Double appointment with golf this week: the US tour, now in its final stages, is in Chicago, for the BMW Championship, the third Playoffs reserved for 70 players; while the European tour, still far from the end, is in the Netherlands, for the KLM Open.
The American challenge is, at the moment, the most exciting one, because the "championship" is drawing to a close and the stakes are very high: ten million dollars, which will be awarded next week. Between the players and this objective there are still two playoffs: the BMW, which begins today and the Tour Championship by Coca Cola, from September 19 to 22 in Atlanta, when the field will be reduced to 30 players. Scoring points also in this race is therefore fundamental, in addition to the fact that the BMW, like the other playoffs, is a tournament with eight million dollars in prize money and a first coin of 1,440 million dollars.
As Tiger Woods says “the most important thing this week is to achieve a finish that is worth a top 5 spot in the Fedex leaderboard. First is even better." For the number one in the world, the result is within reach: Tiger, at the moment, is second, 14 points behind the Swede Henrik Stenson and together with the third, Adam Scott, is already practically certain to reach the "top five". The accounts are difficult and at the end of the BMW the scores will also be reassigned to offer all the last 30 players in the race the chance to win Fedex. However, the top is privileged: without going into the maze of calculations, suffice it to say that the top 5 players in the standings before the last tournament are the only true architects of their destiny, if they win Coca Cola, in fact, they win the FedExCup. It's not like this for all the others and winning the last tournament doesn't automatically mean winning the championship, it takes a series of combinations, in relation to the results of the others.
On this eve of the grand final, therefore, the competition is at the highest level. The air can be sliced into triad number one, destined to play together today and tomorrow and made up of Tiger, Stenson and Scott. All three are in splendid shape. Woods has won 5 times on the PGA tour this year; Scott won a major and his first playoff tournament; Stenson won last week and had a string of second-place finishes in the biggest matches. For the three, it is a real descent into the arena, with a desire to win comparable to that which Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic have been able to express in the tennis US Open in recent days.
Behind them, however, the line of suitors is long and formidable: it includes the winners of the other three majors Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose and Jason Dufner; 2012 BMW winner Rory McIlory; 2012 Fedex winner Brandt Snedeker; former world number one Luke Donald, a member of Conway Farms Golf Club, in Lake Forest, where the competition is held. Lurking are veteran Steve Stricker and rookie Jordan Spieth. We must not forget the number 4 and 5 in the Fedex ranking at the moment, i.e. Matt Kuchar and Graham DeLaet. Among the Europeans still in full competition are Sergio Garcia (24) and Lee Westwood (30). The match will be open from start to finish, in fact it is played without cuts and the players will have time to make up for it over the course of 72 holes.
The course is par 71, designed by Tom Fazio and built in '91. The weather should be chilly, but beautiful. From the USA to Europe: meet Matteo Manassero at 8,25 at the tee of the 10th hole at the Kennemer Golf and Country Club, in Zandvoort, Holland. The Italian champion takes to the field again this morning, after his 34th place in Crans-sur-Sierre last week, in the tournament won by Thomas Bjorn. This is a new stage of approach to the Italian Open which opens its doors next Thursday in Turin. For the grand finale of the European tour, however, we still have to wait a couple of months: the closure is in fact scheduled for November 14-17 in Dubai.
