Seven players started the FedExCup Playoffs outside the top 30 and played their way into the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola. The seven combined for 10 top 10s in a total of 20 starts:
Regular Season The Barclays DB Championship BMW Championship
Player FEC rank (FEC rank) (FEC rank) (FEC rank)
Nick Watney 49 1 (1) T20 (2) T45 (3)
Louis Oosthuizen 34 T5 (21) 2 (5) T16 (6)
Lee Westwood 51 T5 (27) T13 (23) T2 (8)
Sergio Garcia 33 T3 (10) DNP T24 (12)
Adam Scott 32 62 (34) T7 (25) T6 (21)
Ryan Moore 64 T24 (53) T10 (35) T10 (28)
John Senden 34 T19 (32) 12 (26) T56 (29)
In the six years of the FedExCup Playoffs, no FedExCup champion has returned to East Lake the following year. After entering the FedExCup Playoffs No. 21, defending champion Bill Haas bogeyed the 72nd hole at the BMW Championship to fall out of the top 30, finishing No. 32.
Twenty-four of the top 30 players in the Official World Golf Ranking qualified for the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola. For the first time since 2009, all four major championship winners will compete at the FedExCup Playoff finale.
Through the BMW Championship, 27 of the 36 winners on the PGA TOUR were inside the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking entering the 2012 campaign.
Seven players will play the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola for the first time in 2012: Rory McIlroy (1); Louis Oosthuizen (6); Lee Westwood (8); Robert Garrigus (20); John Huh (26); Rickie Fowler (27); and Scott Piercy (30).
Rory McIlroy is the fifth different player to win four or more times in a season in the last 10 years:
2012 4 Rory McIlroy
2009 6 Tiger Woods
2008 4 Tiger Woods
2007 7 Tiger Woods
2006 8 Tiger Woods,
2005 6 Tiger Woods
4 Vijay Singh
4 Phil Mickelson
2004 9 Vijay Singh
2003 5 Tiger Woods
4 Davis Love III
4 Vijay Singh
PGA TOUR victories before the age of 24 (since 1960):
Tiger Woods 15
Jack Nicklaus 8
Rory McIlroy 6
Phil Mickelson 4
Rory McIlroy is first in Scoring Average (adjusted) at 68.836 through the BMW Championship. The leader of this statistical category is awarded the Vardon Trophy and Byron Nelson Award following the last official PGA TOUR event of 2012, the Children’s Miracle Network Classic.
Dustin Johnson was the only player with top-10 finishes in the first three Playoffs events in 2012: The Barclays (T3); Deutsche Bank Championship (T4); BMW Championship (T6). Rory Sabbatini (2007) and Padraig Harrington (2009) are the only players to record top 10s in all four FedExCup Playoff events in a single year.
Exemptions for FedExCup champion and Top 30:
FedExCup champion
- 5-year PGA TOUR exemption
- Invitations to:
- Masters Tournament, U.S. Open, British Open
- THE PLAYERS Championship
- World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship
- Hyundai Tournament of Champions
- World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions
- Other invitationals including: Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, RBC Heritage, Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, The Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, AT&T National
Top 30 in final FedExCup standings
- 1-year PGA TOUR exemption
- Invitations to:
- Masters Tournament, U.S. Open, British Open
- THE PLAYERS Championship
- World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship
- Other invitationals including: Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, The Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, AT&T National, CIMB Asia Pacific Classic, World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions (top five available only)
WEB.COM TOUR
This week's Albertsons Boise Open is the first of seven tournaments in a row that will conclude the 2012 Web.com Tour season and send “25” players to the PGA TOUR in 2013. All but one (Midland) will be televised on Golf Channel.
Jeff Klauk will make his first TOUR appearance in Boise since playing in Wichita, Kan. on the Web.com Tour 16 months ago. Klauk has been dealing with brain seizures since 2006 and undergone various treatments and procedures, including having electrodes placed on his scalp and wired into his brain earlier this year. He took a side trip to Minneapolis on Sunday en route to Boise to watch his hometown Jacksonville Jaguars play the Vikings. Klauk will be a guest on Golf Channel's “Morning Drive” at 7:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Sept. 12.
Casey Wittenberg and Ben Kohles continue their pursuit of a three-win promotion this week. Their incentive is to earn playing opportunities into four domestic PGA TOUR events this fall and exempt status on TOUR in 2013.
The Reserve at Lake Keowee in Sunset, S.C. has joined a pair of clubs in nearby Greenville, Thornblade Club and Greenville Country Club’s Chanticleer course, in the course rotation for the BWM Charity Pro-Am. It replaces Carolina Country Club in Spartanburg.
The Albertsons Boise Open is one of four existing events that have been on the Web.com Tour since its inception in 1990. The Open is a Tour leader in charitable giving, having raised $13 million in its first 22 years for Treasure Valley non-profits.
Andres Gonzales will host his second Andres Gonzales Charity Golf Tournament September 17 in Tacoma, Wash., near his hometown of Olympia. Last year's event raised approximately $60,000. Over the weekend, Cliff Kresge hosted his fourth Kresge's Krew Foundation Charity Pro-Am in Kingsport, Tenn. in support of autism.
The University of Pennsylvania has announced former PGA TOUR member and two-time Web.com Tour winner Bob Heintz is the new head golf coach at Penn. Heintz is a 1992 graduate of another Ivy League school, Yale, where he won three straight Ivy League Championship individual titles and captained the team his senior year.
CHAMPIONS TOUR
World Golf Hall of Fame member Isao Aoki will make a rare Champions Tour appearance at the Pacific Links Hawaii Championship. The 1983 Hawaiian Open winner has played just two events in the past two years, missing the cut at the Senior British Open last year and this year. Aoki is one of four Hall of Fame members in the field. He’s joined by Hale Irwin, Tom Kite and Greg Norman.
John Cook, currently winless but sixth on the 2012 money list with $971,838, is seeking a win at the Pacific Links Hawaii Championship to extend his streak of seasons with at least one victory on the Champions Tour, to six.
The Pacific Links Hawaii Championship field includes a number of players who have won tournaments in Hawaii. Former winners of the Sony Open in Hawaii include Brad Faxon (2001), Jeff Sluman (1999), John Cook (1992), Gene Sauers (1989), Corey Pavin (1986-87), Mark O’Meara (1985) and Hale Irwin(1981). Winners of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, including Dan Forsman (2012), John Cook (2011), Fred Funk (2008), Hale Irwin (1997 and 2007), Tom Kite (2002), John Jacobs (1999) and Gil Morgan (1998). Irwin was also a six-time winner of the Turtle Bay Championship (1997, 2000-03 and 2005) and a three-time Senior Skins winner (1999 and 2001-02). Funk (2007) also claimed the Turtle Bay Championship.
With the Ryder Cup later this month near Chicago, there are a number of players with previous Ryder Cup experience in this week’s field, including former captains Tom Lehman (2006), Tom Kite (1997) and Corey Pavin (2010). Jeff Sluman will serve as a captain’s assistants this year. Others with Ryder Cup experience competing this week include Chip Beck, John Cook, Brad Faxon, Fred Funk, Jim Gallagher, Jr., Bob Gilder, Hale Irwin, Larry Mize, Gil Morgan, Mark O’Meara, Steve Pate, Scott Simpson and Craig Staler.
With five events remaining, several players are battling for a spot in the field at the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship. A year ago, the player at No. 30 on the money list had earned $552,390 heading into the season finale. So far, through 19 events, 24 players have surpassed that figure.
Hale Irwin has earned $4,386,250 in The Aloha State in his career. Irwin has 12 victories (including three unofficial Senior Skins titles) in Hawaii.
Since his return from a four-month layoff due to a rib injury, Mark O’Meara has posted three top-10 finishes, including a playoff loss to Jay Don Blake in his previous start, at the Boeing Classic. He was also T10 at the 3M Championship and a T7 at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open. The last time O’Meara had four consecutive top-10 finishes was early in the 2007 season.
