Rymer Bites: Previewing the FedEx Cup Playoffs

Charlie Rymer shares his thoughts on the upcoming FedEx Cup Playoffs from one of his favorite stops. One big change this year? Those closer to the top of the rankings entering the TOUR Championship will gain a significant advantage.

Charlie Rymer:

Coming to you today from the Waffle House in Pawleys Island, South Carolina. Yeah, it’s a nice joint right here, nice and clean. In case you’re wondering, I am a “Texas-bacon-egg-and-cheese-melt-hash-brown-scattered-smothered-covered-and-chunked-hold-the-pickles” kind of guy. Yeah, they know me around here!

I’ll tell you who else they know in the world of golf on this Monday morning, J.T. Poston. How about that performance at the Wyndham up at Sedgefield in Greensboro? First time since 1974 that a player has gone all four days in winning a PGA TOUR event without a bogey. Pretty impressive stuff.

And speaking of impressive, big weekend for the Rymer Family down in Tallahassee. My oldest son Charlie? Yeah, he graduated from Florida State! A little emotional for me because I’m gonna have a lot of extra money now.

Speaking of extra money, how about the FedEx Cup to get started this week? Three events this year, big changes for the Playoffs. Three events starting this week in Boston. The next week we’ll go to Chicago and then, of course, we’ll end up in Atlanta at East Lake for the final like we always do. But with that format, big changes: the top 125 in FedEx Cup points qualified for this week, the top 70 will advance after this week, then the top 30 advance to Atlanta.

Once they get to Atlanta, check this out. It’s a sort of like the fastest runners get a big head start in the race because if you’re number one in FedEx Cup points, you start the weekend in Atlanta at 10 under par. If you’re number two, you start at eight under par. That tapers down all the way to the 26th to 30th positions, where those players start at even par. And we don’t have two simultaneous tournaments going on at once. So the player with the lowest score, including their head start on Sunday, wins a cool $15 million.

I’m not real sure Tiger is going to be there on Sunday this year like he was last year, but I am real sure Brooks Koepka is. He’s going to be hard to beat in the Playoffs this year.