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Mickelson, Donald & Bradley chase $10 million bonus
World No.1, No.6, and PGA Champion need fast start to catch FedEx Cup leader Nick Watney.
By Paul Mahoney
You snooze you lose – but eventually you win. Last year Jim Furyk forgot to set his alarm clock for The Barclays pro-am, missed his early morning tee time and was disqualified from the championship. Not to worry. A few weeks later he won the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup. "I've taken my share of ribbing about it," Furyk said. He was sent an alarm clock for Christmas by one of his sponsors with an inscription: "Who needs The Barclays?"
Well, this year, Furyk does. The defending FedEx Cup champion is ranked 60th of the 125 players that qualified. "This year it's going to be a fight to get to East Lake (for the Tour Championship finale). I'm looking to keep moving up and stay inside the Top 70," Furyk said. "If I was able to win one of the next three events, all of a sudden you've got yourself in a situation where you could win the FedEx Cup again. The first prize at The Barclays is $1.44 million dollars with a $10 million bonus for the overall FedEx Cup champion.
The players tee off in threeballs and are grouped in their position in the FedEx Cup standings. Furyk has Sergio Garcia and Harrison Frazer for company for the first two rounds. The leading group of Nick Watney, Steve Stricker and last week's Greensboro champion Webb Simpson tee off at 8.21am ET from the 10th. But the stellar threeball by a quirk of the rankings is those in fourth, fifth and sixth place. On the 1st tee at 1.06pm ET are World No.1 Luke Donald, PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley and New Jersey and New York's adopted son Phil Mickelson. "Historically, we would not be playing big events like this right after the PGA Championship," Mickelson said. "But with the FedEx Cup now starting at The Barclays, we have the best players in the world competing against each other and I think that creates some interesting golf for the next couple of weeks."
Competitive juices will be overflowing on the tee, especially with Ryder Cup rivals Mickelson and Donald playing up close for two rounds. World No.1 Donald sets off on his mission to become the first player ever to win the money list on the PGA Tour and the European Tour. Mickelson has never won the money list in the US or made it to World No.1. But he does have four major titles to Donald's zero. Donald admitted recently that he would rather have Mickelson's record.
Mickelson has struck up a friendship with Bradley (they are managed by the same company) and there is the look of a young Phil in the free-flowing way Bradley plays with a smile. They played together at The Players Championship just before Bradley won in Texas, and Mickelson said he could tell right away that Bradley has a lot of game. "There's no substitute for speed, and he's got a lot of clubhead speed," Mickelson said. "But, more than that, he's got an incredible touch on the green. He putts really well and he's got great short game and really hits the ball a long way. The combination of that, plus his attitude, which is not to back down - he doesn't back down to anybody - is the sign of a great character player. We'll go have our matches and he's right in the thick of it. You know, he doesn't mind taking a few comments thrown his way, but he doesn't mind dishing it, either. He's going to be an impressive player." America has long given up looking for the new Tiger Woods. Maybe Mickelson has discovered the new Phil. Bradley's journey has only just started but he's already got off to a flier.
While there is no doubt The Barclays has created a buzz in New Jersey with sell-out crowds of 25,000 set to attend each day, there is still some confusion regarding the points system of the FedEx Cup. Hey, these guys are good, as they PGA Tour slogan goes. But they're not mathematicians. Not even Padraig Harrington has it clear in his head. And he's a qualified accountant. Mickelson ignored the points to get straight to the point. "If you win the first two events, there's no need to play the third," he said smiling. Simple.