The FedEx Cup is the most lucrative series of four tournaments in the game with the eventual winner pocketing a $10 million bonus. Some of the most successful players in play-offs history will again be contending over the next five weeks for the huge pot of cash.
There will be 125 players teeing up this week at the Northern Trust in New Jersey just hoping they can play well enough to survive the play-offs through to the Tour Championship at the end of September.
For those already in the top-30 in the FedEx Cup standings, that task will be somewhat easier if they can maintain their positions. Of the 125 players contesting this week’s first play-off event, 100 will progress to the Dell Technologies Championship in Boston next week. From there, the top-70 get a start at the BMW Championship, where players will have one last chance to snare a spot in the top-30 bound for the season-ending Tour Championship and play-offs final.
It promises to be an intense four weeks of competition (there is a week off between the BMW and Tour Championships) with some of the most successful players in the short history of the play-offs qualifying to contest this 12th edition.
Americans, as you might expect, have dominated the play-offs during that time, with 29 individual tournament wins and eight FedEx Champions. Australians rank second in terms of tournaments won with four, but are yet to celebrate a $10 million FedEx Cup winner.
Of the players contesting the 2018 play-offs, there are five players who have cashed in more than most at this time of year and could be the ones to watch over the next four events.
1 TIGER WOODS
FedEx Cup starts: 7.
FedEx Cup Champion: 2 (2007, 2009).
Career FedEx Cup bonus earnings: $25,275,000 (Ranked No.1).
Tiger Woods is making his first start in the FedEx Cup play-offs since 2013 and will take strong recent form into the series.
The 14-time major champion is 30 under for his past 16 competitive rounds, including a final round 64 at the PGA Championship where he finished second to Brooks Koepka.
In the 11-year history of the play-offs, Woods is the only man to claim the Cup twice. If he can make it all the way through to the Tour Championship, he will be a serious contender for the title again and it would seal the deal on a fairy-tale return to the PGA Tour.
2 RORY MCILROY
FedEx Cup starts: 7.
FedEx Cup Champion: 1 (2016).
Career FedEx Cup bonus earnings: $15,625,000 (Ranked No.2).
Interestingly, the Northern Irishman has contested the same number of playoff series’ as Tiger Woods, and has even recorded the same number of individual tournament wins with three. Yet, Rory remains nearly $10 million in arrears of Woods’ FedEx Cup earnings.
That can all change with four impressive weeks but the jury is still out on McIlroy’s form, which has been up-and-down like a fiddler’s elbow since he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational back in March.
What is encouraging for the World No.7 is that his scoring has been much better since he bottomed out with an opening round 80 at the US Open. In the 19 tournament rounds he has played since, he has had only two rounds over 70 and is averaging 68.38 for the same period.
3 JORDAN SPIETH
FedEx Cup starts: 5.
FedEx Cup Champion: 1 (2015).
Career FedEx Cup bonus earnings: $14,500,000 (Ranked No.4).
Only Tiger Woods has earned more FedEx Cup bonus money per campaign than Jordan Spieth.
Spieth is making his sixth appearance in the play-offs and already he averages $290,000 per series, having collected the big bonus of $10 million in his breakout year of 2015 when he won the Masters and US Open double as well.
The World No.8 is yet to record a victory in 2018 and his recent form, with a best finish of T9 at The Open at Carnoustie, suggests 2018 could be a barren year. But Spieth’s game is well-suited and adaptable to all four venues over the next five weeks and it wouldn’t surprise if he catches fire with the putter at some stage and claims this series all his own.
4 HENRIK STENSON
FedEx Cup starts: 8.
FedEx Cup Champion: 1 (2013).
Career FedEx Cup bonus earnings: $13,648,000 (Ranked No.5).
The pure ball-striking Swede had a terrific run through March and April, which culminated in his best ever finish at the Masters where he was T5.
Since then he has been very inconsistent. Even last weekend, he bookended a Saturday 70 with a second round 65 and a closing 64. While he would be pleased with the six birdies and an eagle from that round, it all came after a double bogey on his opening hole, which almost typifies Stenson’s year.
5 BRANDT SNEDEKER
FedEx Cup starts: 11.
FedEx Cup Champion: 1 (2012).
Career FedEx Cup bonus earnings: $12,163,000 (Ranked No.6).
The Wyndham Championship winner had never missed a FedEx Cup play-off series until last year when he was forced to sit out with a sternum injury.
But he has made a real charge for these play-offs on the back of his weekend victory – his first since January 2016 – which pushed him up to the No.30 ranking having banked more than 750 points in his last five starts.
The 37-year-old is certainly finding form at the right time and will be a real danger to add to his FedEx haul. Snedeker’s worst score for his past seven rounds is 69 (x 2), while his best was his history-making 59 in the opening round at the Wyndham. His scoring average for the past two events combined is 67 … that FedEx Cup cheque might need to come with a fire extinguisher if he keeps that form up.
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