At least 13 golfers with ties to Atlanta or Georgia are in position to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs with two events remaining before the series begins. The four-tournament series will end with the Tour Championship at East Lake.
But there are a lot of points up for grabs at the PGA Championship, the last major of the year, which begins Thursday at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y.
The winner of the PGA will receive 600 points, 100 more than the winner of a normal tournament. Other than Tiger Woods, who leads second-place Matt Kuchar by 786 points, 600 points potentially can shake up the field. It could shoot Steven Bowditch, who would be the last golfer in the first round of the playoffs if they were to start this week, from No. 125 to No. 24 and within the cutline for the Tour Championship, which starts Sept. 19.
The winner of next week’s event in Greensboro, N.C., the last before the FedEx Cup playoffs begin, will receive 500 points. So there still are plenty of points available for players to improve their positions in the standings before the FedEx Cup playoffs begin.
“The main contenders will be focused on winning, but there are a lot of the guys that will want to make it into the playoff field,” CBS analyst David Feherty said. “That’s where the main focus comes this time of the year.”
The top 125 players are invited to The Barclays, which starts the playoffs. The players are helped by the points total quintupling during the playoffs. However, the points boost is offset by a progressive cut line for each of the four events, which finishes at East Lake. The top 100 after that tournament advance to the Deutsche Bank Championship, the top 70 to the BMW Championship and the top 30 to East Lake.
Within the top 125 are Kuchar, a former standout at Georgia Tech. He ranks second with 2,245 points, 786 behind Woods. Among players with local ties behind Kuchar are a pair of former Georgia standouts, Harris English (No. 16) and Russell Henley (No. 20). Augusta native Charles Howell III ranks 23rd. Two more former Bulldogs follow him, Chris Kirk (No. 27) and Bubba Watson (No. 31). They are followed by three former Yellow Jackets, Roberto Castro (No. 44), Cameron Tringale (No. 63) and Stewart Cink (No. 76). Former Augusta State golfer Patrick Reed ranks No. 78. Acworth’s Jason Bohn ranks No. 98. Former Tech standout Bryce Molder ranks No. 101, and former Bulldog Erik Compton ranks No. 112.
Notable names who are outside the top 125 include: 2008 FedEx Cup champ Vijay Singh (72 points behind No. 125), former Masters champ Trevor Immelman (97 points behind), former British Open champ Louis Oosthuizen (112 points behind) and Davis Love III (152 points behind).
Brandt Snedeker, who won the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup last year, ranks third. Bill Haas, the 2011 FedEx champ, ranks sixth. Jim Furyk, the 2010 champ, ranks No. 46.
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