FedEx Cup starting to become more interesting

Say what you will about the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs, but for the first time in its four-year existence it looks to have some real intrigue this year.

As a matter of fact, the way this season has shaped up it must be a dream come true for commissioner Tim Finchem and the Tour brass in Ponte Vedra Beach.

It has been, after all, a year of parity in golf.

Consider:

• Four different players won the major championships.

• Nobody has won more than two tournaments, with Hunter Mahan, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker and Justin Rose each collecting two victories.

• Fourteen different players claimed their first career victories this season.

So when you add it all up, it means a couple of things.

1. For the first time in recent memory—and realistically in the Tiger Woods era—there is no clear-cut choice as the player of the year.

2. It is becoming increasingly likely that the player who wins the FedEx Cup will have that honour.

Having said that and with only three legs of the playoffs remaining, let’s take a look at who the most logical candidates to be the player of the year are taking into account their opportunity to win the FedEx Cup.

1. Matt Kuchar. It’s easy to look at Kuchar as a contender as he rides the momentum of his first victory of the season at the Barclays—the first playoff event—but he’s also been one of the most consistent performers all season. He’s made the cut in 19 of 22 starts—including all four majors, where he finished no worse than in a tie for twenty seventh at the Open Championship—and has 10 top-10 finishes. Add to that a Tour-leading stroke average of 69.44 and a FedEx Cup victory would all but clinch the POY award.

2. Dustin Johnson. If you can look past his meltdown in the final round of the US Open and his day at the beach on the 72nd hole of the PGA Championship, you’ll see what a fine year Johnson has had. He made the cut in all four majors and finished in the top 20 in three of them; Like Kuchar he has made a high percentage of cuts (17 of 20); He did win a tournament, making birdie on the 72 nd hole to win the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am in February; And he’s been a consistent factor on the leaderboard with top-10s in half the tournaments he’s played in.

3. Mahan, Els, Furyk, Stricker, Rose, Phil Mickelson. It may be a large group of players to lump together (and an especially talented group it is) but when you assume that in order for any of these players to win the FedEx Cup they must win at least once more, it would be hard to deny them. Of these six players, only Mickelson wouldn’t have three wins (assuming he doesn’t win more than one of the final three playoff events) but a season long title combined with a major championship would be a pretty good season by anyone’s standards.