- Jason Day looks to defend his title at the The Barclays. (Chris Condon/PGA TOUR)
• COURSE: Bethpage State Park (Black), 7,468 yards, par 71. Built by A.W. Tillinghast, the Black opened in 1936 and was a treasured public gem for locals for decades until the 2002 U.S. Open thrust the course onto the world stage. A famous sign greets golfers near the first tee warning that only “highly skilled” golfers should play the Black, and its reputation for toughness attracted such pros as Sam Snead, Gene Sarazen and Byron Nelson early on to test its strength. Snead famously called it “an unfair test” after beating Nelson in a 1940 exhibition. Tiger Woods captured the 2002 Open at Bethpage, and the event returned just seven years later when Lucas Glover won a rain-soaked edition. The Black joined The Barclays rota in 2012, as Nick Watney prevailed.
• FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 2,000 points.
• CHARITY: The Tackle Kids Cancer program is the official charity of The Barclays, helping to provide care for young patients and fund research into pediatric cancers. Other donations are made to the American Red Cross, the New Jersey Alliance of YMCAs, The First Tee of Metropolitan New York and The First Tee of Essex County.
• FIELD WATCH: FedExCup points leader Jason Day, also the reigning Barclays champion, and U.S. Open titleholder Dustin Johnson head a roster currently set for 122 at the opening playoff stop. … Sergio Garcia will sit out The Barclays for the second consecutive year, while Shane Lowry has opted to play the final European Tour stop before the automatic Ryder Cup berths are locked in. Masters champion Danny Willett is the third missing name. … Emiliano Grillo and Smylie Kaufman, who won the season's first two events back in October, top a list of six rookies expected to crack the 2016 playoff lineup.
• 72-HOLE RECORD: 261, Bob Gilder (1982 at Westchester CC), Jason Day (2015 at Plainfield CC).
• 18-HOLE RECORD: 61, Brandt Snedeker (3rd round, 2011 at Plainfield CC).
• LAST YEAR: Day won for the third time in a five-week span, distancing himself from everyone with a 63-62 weekend at Plainfield Country Club that produced a six-stroke romp over Henrik Stenson. Three long birdies on the back nine helped the Aussie to pour it on, matching the tournament’s 33-year-old scoring record set in its days at Westchester Country Club. Stenson kept within striking distance with birdies at Nos. 13 and 14, but Day rolled home a 30-foot birdie of his own at the 14th and struck from similar distance at No.15. The triumph came just two weeks after Day made the PGA Championship his first major title, preceded two weeks earlier by victory at the RBC Canadian Open.
• STORYLINES: Day and Johnson are separated by only 34 points atop the FedExCup points race, with a gap of more than 600 points down to Adam Scott in third. Just 98 points separate Scott, No.4 Russell Knox and No.5 Jordan Spieth. … That quintet also represents the only men to record multiple victories during the 2015-16 regular season. … Though Day has cooled off since a torrid spring in which he scored all three of his wins, his runner-up finish at the PGA Championship was his third top-10 of the summer. He hasn't finished lower than 14th in his past five starts. ... Johnson makes his first start since missing the cut at Baltusrol, following a run in which he hadn't finished outside the top 10 since May. That includes his breakthrough U.S. Open win and the WGC Bridgestone Invitational. … At the back of the points list, entrants take aim at cracking the top 100 for a place in the Deutsche Bank Championship. Typically, a half-dozen play their way into the second playoff stop from outside the top 100.
• SHORT CHIPS: One year after Hunter Mahan saw his run of making every FedExCup playoffs start come to an end at the BMW Championship, he did not qualify for the postseason at all this year. … Just one defending FedExCup champion has managed to make it all the way back to East Lake a year later. Brandt Snedeker did it in 2013.
• TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 2-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 1-2:30 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS). Sunday, noon-1:30 p.m. (GC), 2-6 p.m. (CBS).
• PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups), 3-6 p.m. (featured holes). Saturday, 8:10 a.m.-6 p.m. (featured groups). Sunday, 8:20 a.m.-6 p.m. (featured groups).
• RADIO: Thursday-Friday, noon-6 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).
and here we go
1st stop of the playoffs , same rules apply as before.
with this number of players everyone is eligible for the championship, so it is all about positioning until point reset.
congrats to last weeks winners BFT and DFS
Notable change in the leader board this week, a guy who plays from the correct side passes a wrong handed player for third overall, otherwise nothing of note
good luck to everyone this week and throughout the playoffs
