10 million dollar FedEx Cup up for grabs
Last weekend’s BMW Championship established the top 30 that will participate in the Tour Championship, which will determine who will win the FedEx Cup’s 10 million dollar prize. The FedEx Cup point system is one that makes the final tournament vital to winning the coveted prize, and with a couple of wagering favourites already out of the running, the winner is going to be difficult to predict.
Heading into the third round of the playoffs, Tiger Woods was going off at +500, but shot a 1-under and finished in 15th. Woods needed a top five finish to move his ranking into the top thirty. Rory McIlroy was going off at +1500 and was ranked 48th in the FedEx Cup standings, he too needed a strong finish to qualify for the Tour Championship. He ended up finishing three over par in 37th place. Both Woods and McIlroy were among the favourites to win the tournament.
Matt Kuchar and Dustin Johnson will probably become the objects of golf wagering favouritism. Matt Kuchar will be going into the final atop the FedEx standings, finishing the BMW Championship 6-under par and tied for third. Dustin Johnson won last weekend with a score of nine-under par, and moved into second spot in the FedEx standings.
These two are not going to be the only golfers that see their stock rise on betting sites, any of the top ten can realistically win the FedEx cup with a win in the final tournament, and all 30 entrants have a mathematical chance of winning.
The top five in the standings are no strangers to victory. Charley Hoffman is ranked third, and won the Deutsche Bank Championship earlier in the month. Fourth ranked, Steve Stricker, won the Deutsche Bank Championship last year, and the Northern Trust Open and John Deere Classic this year. In fifth place is Paul Casey, who hasn’t won a tournament this year, but has 11 professional career wins, and narrowly lost to Johnson last weekend.
Don’t forget veterans like Ernie Els, ranked eighth, and Phil Mickelson, ranked 10th. While it is likely that one of the top five ranked players will win the Tour Championship and the FedEx cup, a strong showing by any of the field could make for a surprise winner with the PGA’s points reset system.
The system is relatively simple to understand and it’s designed so that one golfer can’t win the FedEx Cup before the final tournament by building up a large lead. When the points earned over the course of the season are reset, the first ranked golfer stays first and the 30th rankled golfer stays in 30th, but the points are evened out to allow a more competitive final.
Without the point system Kuchar would be guaranteed a FedEx Cup win with a top three finish at the Tour Championship, now he will probably have to win the Tour Championship to win the FedEx Cup. Not only does this make the tournament more competitive for the participants, it makes it more exciting for fans, who get to watch a final that should go down to the wire.
Ultimately the system creates a tournament where any of the top ten players have a very legitimate chance to win the FedEx cup at the Tour Championship. When considering which golfer is most likely to win, the recent play of the golfers as well as the ranking must be taken into consideration.
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