2019 FedExCup Playoffs

[iacas]

Let's discuss the 2019 FedExCup playoffs.

Will Tiger make it through to the end, increasing his chances of winning a limited-field event again to tie Sam Snead? Or was he done for the year after the Masters, basically?

Who will win the $15M?

Who will make the Presidents Cup team? Will Tiger choose himself to play?

[Vinsk]

The Masters was it for Tiger for the year. As far as the Presidents Cup I’m not sure how that’s selected but it’d be nice to see some younger faces jump in and go at it. Tiger shouldn’t play nor should Phil.

Koepka will take the Cup. I didn’t even know they raised it to 15million.

[HJJ003]

21 minutes ago, iacas said:

Let's discuss the 2019 FedExCup playoffs.

 Will Tiger make it through to the end, increasing his chances of winning a limited-field event again to tie Sam Snead? Or was he done for the year after the Masters, basically?

Who will win the $15M?

Who will make the Presidents Cup team? Will Tiger choose himself to play?

I have mixed feelings abut the fedexcup playoffs this year. Excited that it was reduced to three tournaments which I always felt was the right number. I am not excited that the Tour Championship/fedexcup is a now a combination. Essentially, the Tour Championship is a Net Championship...so not thrilled about that. 

I think Tiger makes it through the end, but plays meh golf. Even if he is the best player in the field at the tour championship he could get robbed of tying Snead because of the whole new scoring system for the tournament. I don't forsee him winning either of the other two events. The masters obviously drained him. 

Its been a year of pretty good golf and very interesting stories for Kuchar...much to many peoples disappointment he wins the 15Million and then tells his caddie he doesn't get one penny!!!! (j/k) 

 TBH I don't follow the Presidents cup standings much (how un-american of me), but unless Tiger is hurt and he KNOWS he is hurt then I don't think he sits out. He will be a playing captain. 

[ChrisP]

So do they still have the rule in place where the winner of the Tour Championship doesn’t necessarily win the Fed Ex Cup if they don’t have enough points? I know there was talk about them possibly changing that. Happened with Tiger/Rose last year and Thomas/Schauffele the year before.

Edited July 24, 2019 by ChrisP

[DeadMan]

I think Tiger is spent for the year. It seems like the Masters win took a ton out of him. I think he'll bounce back eventually, but I doubt it will be in the playoffs.

I like Patrick Cantlay to win the FedEx Cup. I think he's got the game to win a playoff event, and he's probably more hungry to win something like this than Brooks or Rory, for example. But this is really hard to predict, because you have to win one or two playoff events to have a realistic shot at winning the FedEx Cup.

I was looking at the President's Cup qualifying list for the first time. I didn't realize that the points closed for the US at the BMW International. That's almost 4 months before the actual President's Cup. I'm not sure why they couldn't push that back 2 months. Given that it's a PGA Tour event, you'd think the Tour would want to encourage players to play the events in September and October.

Nevertheless, looking at the points list, I think the top 10 are all pretty much locks to be picked. 8, 9, and 10 are Gary Woodland, Rickie Fowler, and Tony Finau. I doubt Tiger leaves any of those 3 at home. Woodland just won the US Open - hard to ignore that (and he'll probably finish 8th and be an automatic pick). Fowler seems like a glue guy, plus he has a lot of experience with these events. Captains tend to bring the #9 guy on the points list ... unless it's Bubba haha. Finau played really well at the Ryder Cup, so there's incentive to bring him along, too. Then we're looking at two wild card picks, and I feel like it could be Phil and Jordan. Jordan is way down on the list, but you have to feel like he's a player Tiger should be able to count on, given his Ryder and President's Cup experience (except in singles). Phil will be hard to say no to, and he's 14th on the points list. That's still plausible.

I'm actually fairly excited for the President's Cup. December is normally a dull month for golf, so I'll be pretty inclined to watch it. The time difference won't be ideal, but there will be a lot of evening golf. And the course is going to be really cool to see - Royal Melbourne looks awesome.

[HJJ003]

2 hours ago, ChrisP said:

So do they still have the rule in place where the winner of the Tour Championship doesn’t necessarily win the Fed Ex Cup if they don’t have enough points? I know there was talk about them possibly changing that. Happened with Tiger/Rose last year and Thomas/Schauffele the year before.

The Tour Championship is essentially a handicapped event now. The person with the most fedexcuo points starts the event at like -10. And the “strokes given” essentially go down from there based on their position going into the tournament. Therefore, the person with the actual lowest 72 hole score may not win the tournament. The winner of the tournament and the Fedex cup are now the same. Person with the lowest score to par (taking into account where they started) wins both. 

[jamo]

I'm going to reserve final judgement on the Tour Championship setup, but going in I think I kind of like it. It seems like it could be a nice compromise.

[Shindig]

Huh, interesting changes this year.  I don't think the $5 million extra payout makes a difference -- does this change any of the players' motivations?  

I like the new set up for the Tour Championship.  I might try to walk these words back come October, but I doubt it.  We'll see.

I think Tiger makes a deep run and is in it towards the end.  Maybe the head start given to others motivates him more.  And I think he'd love to be the first three-time winner of the cup before anyone wins it twice.

I'd love to see an American win it, in part because we're at risk of having the first ever two-year period without an American winning it since the series started. 

[ChrisP]

14 hours ago, HJJ003 said:

The Tour Championship is essentially a handicapped event now. The person with the most fedexcuo points starts the event at like -10. And the “strokes given” essentially go down from there based on their position going into the tournament. Therefore, the person with the actual lowest 72 hole score may not win the tournament. The winner of the tournament and the Fedex cup are now the same. Person with the lowest score to par (taking into account where they started) wins both. 

Gotcha. Sounds like a Nascar event. It’s worth a shot and see how it plays out. I do hate that the Tour champion and Fed Ex champ are always different. It’s like two different celebrations. And they can’t just make the last event a winner take all (with everyone starting at Even) because that destroys the purpose of playing in the previous events. So I get what there trying to do. I’ll wait and see.

Edited July 25, 2019 by ChrisP

[ShawnSum]

Tiger looked physically out of it last week at The Open compared to The Masters. Could have been the cold, could have been because lack of practice, could of been all of the above but it almost seemed like he was in pain at times vs just being "sore". So imo he's done for the year and shouldn't play in the Presidents cup unless he's able to get into better shape from a competitive standpoint.

I've got Brooks Koepka in mind for taking the $15m, dudes a beast and was nearly in contention at The Open with his putter not even working in that final round of play. Not sure about who all will make the President's Cup team.

[Shindig]

17 minutes ago, ShawnSum said:

Tiger looked physically out of it last week at The Open compared to The Masters. Could have been the cold, could have been because lack of practice, could of been all of the above but it almost seemed like he was in pain at times vs just being "sore".

I wonder how much of it is his lack of playing.  However, assuming he enters every playoff event he's eligible for, we'll see how he does at the first, and he'll have played recently for the second, and I don't know enough about points assignment in those events, but I think it's likely he at least makes it to East Lake.  He's 27th now with so few events played.

[NJpatbee]

I do not get worked up over the FedEx Cup/Tour Championship but hopefully we will get some good golf to watch.  For the players it can be a big payday but to me it is anticlimactic after the four Majors.  As for Tiger, I expect him to play fairly well in the warmer weather and be in the money but with the handicapping it makes it difficult for golfers that do not play many tournaments.  I watched the first President's Cup but haven't watched since.  I suspect that Tiger will be tired after the playoffs and will not play.

[ChrisP]

4 hours ago, NJpatbee said:

I do not get worked up over the FedEx Cup/Tour Championship but hopefully we will get some good golf to watch.  For the players it can be a big payday but to me it is anticlimactic after the four Majors.  As for Tiger, I expect him to play fairly well in the warmer weather and be in the money but with the handicapping it makes it difficult for golfers that do not play many tournaments.  I watched the first President's Cup but haven't watched since.  I suspect that Tiger will be tired after the playoffs and will not play.

The Presidents Cup is not until December this year. He has plenty of time for rest.

[NJpatbee]

15 hours ago, ChrisP said:

The Presidents Cup is not until December this year. He has plenty of time for rest.

Thanks, I did not know that they were playing in Australia during December.  

[70sSanO]

Since I don’t want to start a Wyndham Championship thread, I’ll post it here.

Tournament moment... David Duval talking about Jordan Spieth.  A real “See your future; be your future” moment.

John

[Shindig]

3 hours ago, 70sSanO said:

Since I don’t want to start a Wyndham Championship thread, I’ll post it here.

Tournament moment... David Duval talking about Jordan Spieth.  A real “See your future; be your future” moment.

John

Yeah, Jordan is going to have to avoid a repeat of today's performance if he wants to make it to East Lake this year.

[Zeph]

Featured Groups for Northern Trust:

Tiger Woods, J.T. Poston, Scott Piercy
Tee times: 7:43 a.m. off No. 10 on Thursday; 12:33 p.m. off No. 1 on Friday.

Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy, Matt Kuchar
Tee times: 8:16 a.m. off No. 10 on Thursday; 1:06 p.m. off No. 1 on Friday.

Xander Schauffele, Gary Woodland, Patrick Cantlay
Tee times: 1:06 p.m. off No. 1 on Thursday; 8:16 a.m. off No. 10 on Friday.

FAN VOTE FRIDAY CHOICES:

7:54 AM/ET: Justin Thomas (17) / Bryson DeChambeau (18) / Tommy Fleetwood (19)
8:05 AM/ET: Justin Rose (11) / Marc Leishman (12) / Rickie Fowler (13)

[Zeph]

Tiger is heading towards an early exit if he doesn't turn things around.