Day eyes FedEx glory as Baddeley relegated

Jason Day spearheads a four-strong Australian contingent who advanced to the PGA Tour's $US67 million FedEx Cup playoffs starting this week.

Jason Day

Jason Day will lead a four-man Australian charge in this year's FedEx Cup. (AAP)

Jason Day is primed to launch his bid to become Australia's first FedEx Cup champion, but several of his countrymen have been relegated to the cut-throat Web.com Tour finals.

Former world No.1 Day joins Marc Leishman, Cameron Smith and Adam Scott in advancing to the US PGA Tour's $US67-million playoffs series, after the regular season concluded at the Wyndham Championship on Sunday.

Day has been a perennial contender in the post-season but has fallen short of the $US10-million bonus awarded to the leading points scorer following the Tour Championship.

Ranked sixth in the standings courtesy of two US Tour wins this year, Day's focus will be pushing into the top-five seeds who automatically take out the FedEx Cup with a Tour Championship victory.

His quest starts at this week's Northern Trust tournament in New Jersey, which Day won during his sensational 2015 season.

Day says he is inspired by the challenge of winning the FedEx Cup, which has eluded Australian players since the series was created in 2007.

"I'm looking forward to the FedEx Cup playoffs," Day told AAP.

"I've worked really hard this season and, while two wins have me in a great position, I need to focus and play some pretty decent golf these next four events."

The playoffs begin with the top-125 FedEx finishers qualifying for the Northern Trust, while retaining their playing privileges for next season.

The fields then reduce for another two events before the top 30 advance to the Tour Championship finale in Atlanta, Georgia in September.

Needing a top-10 result at Wyndham to sneak inside the 125, Aaron Baddeley tied 24th and finished at 132nd on the FedEx standings.

But the four-time US Tour winner has a number of options to battle his way back to the top flight.

Finishing within the 125-150 bracket affords Baddeley conditional status on the US Tour in 2019 and he will likely receive 12-15 starts.

Fellow Australian Matt Jones missed out on that category by a cruel two FedEx points, dropping to 151st.

But Baddeley and Jones will join Cameron Percy (168) and Stuart Appleby (197) in the secondary Web.com finals, where they can play their way back to the main circuit by finishing inside the top 25 on the money-list after those four events.

FEDEX CUP: AUSTRALIAN FINISHES

Jason Day (6)

Marc Leishman (22)

Cameron Smith (53)

Adam Scott (73)

Aaron Baddeley (132; conditional status 2019)

Matt Jones (151)

Cameron Percy (168)

Greg Chalmers (184; medical exemption)

Stuart Appleby (197)

Rod Pampling (203; exempt through 2018/19)

Geoff Ogilvy (207)

John Senden (224; family crisis exemption)

Robert Allenby (250)


Share

3 min read

Published

Source: AAP



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world