New Scoring System for the FedEx Cup
The FedEx Cup kicks off at The Northern Trust on August 8th, and the three-tournament event will feature a brand-new finish for 2019. For the first time, the winner of the final tournament, the Tour Championship, will automatically be declared the winner of the FedEx Cup and take home a check for $15 million.
In an effort to simplify the FedEx Cup, the rules were changed last season to introduce a new scoring system called FedEx Cup Starting Strokes. The revamped system will assign scores to each player based upon their FedEx points through the first two tournaments. The top golfers will start the Tour Championship anywhere from even-par to 10-under.
The alteration to the final scoring will assure that the Tour Championship winner is the FedEx Cup champion. Over the past 11 years of the FedEx Cup, the Tour Championship victor has not been the FedEx Cup champion on three different occasions, causing frustration among television viewers that could not follow the complicated rules.
Meet the FedEx Cup Top Contenders
With the start of the FedEx Cup just a few days away, let’s take a look at the top contenders for bringing home the champion’s take of $15 million.
Brooks Koepka
Easily the golfer with the best all-around season in 2019, Brooks Koepka will enter the FedEx Cup as the prohibitive favorite. The Florida native is the number-one player in the world has won the most money on the PGA Tour this season and leads the FedEx Cup points standings.
Koepka ranks in the top ten on the Tour in greens in regulation percentage, average birdies per round, and most importantly, scoring average. He has three wins on the season including his fourth major title, the PGA Championship, back in May.
Rory McIlroy
Coming off his disappointing Open Championship performance, Rory McIlroy could turn his frustration into a serious run at the FedEx Cup. In addition to his two wins this season, McIlroy has posted the best scoring average on the PGA Tour in 2019.
In his last three tournaments in America, McIlroy has posted rounds in the 60s in nine out of twelve total rounds. In his last five tournaments where he made the cut, McIlroy has finished in the top 10 in each event.
Matt Kuchar
The 41-year-old Matt Kuchar may not have the flashiest collection of stats this season, but the golfer has put together another solid year that includes winnings totaling over $6.2 million, good for third place on the PGA Tour in 2019.
Although he remains in the bottom third in driving distance, Kuchar ranks in the top eight in both greens in regulation percentage and scoring average. If the Georgia Tech graduate has one Achilles’ heel it is with the putter as Kuchar stands 107th on Tour with 29.04 putts per round.
Xander Schauffele
Xander Schauffele stands fourth in FedEx Cup points and fifth in total money on the PGA Tour. Ranked 11th in the world, Schauffele has put together some very impressive performances on golf’s biggest stages as he finished tied for second at the Masters and tied for third at the U.S. Open.
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Schauffele has been solid this season in his recent tournaments but, aside from the two majors, has rarely challenged for tournament wins since his Sentry Tournament of Champions victory in early January.
Gary Woodland
The 2019 U.S. Open champion is riding his first major win to a fifth-place spot in the FedEx Cup standings. The Kansas-native has missed two cuts and finished in the 50s in the four tournaments around his U.S. Open win.
If you were to try and pinpoint a weakness in Woodland’s game you might choose putting at first glance until you get to the birdie conversion percentage and you find that he has converted a whopping 35.79 percent of his birdie attempts, good for second on the PGA Tour this season.
Patrick Cantlay
Winner of the 2019 Memorial Championship, Cantlay has posted a stellar eight top-10 finishes this season on the PGA Tour. If you are an analytics fan, Cantlay shines in the total strokes gained per round. Patrick stands behind only Rory McIlroy, as the 27-year-old is posting an average of over two strokes gained on the field.
In big events this season, Cantlay finished third at the PGA Championship and ninth at the Masters. He made the cut in all four major championships in 2019.
Dustin Johnson
Ranked second in the world, Johnson continues to post impressive stats. The 35-year-old golfer is top-seven on tour in driving distance, birdie average, and sand save percentage. He also can drain a putt from anywhere as Johnson has knocked home 14 putts this year from beyond 25 feet.
Johnson came close to another career major with his second-place finish at the PGA Championship in May. One of the many reasons that Johnson cannot be discounted for the FedEx Cup is he has the fifth-best scoring average on tour in 2019 at 69.428 strokes per round.
Jon Rahm
The 24-year-old Spaniard has one victory on the PGA Tour and ten top-10 finishes this season. Rahm’s game is aggressive as he prides himself on hitting long drives and knocking home birdies from anywhere on the green. Rahm ranks seventh on tour in 2019 as he averages 4.3 birdies per round.
Rahm won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans at the end of April and has posted three straight top-11 finishes in his last three tournaments.
Tiger Woods
Although Tiger finished second last season in the FedEx Cup, due mainly to his Tour Championship win, he doesn’t have the same momentum heading into the 2019 edition of the event. Woods once again missed a cut at a major after posting 6-over 148 during the first two rounds of the Open Championship.
Citing his age and numerous surgeries, Woods told the media after his misfire at the Open that he just can’t rebound like he could in his 20s. Since Tiger will need to put together three straight stellar performances in the span of three weeks, it is not hard to believe that Woods might not be ready for the physical toll that the FedEx Cup will place on his beleaguered body.