Golf News: Tiger Woods wins the inaugural FedEx Cup

Earlier today Tiger Woods became the first winner of the FedEx Cup with a personal best 23 under par tournament at the Tour Championship. He was at his absolute best during the event beating Zach Johnson Mark Calcavecchia by a massive 8 strokes. This was Tigers 61st win on the tour and needs only one more win to catch the great Arnold Palmer. Tiger adds the 10 million from the FedEx Cup to his retirement fund and takes home another 1.2 million just for winning the tournament. The dominant win means that questions about just how good Tiger Woods is will continued to be asked and the answer just might be...the greatest ever!
Leaderboard - Top 10 The Tour Championship

1	Tiger Woods	USA	-23	257	64	63	64	66
2	Mark Calcavecchia	USA	-15	265	65	66	63	71
2	Zach Johnson	USA	-15	265	71	66	60	68
4	Sergio Garcia	ESP	-14	266	68	64	64	70
5	Scott Verplank	USA	-11	269	66	68	67	68
5	Hunter Mahan	USA	-11	269	65	68	65	71
7	Vijay Singh	FIJ	-10	270	68	68	65	69
7	Tim Clark	SAF	-10	270	62	69	70	69
9	Rory Sabbatini	SAF	-9	271	68	68	67	68
9	Camilo Villegas	COL	-9	271	67	68	70	66

The final standings in the FedEx Cup threw up little change. Unfortunately for golf fans the title didn't come down to a close finish, which would have probably secured the FedEx Cup's place for years to come. However, I am sure there will be some serious debate over whether the cup should continue to be part of the Tour. I must say congratulations to Steve Stricker who finished second in the FedEx Cup points standings and will add 3 million to his retirement fund!

Stay tuned this week for my thoughts on the FedEx Cup

FedEx Cup - Can anyone stop Tiger?

The Tour Championship
Today Tiger moved one step closer to winning the inaugural FedEx Cup as he had one of the best front nines we have ever seen in a major tournament. Starting at the fourth hole he reeled off 5 birdies in a row and then shot an eagle at the 9th going out with a 28! The gloss came off slightly with 2 bogeys on the back nine, but still holds a 3 shot lead over Woody Austin. Woods now moves into prime position for the FedEx Cup and his closest challengers to the title seem to be too far away to stop him now. In the end Tiger would be a worthy winner after a fantastic regular season. It's just a shame it probably won't go down to the wire.

Leader board after 2nd round: (Players theoretically still in the running for the cup in bold)

1	Tiger Woods	USA	-13	127	64	63			F
2	Woody Austin	USA	-10	130	65	65			F
3	Mark Calcavecchia	USA	-9	131	65	66			F
3	Adam Scott	AUS	-9	131	65	66			F
3	Tim Clark	SAF	-9	131	62	69			F
6	Sergio Garcia	ESP	-8	132	68	64			F
6	K.J. Choi	KOR	-8	132	67	65			F
8	Stewart Cink	USA	-7	133	67	66			F
8	Padraig Harrington	IRL	-7	133	63	70			F
8	John Rollins	USA	-7	133	64	69			F
8	Hunter Mahan	USA	-7	133	65	68			F
12	Phil Mickelson	USA	-6	134	68	66			F
12	Scott Verplank	USA	-6	134	66	68			F
14	Heath Slocum	USA	-5	135	71	64			F
14	Camilo Villegas	COL	-5	135	67	68			F
16	Rory Sabbatini	SAF	-4	136	68	68			F
16	Vijay Singh	FIJ	-4	136	68	68			F
16	Steve Stricker	USA	-4	136	69	67			F
19	Zach Johnson	USA	-3	137	71	66			F
19	Brett Wetterich	USA	-3	137	68	69			F
19	Boo Weekley	USA	-3	137	70	67			F
22	Ernie Els	SAF	-2	138	69	69			F
22	Geoff Ogilvy	AUS	-2	138	68	70			F
24	Robert Allenby	AUS	-1	139	68	71			F
24	Aaron Baddeley	AUS	-1	139	69	70			F
24	Charles Howell III	USA	-1	139	68	71			F
27	Jim Furyk	USA	0	140	71	69			F
27	Justin Rose	ENG	0	140	69	71			F
29	Jonathan Byrd	USA	1	141	71	70			F
30	Brandt Snedeker	USA	3	143	71	72			F

Golf: The Tour Championship Preview - FedEx Cup playoff #4

This is what we have been waiting for: the FedEx Cup final playoff when we will finally see if all the fuss has been worth it and whether any man is worth 10 million dollars just for hitting a little golf ball around (as my old Mum so elegantly puts it). So it all comes down to the TOUR Championship this weekend with five players realistically in with a chance of taking the title (and the money!) The top five in the FedEx Cup point standings:

Tiger Woods		112,733
Steve Stricker		109,600
Phil Mickelson		108,613
Rory Sabbatini		103,588
K.J. Choi		103,100

(the winner of this event is awarded 10300 points)

Predictions
All the experts are suggesting Tiger is in hot form and will run away with this one too, but we are talking about the top 30 golfers here and none of them are going to lie down. It is interesting to note that Tiger has only won this tournament once (1999) and the tournament has had 10 different winners in 10 years. My heart goes with Steve Stricker who has definitely been the surprise packet of the FedEx Cup playoffs! However, I still think that Tiger will win this one and will earn the 10 million dollars for his fledgling retirement fund!

Stay tuned for Tomorrows article "Who can win the fedex cup and what they need to do it!" where I will explain what scenarios need to occur for each player to win. If you are still confused by this strange new golf tournament you can read my earlier article FedEx Cup Explained

Golf News: Tiger is the king of Cog Hill - BMW Championship (FedEx Cup Playoff 3)

Tiger Woods has gone on to take his 60th tour victory at the BMW Championship and regains the lead on the FedEx Cup standings. Tiger, who has won at Cog Hill 3 times previous to this victory, had a fantastic round of golf and was deadly with the putter and posted a record equalling round of 63. Arron Baddeley and Steve Stricker also tried their best to stay with Tiger making some great birdies, but could not match the master.
The top ten:

Pos	Name	Country	Total	Strokes	1	2	3	4
1	Tiger Woods	USA	-22	262	67	67	65	63
2	Aaron Baddeley	AUS	-20	264	68	65	65	66
3	Steve Stricker	USA	-18	266	68	66	64	68
4	Adam Scott	AUS	-14	270	69	69	67	65
5	Tim Clark	SAF	-13	271	68	69	67	67
5	Justin Rose	ENG	-13	271	65	69	69	68
7	Stewart Cink	USA	-12	272	66	73	68	65
7	Camilo Villegas	COL	-12	272	65	69	71	67
9	Sergio Garcia	ESP	-10	274	68	70	69	67
10	Ian Poulter	ENG	-9	275	68	72	69	66
10	Rory Sabbatini	SAF	-9	275	69	72	68	66
10	Carl Pettersson	SWE	-9	275	71	68	69	67

The event saw some changes in the FedEx Cup standings with Camilo Villegas, Tim Clark and Stewart Cink all playing some great golf to come from outside the top 30 to finish within the cut off line. Unfortunately this means an early exit for Luke Donald, Jerry Kelly and Arron Oberholser who were all inside the top 30 before the event, but just missed the cut off line.
The Top 5 in the FedEx Cup standings:

1		Tiger Woods
2		Steve Stricker
3		Phil Mickelson
4		Rory Sabbatini
5		K.J. Choi

Realistically only the top 5 now have a chance at taking the FedEx Cup, but with 35 million dollars in the kitty everyone will be trying to win The Tour Championship next week.