Thursday 4 September 2014 18:02, UK
Rory McIlroy is looking to add the FedEx Cup to his long list of achievements, after coming so close to bagging the $10m bonus prize two years ago.
McIlroy goes into the penultimate play-off event this week, the BMW Championship, in second place in the overall standings after entering the play-offs in top spot following a magnificent summer that saw him win back-to-back majors at the Open and US PGA Championship.
The FedEx Cup system though is all geared towards the play-off events, to ensure that the chase for that $10m bonus prize goes right down to the wire.
McIlroy won the BMW Championship back in 2012 when again the play-off system meant that despite winning two of the four play-off events he failed to take home the FedEx Cup crown.
The top 70 take the field at Cherry Hills in Colorado this week, with only the top 30 making it through to the Tour Championship in Atlanta – when the FedEx Cup points list is reset to ensure any player in the field can theoretically win it.
It means that not even a win at Cherry Hills will guarantee the FedEx Cup bonus, but anyone in the top five heading to Atlanta has their destiny in their own hands with a win for them good enough to claims the big prize.
After such an outstanding summer, world No 1 McIlroy is this year determined to pocket the FedEx Cup bonus to cap it all off, after missing out two years ago.
“It’s been such a great year on the golf course that if I wasn’t to go ahead and win the FedEx Cup it would definitely be disappointing,” said McIlroy.
“I really want to cap off this summer as best as I can and I’ve got two more weeks to push through, even though I am feeling a little tired I’m trying to conserve as much energy as possible.
“Not winning a couple of years ago did add a little bit of fuel to the fire and it probably does make me a little bit more determined.”
Hunter Mahan took the lead in the race after winning The Barclays but Chris Kirk replaced him at the top of the standings after winning last week’s Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston
Kirk will have mixed emotions going into the BMW Championship, leading the FedEx standings after the biggest win of his career but with also a hint of disappointment after Tom Watson opted not to pick him for the Ryder Cup - although he insists he is still flying high.
“He was pretty straight to the point he just said congratulations on great play but we’re going to go in another direction," Kirk said of his conversation with Watson. "He just started to explain his reasoning and I wasn’t rude at all or anything but if you’re not the one getting picked the reasoning doesn’t really matter a whole lot.
“I just told him ‘hey, don’t worry about it, you got to do what you got to do, I just won the biggest tournament in my career, it’s going to take a lot more than this to put me in a bad mood’.”
Catch all of the action from the BMW Championship live on Sky Sports 4 HD - starting from Thursday at 9pm.
