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It might not mean the world to golf punters, but the conclusion of the FedEx St. Jude meant an awful lot more to some players.
As Lucas Glover continued a remarkable recovery from a place of ‘no control’, his two wins launched him from a world ranking of 166th to a current 30th in the space of seven weeks.
Emotions ran high elsewhere on the course.
Former Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama was also bouncing. His brilliant run of birdies and an eagle securing his place in this week’s second play-off event. Behind, others were not so fortunate.
Covered by the PGA Tour, golf takes the cruelest of turns.
“Not 50 yards away [from Deki] stood Nick Hardy. He was enjoying a similar run to Matsuyama, with three birdies in his last five holes before he stepped on the 18th hole. His demeanor was much different.
Matsuyama needed a par on the difficult closing hole to secure his Playoffs spot. He got it. Hardy needed another birdie. His tee shot found the water.
“Just sucks, I mean it really sucks,” said Hardy, choking back tears as he recounted the final-hole bogey that dropped him to 52nd in the FedExCup standings.
A year ago, that would not have mattered. Now, with the amount of qualifiers reduced from 70 to 50, Hardy, alongside Mackenzie Hughes (who finished 58th last week) and Taylor Montgomery (37th after a final round 67) join 17 others to miss out on the automatic entry to the Signature events of the 2023/2024 season – that, believe it or not, starts in around a months time. Every putt was huge.
For now, the 50 qualifiers see the gold in front of them, and the chance to make a bit of history.
Just 30 players will gain entry into the Tour Championship at East Lake, making this week even more of a focus and, with a staggered start at the final event of the year, every place up this week’s leaderboard will count.
The nomadic BMW Championship this year settles at the North Course of Olympia Fields- a course that has notably hosted four major championships, the Western Open and senior and women’s majors.
For this week, the only significance may come from the result of the 2003 US Open. Although golf has changed so much that it is likely only the 2020 BMW Championship result is of any real use to form students.
At over 7300-yards, the par-70 track will need careful handling.
The only two par-5s are over 600-yards, four of the par-4s over 460-yards, whilst players will need to conquer two of the four shorter holes that measure 215 and 280 yards. With narrow landing areas and smaller than average greens, length will definitely help but will need to be controlled, recent rain making longer approach shots much harder to control.
I’m looking for players with confidence in their tee-to-green games right now, with Taylor Montgomery summing things up nicely:
“There’s a reason why the top 10 guys are who they are,” Montgomery said. “It’s because they do every aspect of the game really good. Obviously, we’re all trying to do that, but it would be nice to get to that next level.”
The top of the shop contains the usual suspects and opting between them is tough.
I’ll stay away from the world’s number one and two for a while, with both Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm looking below their best – at least, until Scheffler calls Lucas Glover up and asks to borrow his putter.
Below them, the incredibly consistent Rory McIlroy continues to fail to get the riches his tee-to-green play deserves, and has never won the week before either of his three Tour Championships.
Instead, launch the card with Patrick Cantlay, a standout candidate after missing out in Memphis.
Forget the bad tee shot on the first play-off hole and concentrate instead on his final round – six unanswered birdies – and final round stats of 1st for off-the-tee, 22nd in approaches, 2nd in tee-to-green, 7th for around-the-green and 24th for putting.
Overall, that left the 31-year-old leading the event stats for tee-to-green off 11th place for off-the-tee, perfect stats for a track on which he finished 12th (of 70) in 2020.
Three years ago, Cantlay came off an average run of form, leading into Olympia Fields with a T43 at the PGA and a missed-cut at the first play-off event, then The Northern Trust.
Now, he’s finishing a season containing five top-five finishes and a record of 14/9/14/33 over the major season, three of which could/should have been higher given his position at various stages. He’s dismissed the two lesser efforts in the home Opens and looks to be peaking at the right time.
Unlike McIlroy, the selection thrives in these lead-up FedEx events, winning three of the last six, including the last two BMW Championships at Caves Valley and Wilmington. Whilst they may seem totally different tracks, Cantlay’s finish of 12th here three years ago disguises the fact he led at halfway and managed to stay within touching distance of Rahm despite losing five shots with his irons.
“I obviously made a bad tee shot and paid the price,” Cantlay said after his tee-shot on the final night. “I’m in a good spot and two big weeks coming up, so I’m looking forward to it.
“I’m obviously playing really well, and next week is a golf course that I enjoy, so looking forward to it.”
So am I.
In a limited, elite field, I’ll treat it as a bit of a WGC – there will be a time and a place, but here, ignore the rags. Still, WGC, you say…..
