After another intriguing regular season on the PGA Tour, the first of three FedEx Cup Playoffs takes place at TPC Southwind featuring the top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings, where the top 50 will qualify for next week’s BMW Championship.
Several big-name players are missing from this year’s Playoffs following disappointing seasons, including two-time PGA Champion Justin Thomas, former World No.1 Adam Scott, 2019 Open champion Shane Lowry and 2014 FedEx Cup winner Billy Horschel. Meanwhile, another high-profile player who misses out this year is 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship winner Will Zalatoris, who is recovering from back surgery.
Nevertheless, most of the world’s biggest names are in the field for this week’s designated event. Scottie Scheffler has been in outstanding form this year, and is currently top of the world rankings. His T23 in The Open was the first time he had finished outside the top 12 in 20 starts, and he’ll be among the favourites this week.
Immediately behind him in the world rankings is Rory McIlroy, who is in pursuit of a fourth FedEx Cup title. His form of late has been encouraging too, with seven successive top 10 finishes, including a win in the Genesis Scottish Open.
Jon Rahm is another who will expect to qualify comfortably for next week’s second tournament. The Spaniard was in scintillating form at the turn of the year and while a more inconsistent run has followed since his Masters triumph in April, a T2 at The Open sent out an ominous warning to others that he is close to his best form.
Six more of the world’s top 10 are in the field this week – Patrick Cantlay, Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele, Max Homa, Brian Harman and Matt Fitzpatrick – with only LIV Golf player Cameron Smith absent.
Of those, Harman will be confident of a putting masterclass akin to that which won him The Open as he aims to go all the way to the Tour Championship for the second successive season.
Meanwhile, Homa is fourth in the FedEx Cup standings thanks largely to his wins in the Fortinet Championship and Farmers Insurance Open and runner-up in the Genesis Invitational. He will be hopeful he can take advantage of that strong…
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