By Doug Ferguson, AP Golf Writer
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Getting to the Tour Championship isn’t all that’s at stake this week in the second FedEx Cup playoff event. The BMW Championship also is the final event to earn one of six spots on the U.S. team and eight spots on the International team for the Presidents Cup next month.
Tony Finau has made the biggest moves of late, going from No. 11 to the sixth and final qualifying spot with his consecutive victories in Minnesota and Detroit.
The leading five Americans are Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Sam Burns, Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas. Right behind Finau are Will Zalatoris and Jordan Spieth, the only ones capable of moving into one of the six qualifying spots.
The list is based on FedEx Cup points, which count triple in the postseason.
Davis Love III will have six captain’s picks.
The International team has a confusing formula that makes it difficult for any fan to follow, but suffice it to say British Open champion and Players Championship winner Cameron Smith has double the lead on anyone else. The only question is whether Smith, as has been reported in The Daily Telegraph, will join LIV Golf after the playoffs and lose Presidents Cup eligibility.
The most significant development was Adam Scott, who tied for fifth last week in the playoff opener, getting him to Wilmington. Scott was likely to be picked even if he didn’t hold the final qualifying spot. Now it frees up International captain Trevor Immelman to use a pick on someone else if it had come to that.
“I don’t really want to lean on a pick from Trevor because I think I should play good enough to get on the team and hopefully that leaves him some room to make smart picks and never have to justify picking me,” Scott said.
Scott made his Presidents Cup debut in 2003 in South Africa, the matches that ended in a tie. He has been on every team since then, all losses. Mostly recently at Royal Melbourne in 2019, the Americans had to rally to win. Even though it was three years ago — the upcoming matches were postponed one year by COVID-19 — Scott says the team can still use a close loss as momentum.
“Trevor’s a good mate of mine and he’s put his heart and soul into this thing, so I think he’s done a really good job of keeping enthusiasm very high and making sure those guys remember how close we were to an incredibly special week in Melbourne,” he said.
