FedExCup Final 30 preview: No. 22 Ernie Els

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Sep. 17, 2009

The top 30 players in FedExCup points have advanced to THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola and now have a chance to win the FedExCup. Here's a detailed look at each player and how he made it to East Lake:
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Season in review

ERNIE ELS: 22nd in FedExCup points (290 after reset)
Els was 47th in FedExCup points when the PGA TOUR Playoffs began, but a tie for second at The Barclays gave him the necessary points and momentum to become one of seven players who moved from outside to inside the top 30 that qualify for THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. Els, a 16-time PGA TOUR winner looking for his first TOUR victory of the season, was 4-over through four holes at The Barclays before turning it around to post a tie for second for his best finish of the season and his sixth top-10 in 2009. One of his other top-10s of 2009 came the week prior, when he was tied for sixth at the PGA Championship. Els will compete in The Presidents Cup for the International Team for a sixth time later this year. Els has finished in the final FedExCup standings in the top 20 for the past two years: 19th in 2007 and 13th in 2008. He tied for sixth at THE TOUR Championship last year, his sixth top-10 finish at the event in 13 career starts. Els is one of six players (Steve Stricker, Phil Mickelson, Stewart Cink, Jim Furyk and Hunter Mahan) who have made it to THE TOUR Championship in all three seasons of the FedExCup.

Quick analysis

The Big Easy came into the Playoffs with enthusiasm after contending at the PGA Championship and the British Open. That tie for second at The Barclays only added fuel to the fire. Els missed the cut at the Deutsche Bank Championship, though, and was hit-or-miss at Cog Hill last week. Still, he's done well at previous TOUR Championships with six top-10s, including a tie for second in 2001, so a win certainly wouldn't be out of the question. -- Helen Ross

How Els got here

Breaking down the FedExCup points won and rank after each start in 2009

Rank	Change in rank	Tournament	Finish	Points earned	Points for year	Points behind
22	-2	BMW Championship	T38	150	1,833	5,363
20	-9	Deutsche Bank Championship	CUT	0	1,683	3,922
11	34	The Barclays	T2	950	1,683	2,698
45	12	PGA Championship	T6	98	733	2,698
57	-6	World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational	T29	39	635	2,466
51	-1	British Open Championship	T8	82.6	596	1,463
50	-5	U.S. Open Championship	CUT	0	513	1,103
45	2	the Memorial Tournament	T8	82.5	513	1,096
47	-11	THE PLAYERS Championship	T45	24.5	431	1,000
36	-1	Verizon Heritage	T48	19.5	406	944
35	-7	Masters Tournament	CUT	0	387	963
28	-3	Shell Houston Open	T14	55	387	903
25	7	World Golf Championships-CA Championship	T20	48	332	872
32	0	The Honda Classic	T22	47	284	892
32	22	World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship	T5	101	237	939
54	-42	Northern Trust Open	T51	17.5	136	580
12	-6	Sony Open in Hawaii	T39	29.5	118	471
6	0	Mercedes-Benz Championship	T6	88.75	89	411

Previous Playoffs results

Year	Barclays	Deutsche Bank	BMW Champ.	Tour Champ.	Final FEC Position
2008	CUT	T3	T17	T6	13th
2007	T4	DNP	T18	T26	19th

Previous results at THE TOUR Championship

Year	Finish	Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Total	To par	Money won
2008	T6	68	73	70	69	280	Even	238,000
2007	T26	69	69	73	69	280	Even	116,900
2006	T10	71	72	66	72	281	1	182,800
2004	T10	72	71	68	67	278	-2	158,200
2003	17	70	69	73	69	281	-3	120,000
2002	T13	73	69	70	67	279	-1	111,200
2001	T2	69	68	65	68	270	-14	385,000
2000	T3	64	72	68	69	273	-7	261,666
1999	T26	68	71	75	71	285	1	83,000
1997	T26	71	71	72	75	289	5	66,400
1996	T6	76	70	65	68	279	-1	102,000
1995	T16	71	74	75	73	293	13	60,900
1994	T17	68	67	72	76	283	-1	60,000