One hundred golf numbers one will take to the field starting Friday for the second round of the Playoffs, the grand finale of the American circuit. This is the Deutsche Bank Championship, unusually scheduled from tomorrow to Monday, on the TPC Boston course, in Norton, Massachusetts.
Within this world elite, the Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy, the American Jordan Spieth and the Australian Jason Day stand out: the first leads the World Ranking, the third the FedExCup and Spieth occupies second place in the two rankings. For the trio it will be a fight to the death, with the aim of maintaining or gaining positions, to accumulate points in view of the next two appointments, to grab the Fedex title and that of player of the year. All three have many arrows in their bows. The favorite is Jason Day, fresh from three victories in the space of a month, including the last major and last week's tournament. Spieth on the other hand has done wonders all year, nabbing four tournaments, including two majors and two runners-up finishes in the other two. The most afflicted is McIlroy, who can still boast the title of number one in the world, but who has "only" won twice this season, including a WGC. The most serious fact is that he was forced to miss the Open Championship due to an injury to his left ankle and that the stop still inevitably weighs on his state of form. The challenge will be exciting because, in addition to these outstanding players, there is a consistent number of champions capable of putting on a show: from Bubba Watson to Henrik Stenson, from Rickie Fowler to Sangmoon Bae, from Zach Johnson to Dustin Johnson, from Jim Furyk to Louis Oosthuizen.
The stakes of the last four events on the American circuit are once again very high: 68 million euros; 33 million for the four games (8,250 million dollars each time, 1,485 million for the first), plus 35 million in the final bonus, which will be divided among the last 30 players who will survive the previous selections.
A real binge of money and golf for the excellent of the sport. No Italians on the field unfortunately, after the renunciation of Francesco Molinari who became a father again last week. For Deutsche, 100 of the 125 competitors admitted to the first round remained in the race. These will be reduced to 70 in the BMW Championship (September 17-20) and 30 in the Tour Championship (September 24-27), the closing event.
Day leads the standings with 4.459 points, followed by Spieth (4.169), Watson (3.167), Stenson (2.152), Zach Johnson (2.049), Dustin Johnson (2.028). In each game of the Playoffs the winner gets 2.000 points, the second 1.200, the third 760, the fourth 540, the fifth 440 and so on. After the BMW Championship the points will be reviewed; the ranking will remain unchanged, but the first will start for the final sprint with 2.000 points, the second with 1.800, the third with 1.600, the fourth with 1.440, the fifth with 1.280 up to the 30th with 168, so that even the last , in theory, can hope for the $10 million bonus up for grabs for the Fedex winner.
Among the players at risk of being cut this weekend are Ian Poulter, Keegan Bradley, Jason Dufner, Luke Donald, Davis Love III, Hunter Mahan and Camilo Villegas. On the other hand, Chris Kirk (39th) outgoing champion takes no risks, but he doesn't seem in the best shape of him.
The European Tour this week is in Moscow, at the Skolkovo Golf Club, for the M2M Russian Open. Three Italians on the track: Edoardo Molinari, Alessandro Tadini and Andrea Pavan. Molinari has a good chance, while Tadini and Pavan have to think above all about saving the card. The Englishman David Horsey defends the title in a context of good players, although all the big names are absent.
The jackpot is one million euros, almost 170 for the first.
