Henrik Stenson did it in 2013, Rory McIlroy is putting himself in great position to do it in 2014.
“It” is winning both the FedExCup and the Race to Dubai, something one can only do by having a huge regular season split between two tours, as in racking up enough FedEx Cup points to be position to excel in the post-season tournaments, and cashing in enough money on the European Tour to make the final tournament in Dubai.
With his win at the WGC-Bridgestone on Sunday, McIlroy jumped from 12th to third in the FedExCup Standings with 1,981 points despite having played in just 12 events on the PGA Tour this year.
By comparison, FedEx leader Jimmy Walker has 2,407 points from 22 events. Masters champion Bubba Watson is second with 2,167 points in 16 events.
Also entering the top 10 this week is Bridgestone runner-up Sergio Garcia, who jumped from 16th to 8th. Garcia has also played only 12 events, but has 1,666 points. He and McIlroy each have eight top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour this year.
Only Matt Kuchar, who has played in 20 events, has more top 10 finishes (10).
The jumps up by Garcia and McIlroy knocked Brendon Todd and Martin Kaymer out of the Top 10.
The top 125 players in the rankings make the first cut and participate in the Barclays Tournament. From there, points are added based on finish, the field reseeded and the Top 64 advance to the next tournament.
With his 62 on the final day, Phil Mickelson managed to finish in the top 15 at Bridgestone and moved up five spots to No. 84 in the FedEx rankings.
Tiger Woods, who withdrew from the tournament with a bad back after an awkward fall, dropped two spots to No. 217.
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