Playoffs begin with eye toward PGA Tour player of the year

“I think there’s a number of reasons why the FedEx Cup is so important to a player”.

While in NY for the start of the PGA Tour playoffs, Spieth was scheduled to appear on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday night.

“I think a couple wins would be nice – a couple more wins should do it, yeah”, Day said.

Will we see a new FedExCup champion? The aim is to determine who the season-long champion is on the PGA Tour.

“Everyone’s got their mind on East Lake [site of the Tour Championship]”, said Justin Rose, fresh off a gold medal in Rio, to reporters in NY. In that timeframe, there have been a few other epic performances by some of the best golfers in the world, as the current top two in the Official World Golf Rankings, Jason Day (2015) and Dustin Johnson (2011), tied Bob Gilder (1982) and Johnny Miller (1974) with the lowest scores to par (-19) at this event in their respective victories. He tied for 22nd and is just over $365,000 behind Reed, meaning Fowler would have to finish no worse than a two-way tie for fourth to have a mathematical chance (and that assumes Reed misses the cut).

Brett Drewitt is now 53rd on the money list and will need to either win or finish runner-up if he is to secure a PGA Tour card ahead of the Finals.

The bar was set extremely high. The course played long but soft that year and to a different par so I’ve primarily focused on Nick Watney’s win in 2012. The last 30 players move on to the finale, the Tour Championship. Every time it looked like someone might separate from the pack, they eased off the gas just enough to let the field catch up.

England’s Rose is entering the playoffs at No. 51 in the FedEx Cup standings.

The start of the FedEx Cup play-offs marks the end of automatic qualifying for the United States’ Ryder Cup team, with the top eight in the standings on Sunday booking their place at Hazeltine. But to gain entry into the Tour Championship he will have to improve during these first three tournaments into the top 30.

Last year, Spieth was the first golfer on site at East Lake.

The course the elite field will tackle this week is one of the best known golf courses in the NY area on Long Island. He expects to be an early arrival again this year. Gibson has been runner-up in two of his last three Web.Com Tour starts and a top four finish outright this week would all but guarantee him a place inside the top 25 and a return to the PGA Tour in 2017. Blayne Barber (66) also finished at 12 under and moved up several spots from his previous No. 120 slot. Spieth was allowed to reflect on his good fortune by the holidays.

Spieth has struggled for the most part in 2016, although he may offer a bit of value in an effort to finish the year strong as the +1400 fifth choice behind Day, Johnson, Rory McIlroy (+1000) and Stenson (+1200). I’ve never played for points.

Henrik Stenson was runner-up at this tournament a year ago and he is also on a really strong run.

Jason Day: The man in golf and hungry after not winning a major this year. It puts it into perspective. You want to think you can keep on improving and even the results will get better but the realistic side sets in a little. He also missed the cut last week and was 20th in Rio.

The play-offs are four events over a five week stretch after the end of the regular PGA Tour season; The Barclays, Deutsche Bank Championship, BMW Championship and the TOUR Championship.