Ready, go, for the Playoffs of the Fedex Cup, the last marathon of the American golf circuit, 288 holes in four tournaments, between now and the end of September. Up for grabs are $70 million in jackpots and bonuses. We start today with the Northern Trust, a competition in which only 125 players are admitted out of 252 on the circuit. Francesco Molinari participates in this gargantuan binge of money and sport, 31st in the annual ranking (Fedex) and 14th in the world rankings, a level never reached by any Italian golfer, not even by Costantino Rocca who, in the World Ranking, stopped at 18th place. Thanks to his performances, Molinari has accumulated many points over the course of the year and today he is in an excellent position, even if, one Playoffs tournament after another, the number of promoted players will drop until it is reduced to 30 players. In this context, it is clear that Molinari, 31st, is one step away from the first objective, that of ranking for the fourth appointment, the most important and exclusive, the one that crowns the 2017 Fedex champion and distributes the most substantial bonuses (10 million just for the first). The first races should be easier, the last entry will be more difficult, because the field is stellar and the funnel is getting narrower.
We start today, therefore, with the Northern Trust, at the Glen Oaks Club, Old Westbury, in the state of New York. It continues next week in Boston, then resumes on September 14 with BMW in Illinois and ends on September 21-24, like every year, in Atlanta. Each tournament has a prize pool of $8,750 million. In 2016 the first race went to Patrick Reed, while it was Rory McIlroy who finally broke Fedex, winning the last tournament and also conquering the heaviest bonus. The Northern Irishman seemed out of action this year with back problems, but today he's back on track determined to go all the way to Atlanta. He will obviously have to contend with equally good players, such as world number one Dustin Johnson or number two Hideki Matsuyama; with Open Championship winner Jordan Spieth; PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas. And again Jon Rahm; Henrik Stenson, on the podium last week at the Wyndham Championship; Jason Day; Rickie Fowler. The only big absentee in this first round is Sergio Garcia, Masters Champion 2017.
