NO LESS THAN a victory in the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club, North Carolina is what’s required of Pádraig Harrington this week if he is to advance into this season’s Fed Ex Cup Playoffs.
The top 125 players in the Fed Ex standings come Sunday evening will make it into the Playoffs, the first tournament of which is The Barclays Championship in New Jersey next week.
When Harrington tees off at 6.25pm Irish time alongside Robert Karlsson and Troy Merritt he will lie in 188th place in the standings, 116 points behind England’s Paul Casey who is right on the bubble.
Were Harrington to win this week he would pick up 500 Fed Ex points enabling him to advance into the four-event playoff campaign.
The Dubliner, who’s best finish on this year’s PGA Tour is 22nd at the Byron Nelson Championship in May, is locked on the same number of points as Argentinian Miguel Angel Carballo who also plays this week.
And to heap yet more pressure on the two time Open Champion a top-two finish is necessary just to secure full PGA Tour playing rights for next season.
This season’s form book does not bode well for Harrington however. Last week’s missed cut at the USPGA Championship was his eighth of the season, more than he has made. And yet, on the occasions he has made the cut, it has been the weekend rounds that have let him down. It has been a tale of good scoring on Thursday and Friday followed by a collapse on Saturday and Sunday for the 42-year-old in 2014. Harrington has only recorded one sub-70 round at the weekend so far this year.
The facts point squarely to Harrington not winning this week and the bookies think so too, offering odds of 125/1 for the former world number three to emerge victorious on Sunday.
The $5.3 million dollar tournament offers a strong field this year with much of the focus being on those ‘bubble players’ looking to make it to New Jersey. Englishman Paul Casey currently lies in 125th place with a top-55 finish most likely necessary to advance.
The number of players going into the tournament with a chance of making the playoffs goes all the way down to Alex Aragon in 251st place, ensuring that it will be an exciting finish in Greensboro, North Carolina on Sunday evening.
Woods withdraws himself from Ryder Cup consideration due to injury