Staying close could pay off
Cup runner-ups put Spieth in prime position for title.
college district, which owns the 13-acre site, will now begin negotiations.
Rangers: First baseman Mike Napoli (.194, 29 HRs, 66 RBIs) has a stress reac- tion in the lower right leg, but is available off the bench.
Royals: Kansas City hits the road tonight to begin a 12-day, 11-game, four-city, two-country trip. It consists of four games in Cleveland, three in Toronto, three in Chicago and one in New York, which is a makeup from a May 25 rainout.
Yankees: A pro-Yankees crowd of 13,159 Wednesday raised the total for the Yankees-Rays series — moved from Florida to the Mets’ Citi Field because of Hurricane Irma — to 49,510. Tick- ets were $25 each day.
Notew o r t hy: Shoh ei Otani, 23, is likely to leave Japan and sign with an MLB team after this season, Japanese media reported, a move that would cost him more than $100 million. The reigning Pacific League MVP is prized as both a pitcher and hitter. But under restric
in MLB’s new collective bargaining agreement, his signing bonus would be limited to about $3 million to $4 million, a fraction of
$155 million, seven-year deal that pitcher Masahiro Tanaka received from the Yankees before the 2014 season. Otani would have to wait until after the 2019 season to receive a comparable deal in MLB.
Jordan Spieth already has won 14 times around the world, which already places him in rare company. Over the past 75 years, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods are the only other players to have at least 10 victories and three majors before turning 25.
That’s only part of the Spieth profile.
Nearly as impressive are the 15 times he has finished runner-up, which Spieth sees more as opportunity than any measure of failure.
“I know you’re indifferent when you’re asking the question, but I think of it positively,” he said Wednesday. “There’s been that many tournaments that I’ve been in the thick of things and truly had a chance to win.”
That includes the past two FedEx Cup playoff events.
Spieth lost in a playoff on Long Island when Dustin Johnson smashed a 343-yard drive and a hit a wedge to 4 feet for birdie. Then, he was tied for the lead at the TPC Boston with five holes to play until Spieth missed two greens with long irons and Justin Thomas didn’t miss hardly anything in a three-shot victory.
There are worse times of the year to settle for second.
Those consecutive runner-up finishes elevated Spieth to No. 1 in theFedEx Cup going into the BMW Championship, and that’s not a bad place to be. He is assured of being among the top five seeds who only have to win the Tour Championship next week to capture the $10 million bonus.
“If I finish runner-up this week, unless one of two other people win,I will have accomplished the goal of being No. 1 going into East Lake,” he said.
Johnson and Thomas are the players to whom he referred, and that’s only part of the battle at Conway Farms.
The primary goal of the 70-man field is to finish in the top 30 and get to East Lake for the Tour Championship, where everyone has a mathematical shot at capturing the FedEx Cup and its lucrative prize. The top five seeds have the best odds, though Bill Haas at No. 25 won it in 2011.
Haas is on the bubble this year at No. 30, a few spots behind Jason Day, who said Wednesday he will use friends to caddie the rest of the year instead of Colin Swatton, his longtime coach and the only caddie he has ever had on tour.
Right behind Haas are a pair of rookies, Mackenzie Hughes and Xander Schauffele, both PGA Tour winners this year, both want
a lot more. Johnson is finally back full health from his back
on the eve of the Masters, having rallied to beat Spieth at The Northern Trust starting the final round of Dell Technologies Championship three shots behind until he never recovered from a slow start.
Thomas has won twice in his last three starts, the other at the PGA Championship for his first major. Thomas already has five victories this year and would be a shoo-in for PGA Tour player of the year provided Spieth doesn’t win the last two tournaments to claim
FedEx Cup. “I want to win because I like to,” Thomas said.