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FedEx Cup Playoffs: What a difference a week can make

By Christopher O'Day

OLYMPIA FIELDS, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 30: Dustin Johnson of the United States celebrates making his putt for birdie on the 18th hole during the final round of the BMW Championship on the North Course at Olympia Fields Country Club on August 30, 2020 in Olympia Fields, Illinois. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
OLYMPIA FIELDS, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 30: Dustin Johnson of the United States celebrates making his putt for birdie on the 18th hole during the final round of the BMW Championship on the North Course at Olympia Fields Country Club on August 30, 2020 in Olympia Fields, Illinois. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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A week can make a world of difference. Just check out the top and bottom of the leaderboards from the first two weeks of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

Two weeks ago, to open the FedEx Cup Playoffs, we saw one of the most dominating performances of all-time by Dustin Johnson. He shot an incredible and rarely seen -30.

Just one week later, we saw another golfer post a score of 30 strokes away from par.

Unfortunately for Marc Leishman, he finished 60 shots away from where Dustin Johnson finished just one week earlier. With no cut, the bottom players got to continue playing the BMW Championship, meaning that Leishman kept going even after posting rounds of 80-78.

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Saturday was right in line with those two rounds, and he posted a 79. He made face a little bit on Sunday, shooting “only” a 73. He would finish at 310 for the week, shooting +30.

It’s hard to fathom either one of these happening. As Bill talked about in his article, the one that I link up above, what Dustin Johnson did just hasn’t been seen that often.

A +30 though? I would imagine that it hasn’t been done that often either.

In fact, if you had asked me which I thought was most likely to happen… I have no idea how I would’ve responded.

They are both hard to fathom. -30?! That means that, if you average it out, Dustin Johnson shot under par on around 40% of the holes. I don’t even know how many holes it would take me to card enough birdies and hopefully an occasional eagle to get to -30. Dustin Johnson did it in 72 holes.

On the other side, maybe +30 is a bit easier to think about. Or would be, if there were more tournaments where there were no cuts. Normally, anyone who starts out poorly through the first two rounds is done for the week. Then, on the events with no cuts, you are normally looking at a grouping of very talented players.

You would think that maybe the player who would shoot +30 would be one of the players that get in with a funky exception. A player that is ranked 548th in the world or something.

Not the player who came into the week ranked 20th on the season in FedEx Cup points.

Next. BMW Championship: winners and losers from second playoff event. dark

Either way, Leishman still gets to head to East Lake, as he dropped to 25th in the standings. Who knows, maybe him and Dustin Johnson will even be paired together.

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