Steve Stricker is off to a quick start with his victory
at Kapalua.
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By Chris Dunham, PGATOUR.COM Probably the last player who
needed a FedExCup boost in Maui got just that with his victory at
the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. Steve Stricker, who has won
multiple events each of the last three years came out of the gates
quickly and took the early points lead. He earned 500 points for
his victory. To compare, Stricker didn’t reach the 500-point
milestone until the 2011 Masters -- his seventh start of the
season. Stricker went on to win two events later in the 2011 season
and enter the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup at No. 2 in the
standings. We’ll know in a few short months just how
beneficial this quick start is to the man called "Mr. September."
START TO FINISH: In the FedExCup era, no one who has won the
season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions has gone on to
finish better than 10th in the final FedExCup standings. Stricker
has three top-10 finishes (2nd/2007, 3rd/2009, 7th/2010) in the
five-year history of the FedExCup and will look to buck this trend.
Here’s a list of the recent winners at Kapalua’s
Plantation Course and their final FedExCup standings:
2007: Vijay Singh, 10th
2008: Daniel Chopra, 102nd
2009: Geoff Ogilvy, 13th
2010: Geoff Ogilvy, 14th
2011: Jonathan Byrd, 27th
2012: Steve Stricker, ??
A CHANCE TO BUILD: This week's field features 20 of 27
players who teed it up at Kapalua. That's a second opportunity to
get a FedExCup head start before many of last year's top players
open their 2012 seasons.
ROOKIE DEBUTS: The PGA TOUR’s 2012 rookie class makes
its debut this week at the Sony Open in Hawaii. It
Cauley
took no time for the class of 2011 to make a major impact
last season. Jhonattan Vegas won the year’s third event at
PGA West and backed it with another top-three finish at Torrey
Pines. Bud Cauley and Nationwide Tour money leader J.J. Killeen are
among the rookies in this week’s field.
Click here
to read about five rookies who could have a major impact on
this year’s FedExCup race.
