ATLANTA -- The FedExCup system was constructed to give each of the 144 players who qualified for the playoffs a mathematical chance of winning the top $10 million prize.
Heading into the TOUR Championship this weekend -- the last of the four playoff events -- only five players remain with a shot: Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker, Phil Mickelson, Rory Sabbatini and K.J. Choi.
They hold the top five spots on the playoff points list, in that order, with Stricker, Mickelson and Woods having won the first three events, also in that order.
Aaron Baddeley is sixth on the list, but even if he wins this week, he would still fall short of claiming the $10 million windfall. That is because Woods can receive no fewer than 395 points at East Lake (which he would get for last place) and Baddeley can receive no more than 10,300 (for a win).
In that scenario, Baddeley would end up 28 points shy of Woods.
Another interesting scenario would be a first-place finish by Mickelson, and a runner-up for Woods. If the weekend played out like that -- Can you hear NBC begging? -- Woods would still beat Mickelson for the $10 million.
By just 20 points.
Last year, Adam Scott claimed the TOUR Championship in November with a final- round 66 that put him three shots in front of Jim Furyk. Scott will be in the trimmed-down field of 30 players this week (he ranks seventh on the points list).
GOLF CHANNEL has coverage of the first two rounds, and NBC the weekend. Next week, the inaugural Turning Stone Resort Championship kicks off the 2007 PGA TOUR Fall Series.
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