Why did Akshay Bhatia's Barracuda victory couldn't guarantee a spot in the FedEx Cup playoff? Unveiling the qualification rules
The brand new winner of the Barracuda Championship, Akshay Bhatia, has not secured a spot in the final play-off of the FedEx Cup. In fact, he is 22 spots away from entering the select group of players.
His victory at the Barracuda Championship only gave him 300 points toward the FedEx Cup standings. Winning almost any other tournament would have placed him in qualifying positions, but not this one.
The reason is simple, although the rule that explains it is complex. For this reason, we explain it step by step:
#1: Bhatia's status on the PGA Tour
Bhatia was not an official member of the PGA Tour until he won the Barracuda Championship. Until then, he was playing as a Special Temporary Member since he finished runner-up at the Puerto Rico Open in March.
#2: Bhatia's best finishes vs. FedEx Cup points
Bhatia's best finishes between March and July were fourth place at the Mexico Open at Vidanta and T9 at the Barbasol Championship, in addition to the aforementioned second place at the Puerto Rico Open.
All are tournaments that do not give points for the FedEx Cup ranking to players with PGA Tour Temporary Members status.
#3: Co-sanctioned tournaments
This is because the Puerto Rico Open, the Mexico Open at Vidanta and Barbasol Champions are co-sanctioned tournaments by the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.
This means that the European circuit covers 50 places in the field of these events. For this reason, the PGA Tour states that "not enough" US Tour players participate in these events for players who are not official members to receive FedEx points.
#4: Bhatia's chances
Akshay Bhatia will not be present at the 3M Open, so he has only one tournament left before the FedEx Cup playoff, the Wyndham Championship. It is a tournament that gives 500 points to the winner.
Bhatia will be able to receive points even if he does not win. Given that he is currently ranked 92nd in the FedEx Cup standings, 132 points behind the Top 70, it is estimated that he will have to finish at least fourth at the Wyndham to have a chance.
FedEx Cup: General Qualifying Rules
FedEx Cup qualification extends throughout the PGA Tour season. Players receive points based on their respective performances in all tournaments in which they participate.
Victory in most of the official tournaments awards 500 points to the winner, and lesser amounts to the rest of the players on the leaderboard, depending on the position occupied. The exceptions are the following:
- THE PLAYERS Championship, Masters Tournament, PGA Championship, US Open, and The Open Championship awards 600 points to first place.
- World Golf Championships events and the Sentry Tournament of Champions, The Genesis Invitational, the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, and the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday award 550 points to first place.
- The Zurich Classic of New Orleans, a two-man team event, awards 400 points to each player on the first-place team.
This includes the aforementioned tournaments that awards 300 points.
At the end of the season, the 70 players with the most points qualify for the play-off, called the FedEx St. Jude Championship. This is a tournament of three different events, with a purse of 75 million dollars, of which 18 million dollars go to the champion.