Fowler, Rose, Scott Battle for Playoff and Tour Championship Spots

"Players like Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose and Adam Scott don’t have to worry about getting in the top 125 on the FedEx points list to play next year. They have exemptions from past performance. Fowler from winning The Players. Rose from winning the 2018 FedEx Cup. Scott from a recent victory at The Genesis. The reason they are at the Wyndham Championship is to get into the FedEx Playoffs where big paychecks lie in wait. And out of pride."

Fowler and Rose are below the top 125 mark, with Fowler at 130th and Rose at 138th. Scott is just above it at 121st. That is not typical for any of the three.

Now, they are at Wyndham to reap the benefits of a higher finish for what has been a tumultuous season due to COVID, as Scott pointed out.

“Whether it’s practice or train or the many changes this year. Very limited time with my coach. I ended up not even working with my trainer this year because it was just impossible to actually get together,” Scott said.

More from Golf Tours

He also faced a myriad of challenges trying to see his wife and children, who are in Switzerland, and his parents, who are in Australia.

“It’s very frustrating when you live in one place with a policy and you’re operating also in another place with a different policy,” he added.

Justin Rose was in a similar situation with his putting coach who was not able to come to the U.S. as often as either of them would have liked due to visa issues and COVID rules in each country.

But he admitted his game just was not as sharp as it should have been during the season. His situation is all on him, he admitted.

“From a pride point of view, I think it’s really, really important to make a run into the Playoffs,” Rose said.

He, like Fowler, needs to finish above 125 to go forward.

Rickie Fowler is also looking to improve on his season.

“We’re just in the wrong spot at this time of year, so hopefully we can kick things into gear and get ourselves tee times for next week,” he said.

Then he compared his season to trying to kickstart a dirt bike, which has to be a first.

“Just sitting there kicking every once in a while, kind of fire up, get going, get a few revs. I’ll keep kicking, she’s bound to start,” he explained. “It’s been a bummer that I’ve been kicking this long, but we’re still here kicking.”

Now the issue Fowler, Rose and Scott face is that there are 20 to 25 players who are also fighting to secure a place in the post season. Plenty of season-weary golfers who may not be exempt for next year are desperate to put spike marks on anyone’s back to advance. It’s best described by Michael Corelone in The Godfather: It isn’t personal, it’s strictly business.

In addition, each golfer in the field would like to lift a trophy. After a certain length of time without capturing new hardware, they seem to get frustrated.

“I’d really like to try and get myself in contention and have a shot at winning something. That’s really what I’m thinking about,” Scott noted.

Home/Golf Tours