|
 The Sept. 24-27 Tour Championship brings together the top 30 players
on the FedExCup points list, but besides the nearly $1.5 million
first prize on offer in this fourth and last event of the playoffs,
there is much more at stake.
The number one ranking in golf, which now belongs to red-hot
Australian Jason Day, is yet again up for grabs.
Day, winner of four of his last six events and five overall in 2015,
ascended to that coveted perch atop world golf with his spectacular
win at last week's BMW Championship, where he blew away the field.
But the title of golf number one has been passed around like a hot
potato between the Big Three of four-times major winner Rory
McIlroy, Masters and U.S. Open winner Jordan Spieth and PGA
Championship winner Day in recent weeks and this event could settle
the issue for the rest of 2015.
Meanwhile, the top five players in the FedExCup list - Day, Spieth,
Rickie Fowler, Henrik Stenson and Bubba Watson - can clinch the
playoffs title and $10 million bonus should they win the elite Tour
Championship event, which begins on Thursday.
Besides those significant numbers, there is also the Player of the
Year award at stake in a season where Day's extraordinary finish has
set up a duel with Spieth for the coveted award voted on by their
PGA Tour peers.
"Of course it's between Jason and Jordan and someone with the first
letter of a 'J' will win it," 2013 FedExCup winner Stenson told
reporters on Tuesday.
[to top of second column] |
"I would still wait until this week is over before I would put my
final vote on that. I think it comes down to what happens this
week."
Players Championship and Deutsche Bank Championship winner Fowler,
who like Day (27), Spieth (22) and McIlroy (26) is a member of the
emerging under-30 set, agrees it is a two-man race for Player of the
Year.
"We have a tough decision between the two of those guys,"
26-year-old Fowler said on Tuesday.
Stenson, who is without a tournament victory this year, would claim
the $10 million prize with a win or by finishing second or third if
the other leading contenders finish down the list at East Lake.
"There's no one that's playing great and is sky high on confidence
and no one with a bunch of majors and no one hits it 330 off the
tee, so it shouldn't be that hard," Stenson joked, in pointed
reference to Day, Spieth and McIlroy.
"But if I finish second or third and win the overall, you won't see
me leaving here crying. I know that much. Not out of sadness
anyway."
(Editing by Frank Pingue)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
