The tournament of the week is the BMW Championship, third playoff, but the news of the day is the Ryder Cup in Paris (September 28-30), because the captains have practically completed the teams and both Francesco Molinari for Europe and Tiger Woods for the United States. The most beautiful challenge in golf promises to be better than ever, with the wild cards available for Thomas Bjorn and Jim Furyk that will drive the fans crazy.
The Dane chose Ian Poulter, Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stenson, to join the other team members, by right to purchase on the field: Molinari, first for points, then Justin Rose, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Alex Noren, Thorbjorn Olesen. Bjorn has bet on highly experienced athletes. Garcia looks back on eight Ryder Cups, Poulter, in addition to being a force of nature in doubles, looks back on five intercontinental challenges, Stenson four and Casey three.
Francesco Molinari will be in his third round, after being part of the winning continental team in 2010 and 2012. But the American team is also a dream, with Tiger Woods returning to play Ryder for the eighth time after a six-year absence ( the last appearance in 2012). The other two wild cards are fantastic: Phil Mickelson, at his 12th participation and Bryson DeChambeau, rookie, but also Fedex leader at the moment, with victory in the last two tournaments.
For the fourth card Furyk will decide on September 24, after the Tour Championship, the last tournament of the PlayOffs which will award 10 million dollars to the first place in the annual ranking. The other eight stars and stripes players, who qualified by right, are Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Webb Simpson.
Once this exciting chapter has been archived, we can move on to the third round of the playoffs, which is the BMW Championship, scheduled from today to Sunday at the Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. There are only 70 players left and there is no cut in the race, but those who want to participate in the last challenge, the Tour Championship, must be able to conquer a placement that allows them to remain within the top thirty players in the annual ranking, because only these will participate in the final race. For this reason Tiger (25th in Fedex) is back on the field again this week.
The champion is in great shape on the long game, but remains weak on the putt like never before. Growing up on his father's school that golf is played from the green to the tee and not the other way around, Tiger seems to have lost this lesson and his extraordinary confidence around the hole. The years, the ailments, the public disclosure of his private vices (women and drugs) have probably contributed to this psychological earthquake. But Tiger is Tiger and he's itching to roar to a podium again.
Also back is Molinari (14th), who must not miss this splendid opportunity to appear among the top thirty players on the US circuit and to take home the maxi prize. With him Patrick Reed, winner of the 2018 Masters and Billy Horschel.
Rickie Fowler (26th) returns to the game, who missed the first two appointments and certainly can't lose this one, if he doesn't want to say goodbye to the final. Tiger and Fowler play together and with them is Jordan Spieth, a trio of great prestige who will have the spotlight throughout the match.
The indefatigable DeChambeau returns to the tee, leader in the standings and in pole to be the ace taker. The millennials seem to usher in the era of the automaton in golf, with its movement studied at the table, as precise as a laser beam, but not beautiful to look at. The 24-year-old plays with world number one Dustin Johnson (second in Fedex), who doesn't have science on his side, but has a lot of strength and a lot of talent. With them the Olympic champion Justin Rose (third).
Please note that in the next round the points will be reset and assigned again to give each of the 30 participants in the final race the chance to win the FedexCup. However, only the first five, to use a classic formula, "are masters of their destiny", that is, they have the mathematical certainty of winning the annual classification by winning the Tour Championship.
