour event, so players towards the bottom of the standings have a chance to make a big jump. In the Tour Championship, the points are reset so that any player in the top 5 that wins the Tour Championship automatically wins the entire Playoffs, and the 10 million dollar purse.
While the points component sounds like it would be difficult to follow, the TV graphics constantly update to the minute. It is actually very intense as there are big swings in the standings every few holes. This week could potentially become pretty crazy as Hurricane Irene threatens the Eastern Seaboard this weekend. I'm not sure what the Tour plans on doing if the weather becomes an issue, but I could possibly see them playing 36 holes on Saturday if necessary. The main storylines to follow during the tournament are who from the bottom 25 players makes a jump in the standings, and who among the top players are in top form. Over the last 2 years, only 10 players out of the bottom 50 (collectively) have made the cut to the Deustche Bank Championship. From the research that I've done about the course, it seems to favor players who are accurate off the tee, don't make mistakes, and are elite level putters. There are only a few long holes, which takes away the advantage of the big hitters. Also, the 18th hole is a driveable par 4, measuring just 285 yards. It does play uphill which means it will play longer than the listed yardage. That being said, there are a few areas of very long wispy type grass that will bring high scores into play.
Over the course of the last 4 years, nobody has played better in these FedEx Cup events than Steve Stricker. He has a remarkable 10 finishes in the top 10 (out of 16 events), and has won 3 events including the inagural FedEx Cup tournament in 2007. This has garnered him the nickname "Mr. September". However, he hasn't won the FedEx Cup in any year. A lot of experts are picking him to pull it off this season. Veterans have performed better than the young guys in the playoffs, so that would favor guys in the top 10 like Stricker, Donald, Mickelson, Choi, and Toms. It is virtually impossible to pick a winner just because there are so many guys that can win. I will get more in-depth with the field and course next week at TPC Boston. As it stands, I look forward to watching the action this weekend and to see who from the bottom 25 makes the cut for next week. Only a total of 10 players (out of 50) the last 2 years have made the jump from 101-125 into the top 100. The highest overall finish in the playoffs after starting in the bottom 25 is 8th, accomplished by Heath Slocum in 2009. I'll be back in this space next week with another post. Until then, enjoy the playoffs!
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