FedEx Cup
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The FedEx Cup is a championship trophy for the PGA Tour that will be men's professional golf's first playoff. Announced in November 2005, it will be awarded starting in 2007 after a NASCAR-like points race. The chase will be sponsored by FedEx.
In the proposed system, the top 144 points earners on the tour from the opening event in January ( The Mercedes Championship) to mid-August ( The Wyndham Championship) will compete in four playoff events with diminishing fields: the Barclays Classic (144 players), the Deutsche Bank Championship (120) and the BMW Championship (70) to cut the field to 30 contenders who will play in The Tour Championship. The points system is complex, with points awarded throughout the season, but reset before the final sequence of four events. The player with the most points after The Tour Championship will win the FedEx Cup itself and $10 million of a $35 million bonus fund.
The winner of the FedEx Cup will receive a five year exemption on the PGA Tour. This replaces the exemption for the money list winner, but it may not have any practical implications; no player ever used the money list winner exemption, because those who held it always had other exemptions to rely on. [1]
Though this is the PGA's first playoff, it is not the first to be created in professional golf. In June 2005 the LPGA announced the introduction of a playoff system, though not using the same rules as this one, to be introduced in 2006.
[edit] References
- ^ Notes: FedExCup winner to get five-year exemption, pgatour.com December 5, 2006.
[edit] External links
- Initial announcement of the Cup
- June 2006 announcement giving details of the points system and bonus fund
- November 2006 announcement on size of playoff fields
