Postseason means seeding irrelevant

NORTON, Mass. — No longer No. 1 in the world, Justin Thomas at least is No. 1 in the Fedex Cup standings.

Neither is relevant as the PGA Tour goes into its lucrative postseason, and Thomas need only to review history — whether it’s last year or the last decade — to appreciate that.

Nothing illustrates the depth and parity in golf more than the fact that Thomas is the eighth player in the last eight years to start the Fedex Cup playoffs as the No. 1 seed.

Thomas was the top seed a year ago and was spotted a twoshot lead. Even though it was his worst scoring performance of the postseason, he wasn’t seriously out of contention until the final day. Rory Mcilroy wound up winning the $15 million prize.

Thomas said it felt weird to be leading before he started. He’d still rather be in that spot than having to make up ground, and that means playing well over the next two weeks in The Northern Trust outside Boston and the BMW Championship outside Chicago.

“I felt like if I put myself in that position again, I’ll handle it a lot better,” Thomas said Tuesday.

Then again, nothing about this year feels similar.

Points are worth triple, not quadruple, because the PGA Tour lost 13 events to the COVID-19 pandemic. That means less volatility; 19 players have a mathematical chance to take over as the No. 1 seed at The Northern Trust, compared with 72 players had this event been worth four times as many points.

And then there’s the tricky part of getting the game to peak at just the right time.

Players typically would love for that to happen four times a year in the majors — three times this year with the British Open being canceled — and it has worked for the likes of Billy Horschel in 2014. He remains the only Fedex Cup champion to start the postseason outside the top 50.

“You’re trying to get ready for one week in a major,” Thomas said. “Whereas here, I’m not trying to peak this week. I’m trying to kind of start the upward climb to, hopefully, be peaking come … Saturday, Sunday, Monday in Atlanta.”

It all leads to Atlanta, and it’s ultimately about cash.