Brandt Snedeker leads, with 8 strokes under par, the Tour Championship by Coca-Cola underway at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, the last round of the FedExCup. Today, the fourth and final day of the tour, $35 million in prizes will be awarded, $10 million to first place alone.
The thirty-two year old from Nashville leads the tournament and also the Playoffs standings, after a third round in 64 shots (-6), thanks to which he overtook the big favorite, Rory McIlroy. In the lead, tied with Snedeker, is Justin Rose (-8), third in the playoffs. The complex allocation of points takes place on the basis of a series of tournaments played during the year and four elimination tournaments that began in late August. The Championship by Coca-Cola is the last of these four tournaments and will today crown the overall winner of the complex, challenging and hugely rich FedExCup.
Snedeker has a good chance of winning, especially if he maintains a regular game and an infallible putt as he has done so far, but the real game is the one played between Rory McIlory and Tiger Woods: between the young lion and the "old" tiger.
Rory has a chance to win the FedExCup even if he finishes 30th (there are XNUMX players left), Tiger must place at least fourth. The victory in the Playoffs by the Northern Irish champion could represent his definitive crowning as absolute ruler of the tour, even though, even today, world golf has only one, true, indisputable star: Tiger Woods. The public wants to see Tiger, only Tiger follows them on the field, because Tiger is golf. A victory for him in a major tournament is expected and hoped for, especially by the American public, a few days before the start of the Ryder Cup (the Europe-USA challenge) in Chicago next weekend.
In Atlanta Tiger started with the turbo, just playing with Rory McIlory. A start that made you think well. Woods didn't seem at all "intimidated" by Rory, if not "by his hair" (words by Woods himself, in response to a joke by Greg Norman). The second 18 holes however were a disaster and, as often happens lately, Tiger struggled to recover after a bad hole and to find the right feeling on the greens. Yesterday there was a burst of pride, 67 shots after 73 on Friday, (-4 in total) and today the game is all to follow. It would be nice to see the American champion animated by the determination of the old days, but a shadow line has descended on his game, perhaps useful for personal growth, unfortunately less effective on the field.
On the other side is McIlory, the present and hopefully the future of golf. Rory's season got off to a slow start, but the 2012-year-old bounced back strongly by winning his second major, the PGA, after last year's US Open. In 4 Rory had XNUMX victories on the US tour, one more than Tiger, and took home two FedExCup tournaments. Today he is number one in the world rankings and seems to have the psychological strength necessary to last over time. He is very long and precise with the drive, courageous and successful with the putt, in short, he is a champion who stands out above all the others. At East Lake he hasn't shown wonders yet, because he hasn't played to the best of his ability on the greens, but today he could give the definitive paw. In the last few races he has always unleashed the winning shots on the fourth day.
McIlory therefore starts with a score of -5, fourth with Bubba Watson and Jim Furik, behind Snedeker, Rose and Ryan Moore (-6). Tiger Woods follows soon after with -4, along with Robert Garrigus, Matt Kuchar and Bo Van Pelt. Based on the current score, in the FedExCup, Snedeker is first, followed by McIlory, Rose, Woods, Nick Watney. There are still many imaginable scenarios, but for points and experience McIlroy and Tiger Woods are by far the favourites. The course, par 70, is apparently not too insidious, if not for the grass, the bermuda grass, which penalizes the players a lot outside the fairway, as seen in the first three days.
The challenge begins at 17,30 Italian time, but for the best players you have to wait a few hours. Tiger takes the field with Garrigus at 19,20; Bubba Watson and Jim Furyk follow at 19,30; at 19,40 pm Ryan Moore and McIlroy; 19,50 Snedeker and Rose.
