ShareThisA friend has asked what it would take for Phil Mickelson to win the FedEx Cup that will conclude when the Tour Championship in Atlanta ends Sunday.
Good question. Complicated answer. Here goes.
Mickelson has 600 FedEx points after the reset that the PGA Tour invoked following the BMW Championship two weeks ago, the third of the four tournaments in the playoff series. He's 1,900 points behind leader Matt Kuchar. The Tour Championship winner will pick up 2,500 points.
Therefore, Mickelson must win the Tour Championship, worth $1.35-million (all currency U.S.) to capture the FedEx Cup and its $10-million bonus. But that's not enough, not nearly enough.
Kuchar has to finish fifth or worse. Dustin Johnson, second on the points list with 2,250, must finish fourth or worse. Charlie Hoffman has 2000 points and Steve Stricker has 1,800 points, and each has to finish third or worse for Mickelson to pocket the big prize. Paul Casey has 1,600 points and has to finish second or worse for Mickelson to win the Cup.
If you think this is complicated, go to pgatour.com where you can find the "ultimate guide" and the scenarios required for any of the 30 players in the Tour Championship to win the FedEx Cup, now in its fourth renewal.
It's complex, to say the least, and the PGA Tour must have had to find major mathematical wizards to derive the permutations and combinations in the tournament ether. Anybody interested in following closely and figuring out who could win the FedEx can certainly do so. It's all laid out, plain and simple.
Well, not so plain and simple. How can it be? Still, one wishes it could be. It's so easy to follow every tournament all year. Low score wins, as it will at the Tour Championship itself. Sure, players accumulate points all year, and then throughout the playoff tournaments when they're increased. But it's heavy going to understand what transpires.
That's the continuing major problem with the playoff series. Mickelson was asked about the arcane subject matter Wednesday at the East Lake Golf Club, the tournament site, and he dodged the question. Here's a guy who likes to discuss theoretical physics, but it seemed the points, the reset, and the many scenarios were too much for him. He employed a diversionary tactic, perhaps wisely.
"I could discuss all that and all the subplots, but nobody discusses it better than you," Mickelson said to the media, who laughed at that point, "so I'll let you take care of that for me if that's alright.
"Not to cut you off, but it's an exciting week, yeah, you're right. A lot can come of this week, and whoever plays well has a lot to gain."
Mickelson did say that the playoff series collects the best players at a time when, traditionally, interest in the PGA Tour has waned. The first tournament in the series included the top 125 players on the points list, the next the top 100, while the third included the top 70. This week the top 30 players gather.
Tiger Woods, 42nd on the points list, didn't make it. The FedEx is survival of the fittest, and his game wasn't fit enough for him to climb into the list of eligible players. News flash: The tournament will proceed anyway.
Now, Woods did win the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup in 2007, its maiden running. Good stuff. Structural integrity and all that.
Vijay Singh won the Cup but not the Tour Championship in 2008, and didn't even need to play the Tour Championship to win the Cup because he had accumulated enough points by winning the first two events in the playoffs. Mickelson won the Tour Championship last year while Woods won the Cup. Woods looked grim at the prize-giving ceremony, because he is all about winning tournaments.
At that moment, it was hard not to think that the whole system was bogus. Mickelson had won the big tournament that ends the playoffs, but not the Cup itself. It was as if a team had won the seventh game of the World Series, but not the Series itself.
But never mind, if you don't mind. Settle back with your laptop and enjoy the Tour Championship and the conclusion to the FedEx Cup. Now you know what has to happen for Mickelson to win. Consider yourself informed.
Agreed? Or aggrieved?
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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