Odds of the 2010 Tour Championship
One man, who has won the bonus of US$10 million, twice in three years, is none other than Tiger Woods. Other than him, it was Vijay Singh who took the advantage of the loop hole and hoisted
his flag high in 2008. But, with both these men absent from the present scenario, the bonus this year is readily available for the grab at the East Lake starting from today.
The 30-men field is ready for the 2010 Tour Championship to begin. The first round, carrying a purse of US$ 35 million is already in process. However, it will take three more days for the
players to lay their hands on the staggering sum of money.
Many players are up for a grab. The first name on the list of the deserving candidates is Paul Casey. But, according to him, it is not about money as he has already won that kind of huge
prize money in 2006 when he seized the trophy at World Match Play. In fact, this is his first visit to the East Lake and technically speaking, also his first Tour Championship. Paul Casey might be denying the worth of this huge bonus but the reason behind
his denial is not the fact that he is way too rich to crave for it. In reality, it is him being not given the wild card by Colin Montgomerie. Casey initially stood at the eight spot in the FedEx standings, however, due to his inconsistency and not showing
up at the Johnnie Walker Championship in Gleneagles, he fell out of contention.
The same stance is held by Steve Stricker, who is at the fourth spot in the FedEx playoffs. Like Casey, this is the first time for Stricker as well. However, according to him, he is really
excited over the fact that he is fighting for an incredible sum of money, but again, money is still the secondary need for the week. He added that one thing which was quite a fascination for him was the feeling of making a cut in 40 tournaments including the
FedEx playoffs.
True, money might be the secondary inclusion for the players in this field, but there are stranger facts than this. Tiger Woods will be absent on the East Lake which means that Phil Mickelson
has clear chances of grabbing the opportunity. Still, Phil is again suffering from chronic arthritis, which means that he might lose the sacred chance of claiming his second victory at East Country Club. Earlier, it was in 2000 when he had defeated the second
longest par-71 course. If Phil wins again, he will also steal Tiger’s thrown of being the world number one and secondly, he might get the title of the ‘player of the year’.
At present, Phil is really pleased with his game and feels more confidence for the current week. The reason behind his confidence is his relevance with the course. He claimed that he was
in better form than the time when he had won the Masters with three strokes. A little description of the East Lake country club; It is a par-71 stretched on 7,154-yards with narrow fairways and huge greens. The last player to have set a record there was Zach
Johnson, who posted a score of 60 in 2007.
Moreover, experts are pondering into the issue that it has been a strange year for the PGA tour. For the very first time, ten non-major winners have stepped in the last leg of the playoff series. To
make it more surprising, they have no prior experience with the venue, which means that something big might be coming ahead. Tiger is not there, Vijay also didn’t qualify and the Ryder cup drop outs are competing for the US$10 million worth of bonus. What
can be stranger than this?
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