He has played the revered Bethpage Black in tournament conditions just once, finishing T24 when The Barclays was played here in 2012.
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“I’ve put myself in a great position that if I play well the next few weeks, hopefully I can be in that top five going into Atlanta”.
Not only is the Queenslander the defending champion after taking the title previous year at Plainfield CC, but a final round 66 in 2012 rocketed him up the leader board.
At the end of this five-week bonanza is a $10 million bonus to the victor.
In the final leg of the tournament, a reset takes place, seeding the top-30 players to compete at East Lake.
Stenson won the 2013 FedEx Cup title, taking both the Tour Championship and Deutsche Bank Championship that year.
The top 125 players in FedExCup points qualified for The Barclays, and the leading 100 after this week advance to Boston for the September 2-5 Deutsche Bank Championship before the best 70 progress to the BMW Championship in Carmel, Indiana.
Four distinct playoff tournaments worth $US8.5 million each, with a descending cut beginning at 125 players (or 124, as Anirban Lahiri has withdrawn).
THE COURSE: Bethpage Black rose to prominence when the public golf course hosted the U.S. Open in 2002, and Tiger Woods held off Sergio Garcia and Mickelson to win his second U.S. Open.
The course is famous for its warning sign on the first tee: “The Black Course is an extremely hard course which we recommend only for highly skilled golfers”.
Spieth, 23, found that out at an early age when he won the Masters and U.S. Open previous year. Adam Scott and Phil Mickelson are among 16 players who have qualified for the FedEx Cup playoffs since they began in 2007.
Scott said he would keep the big money on offer to one side of his mind.
“So I’m just trying to stay on top of it and make sure that I don’t make too many silly errors”.
Among those outside the top 100 are Keegan Bradley at No. 106. Still up for grabs is who becomes the favorite for PGA Tour player of the year.
Asked Wednesday what he must do to claim player of the year, Day said, “A couple more wins should do it, even with what Dustin has done”. Jason Day won The Players Championship and leads the tour with three victories, so he can’t be ruled out.
Day believes he only has to win two events to be voted player of the year.
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