Jon Rahm will play in the FedEX Cup Playoffs in his first year as a professional. His outstanding results throughout the season, including the win at the Farmers Insurance Open, second place in the WGC Match Play and third place in the WGC Mexico Championship, not only guaranteed his presence in the first Playoff, the Northern Trust Open held this Thursday in New York, but also secured his spot to play in all four, including the Tour Championship, the grand finale at East Lake. There aren’t many rookies in the history of the PGA Tour who can boast such an outstanding career trajectory.
This Thursday marks the beginning of the Playoffs with the Northern Trust Open at the Glen Oaks Club in Long Island, New York. That’s where Jon Rahm will be, fighting for his goal to pull off a fantastic performance which will allow him to maintain his spot, or to move up from his current sixth place position in the FedEX Cup. Evidently, the main objective in the first three tournaments of the Playoffs is to reach the top five of the FedEX, as those are the only golfers who solely depend on themselves in the grand finale in Atlanta to win the FedEX Cup.
The FedEX Playoffs are a series of four tournaments which will ultimately determine the reigning champion of the season. The accumulated points throughout the first three Playoffs will be added to the total amount of points from the regular year, and after that, the points will be reset before the Final in accordance with FedEX rankings. The thirty who make it to the grand finale have an actual possibility to win the FedEX, although evidently the probability goes up, the higher the ranking.
The Glen Oaks Club in New York will make its debut in the PGA Tour. Since 2011, there have been extraordinary renovations on the course, precisely to prepare for tournament organizations at the highest level. The remodeling has been a complete success and many are comparing it to the Augusta National: wide fairways, trees protecting the fairways, lots of unlevel ground, difficult greens and completely white sand bunkers. The fact that it’s the first time it will be played there is an advantage for Rahm, because at least he won’t be playing on a course where other golfers have experience from the previous years.
Rahm will play this Thursday starting at 1:06 pm, local New York time, six hours later in Spain. He’ll be playing in an all star game with Dustin Johnson, Number 1 in the world, and Rickie Fowler.