Pressure on Axley as playoff spot looms  GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Eric Axley figured he knew what the reporters wanted to talk about when they cornered him after he left the scorer's trailer on Friday. "Is this about the FedExCup?" he asked.  Eric Axley needs a strong weekend to make it into the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.
Axley had just finished off a round of 70 at Forest Oaks Country Club that left him at 6 under. He was six strokes behind the leader and in a tie for 48th at the midway point of the Wyndham Championship. Another number loomed large, though. Axley went into the final tournament of the regular season at No. 145 in the FedexCup standings, one spot shy of making the inaugural PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. "I played OK," Axley said. "I didn't play great. I missed some scoring opportunities out there. I had few three-putts. The greens are awful slow this week so it's kind of hard, not only for me, but the other players to get accustomed to it also. "But I'm in good position going into the weekend. If I play a couple of good days then I should improve." Axley controls his own destiny as far as the FedExCup is concerned. Three of the players ranked above him -- Lee Janzen at No. 142, Glen Day at No. 143 and Marco Dawson at No. 144 -- all missed the cut at Forest Oaks. So if Axley can move up the leaderboard over the weekend, he could play his way among the 144 players who will compete in The Barclays, which kicks off the Playoffs next week. His task is complicated, though, by the fact that 32 other players ranked outside the top 144 also made the cut in Greensboro. Among those players are Jeff Overton and John Huston, who are tied for the lead at 12 under with Steve Marino. Overton ranked No. 165 in the FedExCup entering the week while Huston was No. 217. Greg Kraft and Anders Hansen, tied at 11 under, stand 197th and 151st, respectively. Steve Wheatcroft, who is 202nd in the FedexCup, is tied at 10 under while No. 161 Shigeki Maruyama and No. 209 Todd Hamilton are among those another stroke back. So Axley must play well to get a big enough share of the 25,000 FedExCup points that will be dispensed Sunday night. A total of 4,500 go to the winner. Axley is 112 points behind Dawson, but there are 32 other players with designs on the Playoffs, too. According to models, Axley will need a finish of 28th or better to get into the 144-man field. In other words, he must gain 16 spots on the field. Axley knows the best thing he can do right now is not put pressure on himself. "I'd had a lot of questions about it this week so that's the only time I've really thought about it," he said. Come Sunday afternoon, though, that may change. |
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