The North American Tour playoffs kick off this Thursday in St. Jude and will have the two nationals as the main cast. That yes, much of the attention is on golfers who have signed for the Saudi super league, who have even taken legal action to attend events.
As usual, the PGA golf year ends with the long-awaited playoffs, a series of three events where the season’s best 125 players start and only 30 finish. In this first group are Mito Pereira and Joaquín Niemann, who This Thursday they will play on the court of St Jude, the first tournament of these playoffs.
A competition that will also be in the eye of the hurricane and which makes the ghost of LIV Golf continue to turn (inevitably) on the PGA universe. After the confirmation of a lawsuit brought by 10 players (Carlos Ortiz eventually withdrew) from the Saudi league against the American circuit for “violation of antitrust regulations”, we now learn that three of these players had recourse to a California court to be able to play in these playoffs after the Tour classified them as ineligible players, despite having the points needed to enter the top 125 of the year.
It is Talor Gooch , matt jones Yes Hudson Swafford , who appeared before a judge saying that missing the event would cause irreparable economic harm. Something that the magistrate did not accept, canceling the request of the rebels, who ultimately will not be in Memphis. It should be remembered that the other LIV players did not get the points to participate in the event or gave up their PGA card, so they are no longer part of the PGA events.
What are the playoffs?
The PGA Playoffs are a series of three contests, each looking to find the winner of the FedEx Cup, the Tour’s final tournament and the $18 million tournament. The grace of these is that the tournaments are eliminatory, since 125 golfers start in the first and only 30 arrive in the last .
For example, after the Memphis event, the BMW Championship will be held where the group will be reduced to 70 players, always influenced by the ranking of golfers who will reach the event. Which does Niemann (20th in the FedEx ranking) and Mito (38th) have already qualified for this second tournament.
The situation for the third tournament will already be different, because neither of the two Chileans is assured of his presence. To enter the TOUR championship, Joaquín must make the cut, while the Pirque native must add good performances in the first two tournaments in order to move up the FedEx rankings.
A ranking at the last event of the year is a prize coveted by any PGA golfer, because being among the 30 participants in the TOUR Championship guarantees huge prizes, not only monetary, but mainly on a sporting level. Securing your presence at the Atlanta tournament earns you invites to all four majors in 2023 and most events on the circuit.
Chileans start as protagonists
Joaco and Mito enter the playoffs as symbols of South American golf, being the two best placed among the group of five Latinos who have managed to reach this stage. Sebastián Muñoz (Colombia), Emiliano Grillo (Argentina) and Jhonattan Vegas (Venezuela), are the names that complete the entourage.
And Niemann is the leader of the group. If we analyze the season of the Chilean, winner of the Genesis Invitational, consistency has been his great weapon during this 21/22 season. He started at No. 79 on the roster and in February he reached No. 7 in the playoff qualifying standings. From there, he has only moved around the top 20, managing to hold that position for the past three months.
Mito, on the other hand, started at No. 3 in the FedEx rankings, but fell to No. 45 in April. From there he climbed back up after his fantastic PGA Championship to eventually find himself in 38th place on the list. Of the 28 rookies (players living their first season on the Tour) who qualified for the playoffs, the national golfer is the fourth with the best ranking . That is why the expectations are total.
Mito will start this Thursday at 1:44 p.m. in Chile, accompanied by Keith Mitchell and Sahith Theegala, while Niemann will play his first hole in St Jude at 8:48 a.m. (national time). Next to him will be Viktor Hovland and JT Poston.
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Source: Latercera
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
