Justin Rose, of course, was the biggest winner at last week’s FedEx St Jude Championship. It’s hard to beat the combination of collecting a $3.6m cheque, clinching a Ryder Cup spot on Team Europe and clutching the sweet trophy.
But Rickie Fowler felt like a big winner, too. By earning a share of sixth place in Memphis, Fowler made the biggest leap in the all-important FedExCup point standings. He vaulted from 64th place to 48th to capture one of the 50 spots in this week’s BMW Championship.
Alas, now he has to uncork another remarkable jump at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland, to earn a spot among the 30 golfers who will compete in next week’s Tour Championship.
“I don’t know the exact numbers of all the ifs, ands or buts,” Fowler said after playing a practice round on Tuesday, “but I know I need to play well, and I’ll see if I can do that.”
Here’s how Fowler’s ifs and buts sort out: he owns 1,032 FedExCup points, which trails 30th-place Lucas Glover by 202.
Considering the last place BMW Championship finisher gains 34 points this week, Fowler needs to finish no worse than alone in 13th place (good for 240 points) just to have a chance at the top 30.
“You always look at [the] Tour Championship [at] East Lake as a goal,” Fowler said. “Ryder Cup was pretty far out there. That’s still a long way out there. I need to play some good golf this week to extend my potential to sneak into [or] even be in the conversation.”
How good must he play? About as good as it gets.
Fowler sits 37th in the Ryder Cup standings with 3,157.26 points, so far down the charts that even winning the BMW Championship cannot propel him into one of the six automatic qualifying spots that will be locked in Sunday night.
However, two consecutive strong showings in the playoffs could reinforce to Keegan Bradley that he is playing well enough to receive a captain’s pick and suit up for Team USA for the sixth time in the last eight Cups.
When offering his recommendations for Team USA, Fowler did almost the opposite of politicking for himself. Or, perhaps, the 36-year-old was just opining as a neutral observer.
“Obviously, you want guys [on the team] that are playing well or are trending that way,” Fowler said.
“I mean, two big things at Bethpage, obviously you would like to look at all the stats and all the guys being top in those categories, but I feel like driving the ball well is something that is very beneficial or needed at Bethpage, and obviously putting when it comes to match play.”
Team USA hosts the Ryder Cup on September 27-29 at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York.
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