2020 Tour Championship: Top 10 power rankings at East Lake
A lot of guys probably would like to take a week off right around now. Webb Simpson decided to actually do it.
He was the only one from the 70-player field to bow out of last week’s BMW Championship, citing a desire to rest.
It didn’t hurt that he was already a lock for East Lake. The 35-year-old was at No. 3 in the FedEx Cup standings and only dropped to No. 4. Seems worth it!
If you ask me, it would have made more sense to skip The Northern Trust, an event with a cut, for the no-cut BMW Championship. But I have no reason not to trust him.
His results all season and since the restart show he’s got a sound strategy in place.
Simpson won in February at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. The former Wake Forest Demon Deacon also grabbed a trophy in the second event of the restart at the RBC Heritage.
Since then he has three top-10s (two in his last two starts), a T-12th at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude and only one missed cut.
He finished T-6th at The Northern Trust while ranking seventh in strokes gained around the green and 12th SG tee to green.
East Lake is not a great course fit for Simpson, but he’s played well in the Tour Championship in spite of that.
In seven starts, Simpson’s never finished worse than 23rd and has three top-fives.
He was T-20th on the OWGR leaderboard last year, which resulted in T-16th in the FedEx Cup. Simpson opened with a 74 but shored up with 70-68-71.
Simpson ranks sixth on Tour in strokes gained approach (.699). He’s got the shot-making to find the right portions of the green, even if he’s playing from 20 yards back.
The flat stick’s helped him to 12th in strokes gained putting (.651), and Bermuda greens should be very familiar to a North Carolinian. No one makes more birdies per round than Webb (4.73).
This doesn’t look like the week to bet the farm on Simpson to win, but the time off could be his ace in the hole.