Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson Could Still Win FedEx Cup
Get out your calculator. Or go buy a white board like Steve Sands of Golf Channel/ NBC has, but be sure to bring you eraser because things at the Tour Champioship and $10 million FedEx Cup are sure to flip-flop back and forth more than a politician running for office when tomorrow’s round gets under way.
While Jordan Spieth and Henrik Stenson are favored, anything can happen. McIlroy is still in it. Rickie Fowler still has a chance. So do Zach Johnson and Paul Casey.
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The course is sloppy. The conditions are treacherous and slippery. Golf balls do not respond well to mud and water. Unpredictable is the best thing you can say about how any golf shot is going to turn out due to the unrelenting rain.
Spieth said to the media when he played this event in similar weather previously, his mental attitude got the better of him.
“After being out here for three years now, two-and-a-half years, that’s enough time to have played in these conditions to understand what’s going to happen and to be able to just say, you know what, who cares?” Spieth remarked after finishing on Saturday. “ This is how Bobby Jones would have wanted it here. Let’s just dig through it and take the lead.”
Given the choice he said he would rather be on the sofa watching college football with a beer in hand.
Henrik Stenson agreed the conditions were terrible.
“I think everyone’s soaking wet and needs a good washout for tomorrow,” he said to media after his second round. “You’re still hitting the ball where there’s water underneath it. And you could get some funnies contacts on it.”
He said he had a water flier right away at the first hole. Stenson added that it was difficult because no one could practice after the round and warmups were brutal in the wet and muddy conditions.
Six players still have a reasonable chance to win, and there are probably more who have an outside chance. The PGA Tour, however, provided several already math-proven scenarios for what it would take for Jordan Spieth, Henrik Stenson, Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Zach Johnson or Paul Casey to take the FedEx Cup. The outcome hinges on who wins and what the finishing place is of other players.
Spieth could finish as low as 5th and still win the FedEx Cup if Paul Casey wins the Tour Championship, if Jason Day finishes 13th or worse and Henrik Stenson finishes tied 3rd or worse.
Stenson could win the FedEx Cup if he wins the Tour Championship or if Rory McIlroy wins the Tour Championship and Stenson finishes no worse than a T-2 or if Paul Casey wins theTour Championsip and Stenon finishes solo 3rd.
Fowler could win the FedEx Cup if he wins the Tour Championship. He is currently tied for 3rd, four shots back. However, if Rory McIlroy wins the Tour Championship, and if Spieth finishes in a four-way tie for third, and if Day finishes tied for 6th or worse, Fowler can win the FedEx Cup by finishing 3rd.
For McIlroy to win the FedEx Cup he must win the Tour Championship and get help. Day must finish -6 or worse; Spieth must finish T-4 or worse; Fowler must finish T-3 or worse; Stenson must finish in a three-way tie fo 2nd or worse than 2nd; and Bubba Watson must finish T-2 or worse.
For Johnson to win the FedEx Cup, he must win the Tour Championship and Day must finish T-2 or worse.
For Casey to win the FedEx Cup, he must win the Tour Championship and the following things must occur: Day must finish in a three-way tie for 13th or worse; Spieth must finish T-5 or worse; Fowler must finish in a three-way tie for 3rd or worse; Stenson must finish T-3 or worse; Bubba Watson must finish in a three-way tie for 2nd or worse and Zach Johnson must finish T-2 or worse.
Here’s the kicker: If McIlroy wins the Tour Championship and Day finishes 6th or worse, and Fowler finishes solo 3rd, and Stenson fiishes 3rd or worse and Watson finishes T-2 or worse, Spieth could finish solo 4th and still win the FedEx Cup.