Weekly 18: ‘Certain’ wins with a dash of stunning developments

The Wyndham Championship marks the final event of the PGA TOUR’s Regular Season, as tensions mount in the chase for FedExCup Playoffs berths. Players who finish inside the top 125 on the FedExCup Playoffs and Eligibility Points List upon the conclusion of the Wyndham Championship will enter the three-event FedExCup Playoffs, beginning at next week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship. The Playoffs field will be cut to 70 players into the BMW Championship, then to 30 players into the TOUR Championship. Since the current points structure debuted in 2009, an average of 2.5 players per year entered the final week of FedExCup Regular Season outside the top 125 in the standings and proceeded to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs. The top 96 players on the FedExCup entering the week are mathematically safe, with various permutations allowing certain players to move inside and outside the top 125 based on how the competition unfolds in North Carolina. Players who finish Nos. 126-200 on the Playoffs and Eligibility Points List, not otherwise exempt, will have the chance to regain TOUR status via the three-event Korn Ferry Tour Finals. (Nos. 126-150 will be assured conditional TOUR status next season at minimum.) Statistical models project that the final top-125 number will fall somewhere between 320 and 340 points. Here’s a look at the minimum finish required by players currently outside the top 125 to have a chance to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs. Note: Bolded players are exempt on TOUR through at least the 2023 season. Here’s a look at the Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10 into the Wyndham Championship, as well as players in the field who have a chance to break inside. The Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10 will be finalized upon the conclusion of the Wyndham Championship, rewarding players for elite performance across the Regular Season. Top 10 into Wyndham Championship: Players with a chance to break inside:

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas shared the early lead at the Waste Management Phoenix open after shooting matching, 7-under 64s at TPC Scottsdale on Thursday. They’re also sharing a house. “I was really hoping I was going to make that last putt,â€� Fowler said of his birdie try from 24 feet at the par-4 9th hole, his last. “I hit it perfect and it kind of—I thought it was going to break a little more at the end, it didn’t. We’re sharing a house this week, so I wanted bragging rights at dinner tonight.â€� Thomas, playing in the threesome just ahead of Fowler, birdied six of seven holes in the middle of his round. “I was in control of everything from tee to green,â€� Thomas said. With the morning wave through, England’s Tyrrell Hatton was two back after signing for a 5-under 66. Thomas hit 9/14 fairways, Fowler 11/14. Both hit 14 greens in regulation and made roughly 85 feet worth of putts, Thomas a few feet less and Fowler a few feet more. Fowler is still getting used to a new brand of ball; Thomas admitted he hasn’t felt entirely comfortable on the greens. You wouldn’t have known any of that from their play Thursday, when neither made a bogey and Fowler eagled the par-5 13th hole. The co-leaders not only room together on the road, they’re neighbors in South Florida. “We live half a mile down the street at home,â€� Fowler said, “so we spend a lot of time together, practice, play together. We enjoy pushing each other.â€� They’re also Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup teammates, but that’s where the similarities end. Fowler is a four-time TOUR winner who has done everything but win this tournament, finishing second in 2010 and 2016, and giving himself chances to win most every other year. Last year he was in the mix but bogeyed three of his last four holes for a 2-over 73, which broke a streak of 12 straight under-par rounds at TPC Scottsdale. Still, he finished T11. Nine-time TOUR winner and 2017 FedExCup champion Thomas has also done well here. His T17 last year would have been better but for a few uncharacteristic blow-up holes. Suffice it to say the two friends will have plenty to talk about over dinner, if they didn’t already. Fowler’s fiancé, Allison Stokke, is also with him; Thomas’ girlfriend is expected later this week. They’ll enjoy each other’s company while also listening for news about Fowler’s sister, Taylor, who is expecting to deliver twins any day now.    “I wanted to make that putt, and hit it perfect,â€� said Fowler, still ruing his missed opportunity to end with a birdie. “It would just be nice to be able to needle him a little bit tonight.â€� With three rounds remaining, they’ll have plenty of time for that.

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For all the times during the 2017-18 season when it was mentioned how Tiger Woods was working on his seventh winless season since 2009, a voice in the back of your head begged perspective. The winless campaigns of 2010-11 and 2014-17 had involved a grand total of just 40 tournaments, for goodness sakes, and there had been a litany of issues, most of them circled around injuries. But this comeback in 2017-18? It just felt so different, starting with the fact he teed it up in 18 PGA TOUR tournaments, the most since 2012, and continuing into his competitive pulse, which was alive and throbbing like it hadn’t been in years. In those other seasons when he hadn’t won, Woods had rarely gotten into the mix, with just five top-10s, but never a second or third. In the early months of 2018, however, he was competitive in two of his first three starts, then came a pair of Florida stops – the Valspar Championship and Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard– when he went deep into Sunday with a flicker of hope. Other top 10s followed, including The Open Championship when he seized the outright lead in the final round, then in August it nearly all came together at the PGA Championship, when he finished second, his best finish in five seasons. He was close. No one had to say it; everyone could feel it. Trouble is, the ladder of a 2017-18 season was on its last rung when Woods arrived at his first TOUR Championship since 2013. Win No. 80: Sept. 13, 2018 – TOUR Championship It was easily forgotten that Woods opened this tournament with a bogey when he concluded his first-round 65 with an eagle at the par-5 18th. And as ho-hum as his second-round 68 was to again share the lead, a third round that featured an electric six birdies in the first seven holes seemingly had everyone thinking we were in a Woods time tunnel. “I wasn’t sure he’d play again, much less have a chance to win,� marveled heralded swing coach Butch Harmon. Building a three-stroke lead after his second round of 65 in three days, Woods made David Duval sound prophetic. Earlier in the season, to all the young stars who opined how they wanted Woods to return to form so they could play against the best at his best, Duval shook his head and cautioned: “The hell you do.� True, Woods hit some turbulence down the stretch with bogeys at the 15th and 16th holes, but his final-round 71 for 11-under 269 did more than record a two-stroke win. It unleashed a scene like few had ever seen, one that was reminiscent of those days of The Open Championship when spectators were given the right to follow in behind the final golfers on the march toward the 18th green. “I’ve played here a handful of times and never seen crowds like this,� Keegan Bradley told reporters, in awe of the thousands of fans who filled the 18th fairway behind Woods and Rory McIlroy. “I’ve never seen half this many people. That’s a small example of what he does.� The Twitter world was filled with praise from fellow sports icons – from Jack Nicklaus to Emmitt Smith to Michael Phelps – and Woods’ peers stuck around to offer their respect. “It wasn’t whether he could win,� said Rickie Fowler. “It was whether he could stay healthy.� And from Justin Rose, who cemented his victory as season-long FedExCup Champion and understood why it took second billing: “I think that we’ve all been waiting for him to win, and we’ve been wanting him to win.� As a result, Tiger’s chase of Sam Snead’s record has resumed. By the Numbers: Tiger Woods has now won five different PGA TOUR events in three different decades (1990s, 2000s & 2010s). Back to Chasing 82

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