FedEx Cup: Who's who in the zoo

Last updated: 22nd September 2009

Tiger Woods, as expected, leads the 30 elite golfers who have qualified to fight it out for the pot of golfing gold riding on this week's Tour Championship, but this only because of his victory at the BMW Championship a week ago.

Before that he had been sitting in second position behind fellow American Steve Stricker who seems to have the knack of coming up with the goods when the season reaches the Tour Championship.

Stricker has been right up there before, fighting it out for the Tour Championship, notably in 1996 when he finished third, and he is right up there again, this time in line, both for the Championship title and the more than a million dollars that goes with it and for the massive $10 million pension package that goes to the overall winner of the FedEx Cup.

Tiger, who has always tended to get better when the prize money got bigger, has had two wins and three seconds in 11 starts at the Tour Champion, the last of which won him the first FedEex Cup battle in 2007, and this effectively means he is not only the best positioned player in the field to win it again, he is also the man with the best record.

But with the new FedExCup points structure, it has not been possible for him to lock up the title in the way Vijay Singh did in the World No 1's injury-enforced absence last year.

The Fijian star was so far ahead in the FedEx Cup standings heading into the Tour Championship, he only needed to finish - even stone last - to scoop up the 10 million dollar bonanza.

It is a different story this year.

Any of the 30 players in the elite field teeing off at storied East Lake Golf Course in Atlanta on Thursday can win the Tour Championship, and each of the top five have it in their hands to scoop up the entire pile of money if they win the Tour title.

In short, if any one of Stricker, Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson or Heath Slocum triumph at East Lake, they are certain of edging out Tiger in the FedEx Cup race regardless of how he finishes.

After that much will depend on the various finishing combinations.

The FedExCup points table was reset after the BMW Championship in order to give each of the 30 players who advance to The Tour Championship a mathmatical chance of winning the FedExCup title if the current front runners run into trouble.

The seedings have not changed so that Tiger, who had accrued most FedExCup points after the BMW Championship, remains in the number one spot with 2,500 points as against second placed Stricker's 2,250 and the 30th placed John Senden's 210 points.

The new table of points awarded at the Tour Championship (2,500 for first down to 205 points for last place) means that technically anyone, even Senden, can win the event, although for this to happen the Australian would have to win the Tour Championship and add the 2,500 points that are up for grabs to the 210 points he teed off with, while Tiger improbably would either have to drop out ill or injured, be disqualified or finish last in which case he would collect 205 points to add to his 2,500.

But to give you a better idea of how the new tables work, here are the top 30 qualifiers with their reset points and below that the new table of points that will be awarded to the top 30 finishers at this week's Tour Championship.

From these you can calculate who can beat who - and how.

THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD(with their reset points)

1 Tiger Woods 2500
2 Steve Stricker 2250
3 Jim Furyk 2000
4 Zach Johnson 1800
5 Heath Slocum 1600
6 Padraig Harrington 1400
7 Sean O'Hair 1200
8 Scott Verplank 1000
9 Kenny Perry 800
10 Jason Dufner 600
11 Dustin Johnson 480
12 Nick Watney 460
13 Geoff Ogilvy 440
14 Phil Mickelson 420
15 Retief Goosen 400
16 Marc Leishman 380
17 Brian Gay 360
18 Kevin Na 340
19 David Toms 320
20 Lucas Glover 310
21 Y.E. Yang 300
22 Ernie Els 290
23 Hunter Mahan 280
24 Angel Cabrera 270
25 Steve Marino 260
26 Stewart Cink 250
27 Mike Weir 240
28 Luke Donald 230
29 Jerry Kelly 220
30
John Senden 210

TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP - POINTS DISTRIBUTION
(See under position and points earned)

1st - 2500 points
2nd - 1500 points
3rd - 1000 points
4th - 750 points
5th - 550 points
6th - 500 points
7th - 450 points
8th - 425 points
9th - 400 points
10th - 375 points
11th - 350 points
12th - 325 points
13th - 300 points
14th - 285 points
15th - 280 points
16th - 275 points
17th - 270 points
18th - 265 points
19th - 260 points
20th - 255 points
21st - 250 points
22nd - 245 points
23rd - 240 points
24th - 235 points
25th - 230 points
26th - 225 points
27th - 220 points
28th - 215 points
29th - 210 points
30th - 205 points

ELIMINATED PLAYERS
Here are the 40 players who finished outside the top 30 in FedExCup points after the BMW Championship and were eliminated:.

Ian Poulter
Mark Wilson
Brandt Snedeker
Rory Sabbatini
Anthony Kim
Tim Clark
Charley Hoffman
Sergio Garcia
Justin Leonard
. Bill Haas
Camilo Villegas
Robert Allenby
Kevin Sutherland
John Rollins
Pat Perez
Ryan Moore
Jason Day
Charles Howell III
Bo Van Pelt
Davis Love III
Paul Casey
Bubba Watson
Paul Goydos
Stephen Ames
Charlie Wi
Fredrik Jacobson
Brian Davis
Chad Campbell
John Mallinger
Ben Crane
Webb Simpson
Nathan Green
Bryce Molder
Woody Austin
Jonathan Byrd
Jeff Overton
Jason Bohn
J.B. Holmes
Bob Estes WD

FOOTNOTE: Senden can count himself lucky not to be among them - but he had to sweat it out by the scorers table to the bitter the end.

Brandt Snedeker only needed bogey at the 72nd hole to secure the 30th spot, but he missed a 3-foot, 4-inch putt and eventually ended with a triple bogey, sending Senden off to East Lake for the first time in his eight-year career.