Fascinating scenario to end FedEx Cup
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2007 PGA Tour Championship | Preview | 11 Sep 2007
The Tour Championship in Atlanta this week is shaping as perhaps the most gripping of the events outside of the majors in 2007. Part of the intrigue this week is the US$10 million superannuation fund deposit and the US$7 million in prizemoney but with the mouthwatering prospect of a Woods and Mickelson duel and five players could still win the overall FedEx fortune, there is plenty at stake.
Only three of those five players are realsitic chances, however, with Stricker and Mickelson the biggest threats to Woods’ continued domination of the series both before and during the finals. Woods leads Stricker by 3133 points, Mickelson by 4121, Rory Sabbatini by 9146 and K.J. Choi by 9633. Given that last place in this event carries 395 points, Woods will finish the series at the very worst with 13,128. That effectively rules out any player other than those mentioned as possible winners of the FedEx Cup.
Effectively, and more realistically, if Stricker wins this week he moves to 119,900 points and Woods can’t catch him whatever he does. If Mickelson wins then Woods can finish runner up and still win. If Sabbatini wins the tournament then Woods needs finish only 13th or better to win the Cup provided that Stricker and Mickelson do not finish runner up. The only way K.J Choi could win the Cup would be if he was to finish first this week and then Woods finishes worse than 21st. They are some of the permutations but given that even 5th place in the FedEx Cup series this week receives a US$1 million dollar bonus in addition to prizemoney, there is a lot to play for even outside of the huge money available at the top of the tree.
The venue for this year’s event will again be the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. The course at the East Lake Golf Club is close to 100 years old. Originally built and designed by Tom Bendelow, it was remodelled by Donald Ross in 1915 then again in 1959 by George Cobb and in 1994, after the course had lapsed into a poor state as a public facility, Rees Jones extensively rebuilt it to the level it is at now.
The greens at East Lakes have been under extreme stress of late due to the heatwave the south has experiecned in recent weeks and they will only just be playable this week. Much has been done to protect the surfaces including a restrction on practice time on the course.
Neither Woods nor Mickelson played this event last year leaving the way open for Adam Scott to win by three shots over Jim Furyk. Woods has won this event only once and it was when played at the Champions Golf Club in Houston 1999, the year the tournament was clouded by the death of Payne Stewart. He has, however, finished runner up at East lake on three occasions, the last of which was when he finished six shots behind the runaway Bart Bryant in 2005. That he is in such commanding form at present indicates he might win for the first time at this venue this week.
Phil Mickelson beat Woods by two shots at East Lake in 2000 and the clash between the two will again dominate pre-tournament chat. Mickelson has played the event only sparingly in recent years preferring instead to hang up his clubs after the PGA Championship and wind down his season. His last start win in Boston creates a brilliant scenario for what will be the talk of all golf and perhaps even all sport this week.
Stricker has not played this event since 2001 and has not played at this venue since 1998 when he finished 5th. This is again the style of golf course that should suit Stricker and now that he is back to his very best he stands a chance of winning this week and wining the overall series.
Adam Scott showed last week in Chicago that he is closing in on his best form. He struggled with the putter late on Sunday but he is more than capable of successfully defending his impressive victory of twelve months ago.
Given that this field rerpesents the top 30 in FedEx Cup points and therefore, by definition, very nearly the top 30 players in the world at present, then the chances of victory extend beyond the players mentioned above.
Aaron Baddeley will have limited preparation on the East Lakes course given that he is playing this course for the first time in tournament play this week and that his practice rounds are restriced by the issue with the greens. He is however playing the best golf of his career and along with Scott he provides Australia a great chance of winning the title for the second consecutive year.
Ernie Els, Rory Sabbatini and Justin Rose are all playing well enough of late with Els having often played well at East Lake. Sabbatini is playing very well in recent weeks and has played well enough on the occasions he has been to East Lake previously. Rose has not played the Tour Championship previously but surely at some stage soon his consistency will be rewarded.
Amongst the less favoured, I feel Tim Clark might represent a good each way bet. He finished strongly in Chicago and played well for three rounds in the only other time he has been to East Lake.
In addition to Scott and Baddeley, Australia will be represented by Geoff Ogilvy and Robert Allenby.
