September 25, 2009

PGA TOUR Playoffs Head for Dramatic Finish

This year’s PGA TOUR Playoffs have been a success…so far. The final FedEx Cup event is this week at East Lake Country Club in Atlanta, Georgia. Tiger Woods leads the point’s race and, thus, holds fate in his hands. A win gives Woods a second FedEx Cup trophy.

But, the PGA TOUR made some changes to the playoff system after last season to give the final event some dramatic storylines, and meaning. The biggest change was a points reset heading into this week, where typically it was at the beginning of the playoffs. This rewards players for their regular season success and those with post-season triumphs. The result is the top five in the points – Woods, Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson and Heath Slocum – all can claim the $10 million bonus with a win. The reset also gives the entire 30 player field a mathematical chance at playoff glory.

Last season’s champions – Vijay Singh (FedEx Cup champion) and Camilo Villegas (TOUR Championship winner) – are not in the field this week. It is hard not to pick Woods to win it all, true champions rise to the occasion at events like this, but, there are four rounds in golf and anything can happen.

So, if not Woods, who?

Out of the top five – Zach Johnson is the pick. On the season, Johnson has two wins and eight top 10 finishes. In the playoffs, Johnson has gotten better every week. He finished 28th at The Barclays, 19th at the Deutsche Bank Championship and fifth at the BMW Championship. A win would cap off a career year and put Johnson in the elite class.

Padraig Harrington and Sean O’Hair are two other players that have a better than average chance at claiming the top prize in golf. O’Hair has had a breakout season – one win, one runner-up to Woods and eight top 10 finishes. A win at East Lake would be icing on the cake. Harrington reworked his swing in the offseason and struggled early on but, things seem to be clicking and Harrington is in the mix when it counts. In the playoffs, Harrington has not finished outside the top 10 – second at The Barclays, fourth at the Deutsche Bank Championship and sixth at the BMW Championship.

Of the rest, many things would have to happen for victory. For example, Phil Mickelson is in 14th place and would need some help for FedEx Cup victory. If Mickelson wins THE TOUR Championship, he would need Woods to finish ninth or worse, Stricker to finish outside of the top five, Furyk can not do better than fourth, with Johnson and Slocum having to finish third or worse.

Sounds like an NFL playoff scenario. But, 30 golfers and four rounds can make or break a player. So, outside of the top 10, players like Geoff Ogilvy and Mickelson always seem to play well when the lights are on. Others to watch would be Retief Goosen, Masters champion Angel Cabrera and British Open champion Stewart Cink. Surprises for the week could come from Dustin Johnson, Brian Gay or Kevin Na.

Published: September 10, 2009

PGA BMW Championship Pinnacle Event for FedEx Cup

The PGA TOUR Playoffs have reached the half way mark with Steve Stricker leading the points race for the FedEx Cup after winning last week’s Deutsche Bank Championship.  This week the TOUR is in Illinois for the BMW Championship at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club, where Camilo Villegas is defending champion and looking to climb up from his current 52nd place standing.

Tiger Woods is currently in second place in the points race.  He won the BMW Championship at Cog Hill in 2007 but was unable to defend his title last year after undergoing season-ending knee surgery.  He, as always, is the favorite coming into this week.  But, Stricker has made his statement winning last week and climbing to second in the Official World Golf Rankings.

The FedEx Cup points system was changed after Vijay Singh won the first two events and built such a lead that he just had to finish the final event to hoist the FedEx Cup.  Now, the points earned this season will be reset after the BMW Championship to give all 30 players qualifying for The TOUR Championship, the final of four FedEx Cup events, a mathematical chance at winning.  Another change the TOUR made was giving the players a week break before the final event.

This week’s field consists of 70 players, after being cut down from 125 at the start of the playoffs.  With only 30 moving onto the final event, many players need to play well to improve their shot at the $10 million prize.  There are some top names in danger of not qualifying for The TOUR Championship, notably Sergio Garcia, who is currently in 55th place.  Sitting on the bubble this week are British Open champion Stewart Cink (25), Ian Poulter (30), Anthony Kim (34) and Paul Casey (36), who withdrew from the Deutsche Bank Championship with a rib injury.

The drama at the BMW Championship will be unlike any other even on the PGA TOUR this season.  The changes made to the points system put more pressure on players to perform if they want a shot at the $10 million FedEx Cup.  So, the big questions this week are:

The top three picks to win the BMW Championship are Tiger Woods, Zach Johnson and Sean O’Hair.  Woods, somewhat of a defending champion having not been in the field last year, is always the favorite.  Johnson and O’Hair have had terrific seasons and are in the thick of the playoff race.

It would be easy to say that Garcia and Villegas would be the biggest movers this week as both stars try to reclaim some of the magic of the 2008 playoff season.  But, this seems to be the year of surprises – Heath Slocum winning The Barclays and Jason Dufner almost winning last week.  So, I can see Hunter Mahan and Steve Marino putting themselves into the top 10 in points after this week.  And, watch veterans Tim Clark and Rory Sabbatini make their move into the top 30.

The fall may continue for Ernie Els, who dropped from 11th place to 20th after the Deutsche Bank Championship.  He may join defending FedEx Cup champion Vijay Singh, who couldn’t break into the top 70 after last week’s event, at home to watch the final event.

Published Aug 13, 2009

The Final Major: 91st PGA Championship at Hazeltine

The PGA TOUR plays the final major championship of the year at Hazeltine National Golf Club this week.  The 91st PGA Championship will boast the toughest field ever with 100 of the top 101 golfers, according to the Official World Golf Rankings, committed this week.  The TOUR is coming off a duel tournament week with the World Golf Championship event – the Bridgestone Invitational – and the PGA TOUR event – the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open.  Tiger Woods came from behind to beat Padraig Harrington at the Bridgestone, while John Rollins won by three shots in Las Vegas at the Legends.

My players to watch this week are Phil Mickelson, Anthony Kim, Geoff Ogilvy, Rory McIlroy and Stewart Cink.  They all have interesting stories behind them.  Mickelson has had a rough summer with both his wife and mother being diagnosed with breast cancer.  It would be fitting that the player many fans are pulling for breaks his major slump.  Geoff Ogilvy has been quiet of late after getting 2009 off to a fiery start.  Anthony Kim and Rory McIlroy are both young, talented players and seem to be on the brink of special careers and winning their first major would help get that going.  Finally, for Cink, it is always interesting to see how a first-time major champion plays at the next big event.