Onwards And Upwards

With new stars shining and the brightest star blazing again, theFedExCup play-offs set the standard for top-level competition.

- Fergus Bisset

Tiger Woods’ rousing victory at East Lake provided a fitting end to a fabulous FedExCup. After 12 stagings, the competition is firmly established as golf’s pre-eminent big-money series. With changes planned for next year to further cement its position, it is making strides towards becoming one of the most significant prizes in the game. Golf has so much history that new events cannot instantly claim the very pinnacle of prestige, but after a decade of development, the FedExCup is striving for the peak and this year’s play-offs provided confirmation.

Bryson DeChambeau announced himself as a world-leading player by winning the first two events, Tiger completed his impressive comeback with his 80th PGA Tour victory, and Justin Rose ascended to World No.1 and then held off the best of the best to claim the $10 million first prize. A brilliant few weeks of golf.

A truly fitting finale

The Tour Championship delivered the climax, but the excitement ran right through the play-offs with something on the line in each event. The number of participants dwindled from 125 for the Northern Trust to 100 for the Dell Technologies, 70 for the BMW Championship and, finally, just 30 for East Lake. There was the contest for victory in each of those events and also the captivating battle to proceed at the ever-changing ‘bubble’. There were continuous fluctuations and building anticipation as the players’ projected positions altered throughout.