Fedex Rankings After Deutsche Bank
The PGA’s Playoff Plan Is Coming Together
Tiger Woods' absence from the Barclays is now forgotten, cancelled-out by his battle with Phil Mickelson at the Deutsche Bank. See the smile on the commissioner's face.
Rich Beem’s comments last week were on target, at least partially. He essentially said the Fedex is all about Tiger Woods. Although Tiger won’t ensure long-term success for the Fedex Cup, a down-to-the-wire battle with him in the mix will, like a six-pack of Red Bull, give the Fedex Playoffs the boost it needs in its inaugural season.
It now has it that boost. Even better, Tiger’s battling arguably the world’s second most popular player, Phil Mickelson. After a real rarity, Mickelson beating Tiger to win a tournament, the two are poised for a showdown over the final two weeks of the Fedex Playoffs.
Proving part of Beem’s point, it would take a close look at the standings to see that Woods isn’t in second place in the Fedex points. He’s actually in third, behind Steve Stricker, who seems to be forgotten. Bottom line: Stricker doesn’t cause high TV ratings, Tiger Woods does.
The race isn’t just limited to the Tiger-Phil showdown. Take a look at the Fedex Playoffs Top-20 standings going into the BMW Championship, third of the four-tournament Fedex Cup Playoffs. It can’t help but get very interesting.
- Phil Mickelson (108,613)
- Steve Stricker (106,200)
- Tiger Woods (103,733)
- K.J. Choi (102,900)
- Rory Sabbatini (102,388)
- Vijay Singh (99,108)
- Jim Furyk (98,963)
- Geoff Ogilvy 2 (97,954)
- Adam Scott (97,827)
- Zach Johnson (97,623)
- Aaron Baddeley (97,400)
- Woody Austin (97,023)
- Charles Howell, III (97,023)
- Ernie Els (96,967)
- Mark Calcavecchia (96,914)
- Sergio Garcia (96,827)
- Brandt Snedeker (96,632)
- Scott Verplank (96,341)
- Hunter Mahan (96,225)
- Boo Weekley (95,621)
With 9,000 points going to the winner this week, and 10, 300 to the winner of the Tour Championship, even someone outside the top-20 could conceivably win the Fedex Championship. Certainly a long-shot, but possible. At any rate, it’s still any man’s championship for the players in the top-20.
If Mickelson puts up the stats this week like he did at the Deutsche Bank (4th in driving distance, T8 in greens-in-regulation and 4th in putts per GIR), he’ll be hard to beat. Mickelson hasn't been the model of consistency this year. But when he's good, he's excellent.
The BMW Championship will be held at the Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in Lemont, Illinois, and played over the No. 4 course. Cog Hill No. 4 is ranked 60th in Golf Digest’s list of America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses. The BMW Championship has been held at Cog Hill since 1991.
Visit the Weekly PGA Tour Standings Index for up-to-date and historical rankings.
