Tiger Woods had us all enthralled watching the Zozo Championship, the newest event on the PGA Tour’s schedule. Woods won for the 82nd time, tying the all-time mark, and keeping us glued to the TV on Sunday night.
But generally speaking, it can be tough to get excited about Tour events in the fall because the fields typically feature only a couple of well-known players and, let’s face it, events like the Safeway Open and the Sanderson Farms Championship don’t create the same buzz as the Masters or Memorial.
However, if recent history is a guide, the player who celebrates on New Year’s Eve atop the FedEx Cup point list will have extra reason to party.
As the table below reveals, since the PGA Tour went to the wraparound schedule, every golfer who has led in FedEx Cup points heading into the Tour’s holiday break has qualified for the season-ending Tour Championship and earned at least $3 million for the year.
So while viewership may be down in the fall, there is a good reason for pros to get off to a hot start this season.
Winners so far in the 2019-20 season are Joaquín Niemann, Sebastián Muñoz, Cameron Champ, Kevin Na, Lanto Griffin, Justin Thomas, and, oh yea, Tiger.
Leading into the WGC-HSBC Champions, it’s Griffin with the FedEx Cup points lead.
