Harrington facing FedEx Cup KO
Padraig Harrington faces a FedEx Cup KO in St Louis this week.
And that’s just crazy, according to Masters champion Trevor Immelman.
Ranked 44th in the FedEx standings, Harrington could need a top-three finish in the BMW Championship at Bellrive Country Club to make the 30-man Tour Championship finale in three weeks.
With two majors in the bag this season, Harrington could be the biggest victim of the revised FedEx Cup system after disastrously missing the cut in the first two events of the four-tournament series.
Immelman believes the PGA Tour has got its sums wrong when it changed the points distribution system to boost excitement levels.
He said: “I don't think we have the right system now, no. I don't think it's fair that we have a guy who has made over $2 million in prize money not get into the Tour Championship.
“I think at that point you might have a scenario where the sponsor of the Tour Championship says, ‘Hang on a minute, are we sure we have the top 30 guys here at our event?’
“That to me would be wrong. Harrington is going to be the Player of the Year. How can you not have the Player of the Year and two-time major winner not be in the Tour Championship?”
But Harrington has no problem with his situation and reckons he's lucky to still have a chance of progressing.
He said: "I actually think I'd be more inclined if you miss the cut, go home, you're out. I think I'm in a lucky position that I still have a chance at qualifying. I've missed two cuts, I certainly should be out. I have no problem with that.
"This is the playoffs. It's four tournaments. It should be judged on the merits of those four tournaments with a little bit of bias to the start of the year. So I like the volatility."
Masters champion Immelman is far from certain of making it to the Tour Championship himself as he lies 21st in the FedEx Cup points list.
The system was overhauled last year to generate more movement in the list, but with Vijay Singh winning the first two play-off events, it will take something special to deny him the $10 million jackpot.
Harrington is already out of the running for the title and only Sergio Garcia and Mike Weir have a realistic mathematical chance of winning the series.
Singh leads by 12,225 points with just 11,000 on offer for the winner this week and 12,500 for the Tour Championship.
If the big Fijian wins again this week, he will clinch the title. And if he finishes second and anyone else bar Garcia or Weir wins, he will also be untouchable.
Immelman believes the system needs change, explaining: “It might still take a few more years. We just need to make sure we don't lose fan interest in the few years we're trying to sort our system out.”
But Harrington already has his ideas on what could be done.
He explained: "I think there could be more volatility if you ask me in the future. If I was going to change it, obviously I wouldn't give so much to making the cut. I'd give more points to guys doing well, Top Tenning and getting in contention, and I'd give less points to guys making the cut.
"You always want to reward the guys who are putting themselves out there, not the guys who are scraping by in points systems, so I would change that.
"And I would probably make this week more volatile than the first two weeks. You know, because everybody here gets points, this is only half as volatile as the first two weeks.
"If it was my system I would make it even more volatile as it gets further down. And even again in the TOUR Championship make it even more exciting so that guys can move around more.
"If I was putting it on a scale, I might rank weeks one and two the same, maybe week three double it and week four, double it again in terms of how people can move, and then give less for guys at the end and more for guys winning and finishing up there.