Jason Day is Australia’s last hope of keeping the nation’s proud record in the FedEx Cup playoffs alive when the BMW Championship tees off late on Thursday night AEST.
Day is the only Australian left standing in the PGA Tour’s playoffs series after compatriots Min Woo Lee and Cam Davis were eliminated following the FedEx St. Jude Championship last week.
It is the first time since 2007 that just one Australian has made it to the penultimate event of the season, where the top 50 players in the season-long rankings battle it out for the 30 places on offer at next week’s Tour Championship at East Lake.
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Currently ranked 44th in the standings, Day needs a solo 20th finish or better this week to make it to the season finale where a whopping US$10 million (A$15.3m) will be awarded to the winner.
If Day finishes outside the top 20 this week, it will end a 27-year streak of Australians taking part in the Tour Championship.
Day has played the season-ending tournament just once since 2018 as a result of his persistent injury and form issues, which have crept back into his game in recent times.
The 37-year-old former world No.1 has been inside the top 30 for most of the year off the back of a tied third at The American Express, tied eighth finishes at The Masters and the Arnold Palmer Invitational as well as a tied fourth at the Travelers Championship.
But his ranking has suffered after he finished tied 56th last week, following missing the cut at The Open and the John Deere Classic.
Day’s drop off in the back half of the season has followed neck and wrist injuries.
He will play alongside Englishman Harry Hall in the first two rounds, teeing off at 1.54am AEST on Friday morning in the first round and at 11.21pm on Friday night AEST in the second round.
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SCHEFFLER’S NEW FILL-IN CADDIE
Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler will have a new fill-in caddie at this week’s PGA Tour BMW Championship as he tries to become the first back-to-back FedEx Cup playoff champion.
Two-time Masters winner Scheffler, who won this year’s PGA Championship and Open Championship, used substitute caddie Brad Payne in Sunday’s final round of the St. Jude Championship after his usual caddie, Ted Scott, returned home unexpectedly for a family issue.
In this week’s second of three Cup playoff events, Scheffler will have Michael Cromie as his bagman for the BMV Championship at Caves Valley Golf Club in suburban Baltimore, Scheffler’s agent, Blake Smith, told the PGA Tour on Tuesday.
Scheffler leads the season points standings and already has earned enough to ensure his berth at next week’s Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta.
Cromie has been the caddie for another US player, Chris Kirk, for several years. Kirk missed out on the top-50 cutoff for this week’s tournament, leaving Kirk free to work with Scheffler at Caves Valley.
Scheffler was third last week with Payne carrying his bags on the last day but Scott, who began working with Scheffler in 2021, has been the world number one’s caddie for all 17 of his PGA tour triumphs.
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STRAKA SKIPS BMW
Austrian Sepp Straka withdrew from the PGA Tour BMW Championship on Monday for family reasons, but will compete in next week’s Tour Championship, the tour announced.
Straka ranks fifth in the FedEx Cup playoffs and has ensured himself a place in the season ender at Atlanta even without playing the BMW, thanks in part to wins at The American Express in January and in May’s Truist Championship.
“For personal reasons, Sepp is unable to play this week,” Straka’s manager, Butler Melnyk, said in a statement. “He intends to compete at the Tour Championship, but requests privacy at this time as he attends to a family matter at home.”
That leaves a field of 49 for the BMW this week at Caves Valley Golf Club in suburban Baltimore. The top 30 in the season rankings will then advance to the Tour Championship on Aug 21-24 at East Lake.
World number 10 Straka, 32, is a four-time PGA Tour winner with 13 top-25 finishes this season, including a share of 17th at last week’s first playoff event in Memphis.
In three Tour Championship appearances, Straka’s best showing was a share of seventh in 2022.
Straka ranks sixth in the European Ryder Cup team qualifying standings, with the top six after the Tour Championship claiming automatics spot in September’s US-Europe team showdown at Bethpage State Park.
