Spieth wary of this year’s Rory in $10m battle

Jordan Spieth believes the destiny of the overall FedEx Cup title and $10 million (£7.4 million) bonus could depend on this year’s Rory McIlroy.

Any of the 30 players in the season-ending Tour Championship can theoretically win the massive pay day in Atlanta, but only the top five are assured of doing so by claiming the $1.53 million

(£1.1 million) first prize at East Lake.

McIlroy, who failed to qualify this season, was sixth in the standings 12 months ago and needed to win the Tour Championship and see FedEx Cup leader Dustin Johnson finish worse than outright second.

Johnson finished tied for sixth and could only look on as McIlroy defeated Ryan Moore and Kevin Chappell in a play-off to become FedEx Cup champion, leaving Johnson to settle for “just” $3 million.

“I think there’s a likelihood that I’ll be in that situation this year,” said Open champion Spieth, who leads US PGA winner Justin Thomas by 200 points in the reset standings, with Johnson, Marc Leishman and Rickie Fowler the others in control of their own destiny.

“I don’t know who the Rory will be. It’s tough. It doesn’t happen anywhere else. It’s like having a $7 million bet on a fight that you’re not even taking part in.

“I remember we were actually watching it (last year), we were on the plane with Phil (Mickelson) going to the Ryder Cup already while it was going on and I remember sitting there thinking, ‘Where is DJ right now?’

“Is he going to celebrate if Ryan wins?

“I imagine if somebody else made a putt for me to win a difference of seven million, I’ll probably celebrate accordingly with a scream or a fist pump or something. But it’s an odd scenario so I hope I can go out there and control it myself.

“That’s obviously the goal, but if not, it sounds kind of fun.”

Johnson was watching in the locker room as his fate was decided 12 months ago and admits he has never “rooted so hard” for another player as he did for Moore.

However, the world No 1 insists the staggering amount of money on offer was not at the forefront of his mind.

“For me it’s more about winning the Tour Championship and becoming the FedEx Cup champion than it is about the money.

“It would be up there with anything else I’ve done, for sure. It’s one thing I don’t have. I got my first major so I would like to be a FedEx Cup champion, too.”

England’s Justin Rose and Paul Casey are eighth and 10th in the standings respectively, with Olympic champion Rose twice a runner-up at East Lake and in good form following 10th place finishes in the first two play-off events and second place behind Leishman in the BMW Championship last week.

Jordan Spieth: leads by 200 points.