Lahiri has qualified for FedExCup Playoffs after a gap of a 3 years
Anirban Lahiri put together four solid rounds of 66-67-68-68 to finish T8 at the US$ 7.3mn Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour, consolidating his position to 66th in the FedExCup Standings and ensuring he comfortably qualified for the lucrative 3 event Fedex Cup playoffs starting next week with over US$100 million up for grabs in prize money and season ending bonus pool.
The 35-year-old Lahiri was two shots out of the lead starting the final round but a remarkable final round 61 by 20-year-old South Korean, Joohyung Kim, left everyone else behind. Kim played his front 9 holes in 27 to seize control of the tournament and despite not having PGA Tour playing status a month ago, has now jumped to 33rd in the Fedex Cup rankings.
The FedEx Cup Playoffs start this week with the US$ 15mn St. Jude’s Invitational from Aug. 11-14, where the top-125 players will tee-off. Those in the top 70 will then advance to the US$ 15mn BMW Championship from Aug. 18-21. From there the top-30 will be eligible for the Tour Championship scheduled at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia from Aug. 25-28.
The player with the most points after the Tour Championship wins the FedEx Cup and the $18 million first-place prize (total bonus fund is $75 million). The runner-up gets $6.5 million, 3rd place $5 million, 4th place $4 million, 5th place $3 million, and so on down to $85,000 for 126th through 150th place.
Beginning with the 2023 season, non-exempt players who finish 126th-150th in the FedEx Cup are given conditional PGA Tour status, but can attempt to improve their priority rankings through the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. Previously, conditional status was earned through the money list.
LIV GOLF players kept out of FedEx Cup Playoffs
A United States federal judge has declined to issue a temporary restraining order that would have allowed three LIV golfers to play in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs.
The players, Talor Gooch, Matt Jones and Hudson Swafford, were seeking emergency relief to participate in the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind, the first of the three playoff events.
However, U.S. District Court Judge Beth Labson Freeman, of the Northern District of California, sided with the PGA Tour’s argument that the players were not harmed financially by moving to LIV and their claim of an emergency was an artificial one as they could have filed this suit months ago.
“It appears to the court that the LIV contracts, negotiated by the players and consummated between the parties, were based upon the players’ calculation of what they would be leaving behind and the amount the players would need to monetize to compensate for those losses,” Freeman said in her ruling. “I do agree with the defendants [the PGA Tour]that those losses were well known to the players at the time and clearly monetized.
“And, in fact, the evidence shows that it seems almost without a doubt that they will be earning more than they have made and could reasonably have expected to make in a reasonable amount of time under the PGA [Tour].”
Aside from the temporary stay, 11 LIV golfers, including Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, have filed an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour in federal court last week challenging their suspensions from the tour.
The Judge also reportedly told both sides that the earliest the trial could begin would be September 2023. If that date did not work, the next available opening would be in 2025. That works in the PGA Tour’s favour since the LIV events do not currently offer any world ranking points, which means players could struggle to gain entry to the Major championships.
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Photo – PGA Tour