More than just $10M at stake in FedEx Cup

NEW YORK — The FedEx Cup isn’t the only trophy at stake over the next five weeks.

One trophy is known for its $10 million prize, with $9 million in cash. The other is about respect and honor from the other players.

The PGA Tour launched its lucrative FedEx Cup in 2007 with hopes it would give the season some definition and keep golf interesting after the majors are over. Another purpose it occasionally serves is to allow the best players to lobby for the Jack Nicklaus Award as the player of the year.

This campaign is more about results than rhetoric.

Going into the FedEx Cup playoffs that start Thursday with The Northern Trust, it’s a two-man race. That could change.

Justin Thomas is regarded as the front-runner, and the size of his lead depends on the scope of one’s memory. His two-shot victory in the PGA Championship featured a rally that began with a 35foot birdie putt, a twist of fortune when his ball hung on the edge of the cup for the longest time before dropping and a 7-iron over the water to a peninsula green that will be the signature moment of his young career.

But that doesn’t compare with what happened a month ago.

Jordan Spieth was on the verge of losing another big lead in a major when he had the savvy to ask the most important question of the year: “Is the driving range out of bounds?”

The answer was no, and Spieth began his rally at the British Open with a blind shot over the dunes, a delicate pitch, a clutch putt and a bogey. What followed was a stretch of golf that even Nicklaus applauded — birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie — for a three-shot victory at Royal Birkdale and the third leg of the career Grand Slam.

The Jack Nicklaus Award is determined by votes from the players, and majors typically go a long way when they submit their choices. Sergio Garcia had one of the most popular victories this year at the Masters, though that remains his only PGA Tour victory. Ditto for U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka, even though his name was never too far from the top of the leaderboard at all four majors.