TOUR Insider: This top-five thing is kind of a big deal

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ATLANTA -- As a member of the PGA TOUR Policy Board, Zach Johnson was well aware of the changes in the FedExCup points system when the restructuring was announced last November. The importance of being in the top five in points heading into THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola may have even crossed his mind at that time.

But it didn't fully register. Once the FedExCup changes were made and the 2009 season cranked up, Johnson's focus each week returned to winning each event he played. As with all golfers on TOUR, winning and contending on a weekly basis takes care of almost everything else -- points, money, rankings, time spent in the media room, endorsement deals being offered, etc.

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"If I start focusing on numbers or focusing on stats or focusing on outcome-oriented statistics, then my game goes astray," Johnson said. "I've got to pretty much be concerned about inside the ropes."

But then a month ago, just as the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup were about to start, it dawned on Johnson -- get into the top five going into East Lake and you control your own destiny.

That's the huge advantage this week for the No. 4 seed Johnson, as well as the other top-five seeds after the reset: Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk and Heath Slocum. They don't have to worry about how anybody else in the 30-man field plays this week. If one of those five wins THE TOUR Championship, then he's guaranteed to win the FedExCup and the $10 million bonus.

"Everyone keeps talking about the top five, the top five, the top five," said Furyk, who hopes to end a two-year victory drought this week. "The nice part is you control your own destiny, but there's a lot of people who have an opportunity to win this golf tournament and then win the FedExCup."

Stricker took the same approach as Johnson. Thanks to his two wins and his consistency this year, Stricker entered the Playoffs second in points behind Woods. But not until the week of the first Playoffs event, The Barclays, did Stricker make staying in that top five an urgent goal.

After his win at the Deutsche Bank Championship, Stricker jumped ahead of Woods to claim the top spot before falling back to second when Tiger won the BMW Championship the next week. Still, it doesn't matter where he's at in the top five -- it just matters that he's one of the five.

"I thought if I could play well and stay in the top five, that would be a huge bonus," Stricker said. "...Entering the Playoffs is really probably when I started thinking about staying in the top five and then really focusing on the points."

In looking at the top five, it's interesting to note the various ways in which they grabbed one of the spots.

Slocum entered the Playoffs as the next-to-last eligible player (No. 124). But he quickly showed the importance of winning a Playoffs event and its 2,500 FedExCup points, quintuple the total of most regular-season events. His win at The Barclays gave hope to all underdogs that just because you start the Playoffs near the bottom, you still can put yourself in a position to win the FedExCup.

Woods and Stricker were the top two seeds entering the Playoffs and obviously continued their outstanding seasons by splitting the next two Playoffs events. The key here is that not only did they assure their spots in the top five, but by winning at TPC Boston (Stricker) and Cog Hill (Woods), they shut out anybody else from pulling another Slocum-like leap up the points standings.

Furyk, meanwhile, showed that a player, even if he doesn't win one of the Playoffs events, can move into the top five simply by being consistent in the Playoffs. He tied for 15th at Liberty National, tied for eighth at TPC Boston and tied for second at Cog Hill. Those three finishes gave him 1,920 FedExCup points, roughly 62 percent of his entire season total (before the reset).

Johnson, on the other hand, showed that success in the regular season is also rewarded. He won twice this year, and finished in the top 10 five other times. That allowed him to remain in the top five in points despite having only one top-10 finish in these Playoffs -- a fifth at the BMW Championship.

One of the by-products of being in the top five is that it provides a clear focus for players and fans who are trying to understand the FedExCup points system. If nothing else, they know a win at East Lake by anybody in the top five means the FedExCup title.

"I think a lot of people in the middle of the season still were confused, had no idea what was going on," Furyk said, "and somewhere around the second and third playoff event, TV must have just beat it into someone about the top five, because the people I've talked to in the last week seem to be getting it a lot better and comprehending what's going on.

"They might not be able to tell you about the points and this or that, but everyone I talked to last week, whether it was friends or acquaintances or what have you, they knew I was in the top five and ... if I won THE TOUR Championship, i won the whole thing. They didn't know that a month ago."

Control their own destinies is the biggest common thread among the top five. Another thing they have in common? None have won a major this year.

One of those who did is Stewart Cink, who beat Tom Watson in a playoff at Turnberry in July. Outside of the Open Championship, the majority of Cink's season was below his usual standards. That's why he has no complaints about a system that has him ranked 26th entering this week, with a very limited chance -- but still a chance, mind you -- of winning the FedExCup.

"It rewards you for playing well in the regular season and even more for playing well in the Playoffs," said Cink, like Johnson also a member of the Policy Board. "Every tournament is meaningful. I think it's good. I think the skeleton that we have right now of the major part of the system will stay in place.

"There probably will be some changes, but I think this year is closer to what the intent was when we first started out with the FedExCup."

Of the other 25 players in the field, sixth-seed Padraig Harrington has the best chance of winning the FedExCup. Should he win THE TOUR Championship, Harrington would win the FedExCup provided that Woods doesn't finish solo second.

For Harrington, who struggled during the regular season but is the only player to finish in the top 10 in the first three Playoffs events, that's fine by him.

"I'm in as good as position as I can be," Harrington said. "I played good golf in the three weeks. ... I don't feel like I left anything behind. Six is as good as I could have done, and I'll be happy to see if I can get that win this week, see what happens from there."

And if he's leading down the stretch Sunday afternoon, Harrington said he would certainly look at the leaderboard to see where Woods is positioned. "Obviously, it affects whether I win the FedExCup," he said.

Of course, if Woods wins, he doesn't have to worry about where anybody else finishes. Even so ...

"If I'm on top of the leaderboard," Tiger said with a devilish smile, "I look at the next four guys."

Just to know, of course, who was left in his wake.