The FedEx Cup playoffs got off to one huge, air-grabbing yawn last week when Dustin Johnson basically decided he wanted to bring out his “A” game and leave the rest eating his dust.
There wasn’t a lick of excitement at TPC Boston and shame on the PGA Tour for risking those late afternoon thunderstorms that finally got serious enough to shut things down for an hour on Sunday. Perfect time to find something else to watch, D.J. winning was a foregone conclusion and no one really needed to come back and watch him play the final hole and a half in near darkness.
Once again, the PGA Tour got in its own way. Just think what a cluster-flub it would have been if Johnson and English had to come back early Monday and play one hole.
Thank goodness those guys are young enough to see in the dark.
So with the Northern Trust in the rear view mirror, it’s on to Chicago-land and the last call to make that important top 30.
Basically D.J., Justin Thomas, Webb Simpson, Daniel Berger and Collin Morikawa can make their reservations for East Lake, no matter how good or bad they perform this week at Olympia Fields. They’ve stashed enough points to be safe and you can certainly say the same for Harris English, Bryson “The Complainer” DeChambeau, Sungjae “I Play Every Week” Im, Jon (I Used To Be No. 1) Rahm and Patrick Reed. That takes care of your top 10 coming into this second round. They are all in the field with the exception of Simpson, who is skipping the BMW to rest up for East Lake then the U.S. Open.
Overall, it was a pretty lousy week for many of those guys last week. Morikawa, DeChambeau and Im missed the cut. If they wanted to make these playoffs a little more exciting, they’d take a bunch of points away from you if you miss a playoff cut. J.T. finished in a lowly tie for 49th as did Reed. Berger continues to be the surprise guy. His solo third is just a continuation of a great performance since the restart — who would have thought?
You have to look hard for story-lines this week. Basically you have the bubble guys sweating it out — the guys near the bottom of the top 30 and the guys just outside the top 30.
In case you’re not keeping score, Cameron Champ is 25th, another Cameron named Smith is 26th, Adam Long is 27th, Kevin Streelman checks in at 28, Tony Finau is down to 29th and Billy Horschel occupies that 30th spot. The guys chasing them are Joaquin Niemann (31), Tyler Duncan (32), Matt Wolff (33), Mark Hubbard (34) and Ben An (35).
What it all boils down to is that if someone far down the list wants a slot at East Lake, they better make a LOT of birdie putts this week.
Which brings us to those birdie putts. Was it really fun to watch someone shoot 30-under par? At some point, it takes all the fun out of it. Basically, D.J. was the only one having fun until it came time to try and beat the darkness that was falling over the 72nd hole at TPC Boston.
Hopefully the setup at Olympia Fields this week will be a bit more, shall we say — challenging.
Not sure anyone has an advantage. This event was staged last year at Medinah where J.T. won.
We could sure use a little drama, kinda like Harding Park and the PGA Championship.
So let’s hope the PGA Tour can get out of its own way, check the weather reports and make Olympia Fields a bit more of a challenge for the 69 guys still standing.
Latest FedEx Cup Points Standings:
One Comment
baxter cepeda
Adding subtraction to the fed ex cup is the last thing we need Tom.
The guys in the charity event were talking -10 winning, even single digits.
DJ last week was a perfect storm. He was so far ahead he was able to play minus the pressure, which we all know makes things harder, such as when DJ was going for 59. The pressure was the only reason he did not get the birdie (or two).