Gary Woodland: FedEx Cup Contender or Pretender?

Gary Woodland is now a major champion, but can he win the 2020 FedEx Cup?

Gary Woodland has always been known as a long hitter. However, after last season, Woodland was able to add another title – major champion.

Woodland claimed his first major championship at last year’s U.S. Open, as he topped the field by three strokes on his way to victory. Woodland not only conquered the course at Pebble Beach, he went toe-to-toe with some of the world’s best players (specifically Justin Rose and Brooks Koepka) and came out with a win.

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While it was not a total shock to see Woodland win a major, he certainly would not have been among the favorites when the week began. He entered the event with just three PGA Tour wins, none of which had come in majors.

In fact, Woodland had to go through the PGA Tour’s qualifying school twice, in 2008 and 2010, before he finally found his footing. In 2011, Woodland earned his first PGA Tour victory at the Transitions Championship. In fact, he would go on to finish 17th in the FedEx Cup playoff standings, up 175 spots from the year before.

Two years later, he won again, at the Reno-Tahoe Open. He also made a return to the Tour Championship and ultimately finished 23rd in the FedEx Cup standings.

Since then, Woodland has never finished below 41st place. He has played in the Tour Championship a total of seven times during his career.

Woodland’s success in the U.S. Open last season boosted him as he went into the playoffs. He added a pair of second-place finishes last season and finished a career-best 15th in the FedEx Cup standings.

This season, Woodland has made eight starts and has made the cut in seven of those events. His best finish so far is a tie for third at the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges in October. He has three other top 10s this season and currently ranks 34th in the FedEx Cup standings.

Woodland will have several hurdles to clear before he can contend for this year’s FedEx Cup title. It says here that those hurdles will be too much, especially with the condensed PGA Tour schedule. This year, Woodland is a pretender for the FedEx Cup.