FedEx Cup Standings: A strong week can do wonders

The PGA Tour season is in full swing now, and it’s time to take a look at the updated FedEx Cup Standings.

I’ve been saying it all year. Taking advantage of the early part of the PGA season to get a nice chunk of FedEx Cup points is quite important. Now that the big boys are going to be there week in and week out, the standings are going to become more relevant each week.

There are multiple benefits to winning an event on the PGA Tour. Not only do you get 500 FedEx Cup points, but you also get a nice amount of cash. Take a look at Webb Simpson this week after winning the Phoenix Open. Not only did he earn $1.314 million, and a handful of exemptions, but those 500 points jumped him all the way up to 2nd in the FedEx Cup standings.

It shows you just how well he has been playing this year. He sits in 2nd after only playing in four events. Simpson, McIlroy, Woods, and Cantlay are the only ones in the top 30 to have played in four events or fewer.

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The win jumped Simpson up the leaderboard quite a bit, moving him from 15th to 2nd as he now has 1,078 points. Finishing the year with 1,078 points last season would’ve been good for 41st place, and that’s at the end of the season. Simpson is all but guaranteed to make it to the Tour Championship now, and will likely be one of the favorites with how he has been playing so far this year.

A 2nd place finish can do wonders as well, just look at Tony Finau. Heading into the Phoenix Open, he was 56th in the FedEx Cup standings. After gaining 300 points, he jumped up to 21st and now has 531 points. Getting 56% of your points from one event is a nice prize.

Even those who finished 3rd got a nice bump. Even Justin Thomas, who has a lead of 229 points over Simpson in 2nd. Nate Lashley jumped from 57th to 33rd, and Bubba Watson jumped all the way from 98th to 51st, after they each earned 145 FedEx Cup points.

It was a good week for Max Homa as well. Not only is my guy one of the best follows on Twitter, but he is turning into quite the golfer. He finished T-6th, earned 95 FedEx Cup points, and jumped from 101st to 64th, and now has 223 points.

There is plenty of golf left, but it is still interesting to head down to 125th to see who is right around the cutoff for determining who gets to go to the Northern Trust for the first round of the playoffs. Right now, Viktor Hovland is 124th (107 points), Ian Poulter is 125th (106), and is tied with Sam Burns and Austin Cook for the final entry.

If you haven’t gotten around to checking out the current top ten in the rankings, here they are, along with the points that they have accumulated so far on the season, and their change in ranking over the last week.

Justin Thomas – 1307 (-)
Webb Simpson – 1078 (+13)
Brendon Todd – 1041 (-1)
Sebastian Munoz – 914 (-1)
Lanto Griffin – 887 (-1)
Rory McIlroy – 875 (-1)
Cameron Smith – 744 (-1)
Sungjae Im – 740 (+1)
Marc Leishman – 734 (-2)
Cameron Champ – 722 (-2)

For those interested, we are still a ways away from any of the 600 point FedEx Cup events, with the Players being the first one, and taking place March 12th-15th. We do have a bit of a bump in a few weeks with the WGC-Mexico, which hands out 550 points. Here is the schedule for the rest of February.

Next. Tony Finau: A Look at His Struggle to Win on the PGA Tour. dark

Pebble Beach Pro-Am: February 6th-9th (500 points)

Genesis Invitational: February 13th-16th (500 points)

WGC-Mexico: February 20th-23rd (550 points)

Puerto Rico Open: February 20th-23rd (300 points – secondary event)

Honda Classic: February 27th-Mar 1st (500 points)

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