Tour Championship: Just being here is big reward

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GREENSBORO, N.C. – Thirteen players have qualified for the FedExCup Playoffs every season since its debut in 2007. One player definitely will fall off that list by the end of this week – and two others might join him. Sergio Garcia and Bill Haas enter the Wyndham Championship in danger of missing the Playoffs for the first time. Garcia ranks 131st in FedExCup points while Haas is 150th. Both need to move inside the top 125 by the end of the week in order to keep their streaks alive. To do so would likely require 375 points, the projected point total needed to make next week’s Playoffs opener, THE NORTHERN TRUST. Garcia currently has 331 points. If he finishes solo 20th, he would receive 45 points, leaving him with 376 points. Garcia hasn’t finished that high on a PGA TOUR leaderboard in a stroke-play event since a solo fourth at the Valspar Championship in mid-March. Haas, the 2011 FedExCup champ, currently has 253 points. If he can finish solo fourth, he would receive 135 points, leaving him with 388 points. The last time Haas has finished solo fourth or better at a TOUR event was more than two years ago at the 2016 Quicken Loans National. So those are the targets for the two players (knowing that nothing is guaranteed until Sunday afternoon). It won’t be easy but at least the opportunity is there. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Luke Donald. He’s been sidelined since mid-April due to back issues and currently ranks 213th in the FedExCup standings. His return to the TOUR remains uncertain, and he will officially be eliminated this week. As for the 10 other players on that list? All are safely inside the top 125 and guaranteed to keep their streaks alive for at least another season. Two are in the field this week – Ryan Moore (ranked 59th) and Brandt Snedeker (ranked 80th). The other perfect attendance Playoffs performers are: Justin Rose (4th), Bubba Watson (5th), Phil Mickelson (10th), Charles Howell III (46th), Zach Johnson (49th), Matt Kuchar (62nd), Adam Scott (70th) and Charley Hoffman (95th). Last chance assembly No surprise that nearly half of the field this week consists of players who rank between 100 and 180 in FedExCup points. Those just inside the top 125 in points want to maintain their positions; those outside the top 125 are down to their last chance to move inside. Of those 80 players in that 100-180 range, 75 are teeing it up at Sedgefield, including every player ranked between 122-132. That includes Harris English (132nd), who has made the FedExCup Playoffs in each of his first six seasons on TOUR. As mentioned above, the projected point total to make the Playoffs is 375 points. Currently, the top 123 players in the standings are above that number. Martin Piller is 124th with 371 points, while Tyrone Van Aswegen is 125th with 364 points. A missed cut this week could end their seasons, depending on how the rest of the leaderboard shakes out. Scenarios The likely finish needed for each player ranked between 124-132 to make the Playoffs: Odds and Ends BUSTING THE BUBBLE: A year ago, four golfers played their way into the Playoffs from outside the top 125 entering Wyndham (Martin Flores, Rory Sabbatini, Harold Varner III and J.J. Henry, who did it for the second time in his career). The most players in any one season to bust the 125 bubble is five. In 2012 and 2013, no players were able to play their way in. TOP 30s: Two players guaranteed an extended Playoffs run are Webb Simpson and Chesson Hadley, who are each inside the top 30 in points. Both are in the field this week seeking to increase their positions. Simpson, winner of THE PLAYERS Championship, is 12th and would love to move inside the top five after the BMW Championship. Those five will control their own destiny going into the Playoffs finale at East Lake. Hadley is 26th and has never qualified for the TOUR Championship. CHAMPS IN FIELD: Four past FedExCup champions are playing this week at Sedgefield: Henrik Stenson (also the defending Wyndham champ); Brant Snedeker; Bill Haas; and Billy Horschel.

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CROMWELL, Conn. — Rory McIlroy fought off a sinus bug to shoot an 8-under 62 on Thursday for a share of the first-round lead with J.T. Poston in the Travelers Championship. Coming off a fifth-place tie Sunday in the U.S. Open after winning the Canadian Open the previous week, the second-ranked McIlroy had a bogey-free morning round — highlighted by a 47-foot birdie putt on the par-4 seventh. McIlroy matched the lowest opening round of his PGA TOUR career. He finished with a tap-in birdie on the ninth hole after a 332-yard drive and 44-foot chip just past the pin. “It’s like U.S. Open rehab coming here,” the four-time major champion said. “I like coming here the week after the U.S. Open, it sort of gives you an opportunity to shoot low scores and get after it.” Poston had five straight birdies on Nos. 13-17 and made the turn at 6-under 29, giving rise to thoughts of Jim Furyk’s record 58 on the same TPC River Highlands course in 2016. Poston parred the first six holes on front nine and birdied Nos. 7 and 9 to cap a bogey-free round. “I gave myself a few looks, but kind of made a bunch of pars to start the front, so that was kind of out of the picture after a little while,” said Poston, the 2019 Wyndham Championship winner. “I might have thought about it a little more if I had made a couple of early birdies.” Xander Schauffele and Martin Laird were a stroke back. Schauffele hit all 18 greens in regulation for the first time in his career, despite showing up late at the practice range because he thought his 7:35 a.m. tee time was at 7:50. “That was a pretty big rookie move on my behalf,” the Olympic champion said. “But when I’m at home, I’ll show up for an 8 o’clock tee time at 7:55, maybe hit two putts and then start swinging. So, take advantage of the youth, I guess.” Patrick Cantlay, Charles Howell III and Webb Simpson, who played alongside McIlroy, were two shots back at 64. “We kind of fed off each other,” Simpson said about McIlroy. “The holes started looking bigger and bigger. A lot of putts were made.” Rain on Wednesday left the greens soft in the morning. They hardened later in the day and the wind picked up after lunch, leading to some higher scores. “I thought the conditions in the afternoon were a lot tougher,” Cantlay said. “It was blowing as soon as I got on the first tee. Watching a little bit of the coverage this morning, I knew it was much different this afternoon than the low scores those guys put up this morning.” Harris English, who won last year on the eighth hole of a playoff, opened with a 66. Top-ranked mastes champion Scottie Scheffler had a 68. Jordan Spieth, who holed a shot out of a greenside bunker on 18 to win here in 2018, had one of the tougher afternoons. He made a double bogey on 12, hitting his tee shot out-of-bounds near the Connecticut River. The three-time major winner sat cross-legged in the fairway as he attempted to regroup and then birdied two of his next three holes. But his tee shot at 16 found the water and he finished with a 75.

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