PGA 투어 시즌은 수천 개의 스윙, 수백 개의 라운드, 그리고 수십 개의 토너먼트로 이루어져 있다. 이 모든 것은 최고의 선수들을 나머지들로부터 체계적으로 분리하기 위해 설계됐다. BMW Championship에서는 50명의 필드 중 거의 절반이 불안감을 느껴야 한다. 상위 30인만 TOUR Championship으로 진출할 수 있기 때문이다.
01경험 많은 선수들의 절박한 결투: 우드랜드 vs 스콧
Gary Woodland는 2019년 이후 East Lake(TOUR Championship 개최지)에 가본 적이 없다. 그해 U.S. Open을 우승했던 그는 현재 랭킹 31위로 간신히 상위 30인 밖에 있다. 42세의 나이, 그는 이 시즌이 마지막 기회일 수 있다. 게다가 그는 2년 전 제거한 뇌종양의 후유증과도 계속 싸워야 한다.
Adam Scott는 조금 나은 위치에 있다. 포인트 순위 27위의 Scott는 47세의 나이에 여전히 경쟁력을 유지하고 있다. 그는 101경 연속 메이저 챔피언십 진출이라는 역사적 기록을 세울 수 있다. 상위 30인 진출은 그에게 다음 시즌의 메이저 자동 진출 자격을 의미한다.
1라운드 벨레리브 컨트리클럽의 백나인을 따라가며 두 선수의 경기를 지켜봤을 때, 이 시즌의 불확실성이 명확히 드러났다. Scott의 장타가 10번홀에서 빗나갔다. Woodland는 같은 구간에서 99야드 거리에서 eagle을 기록했다.
시즌 초반에는 East Lake에 가는 것이 내 목표가 아니었다게리 우드랜드
Woodland는 1라운드에서 언더 6을 기록했다. 만약 우승한다면 랭킹이 14위까지 올라간다. Scott는 후반에 버디 몇 개를 더하며 언더 2를 기록했고, 상위 30인 안에 머물러 있다. 하지만 3라운드가 남아 있다. 그들은 끝까지 버틸 수 있을까?
02저스틴 토마스의 절절한 심정
Justin Thomas에게 월요일은 최악의 날이었다. 지난주 멤피스에서 고된 주간 경기를 했지만 결과는 좋지 않았다. 그는 하루를 쉬고 싶었다. 하지만 그럴 수 없었다. 경기력이 충분하지 않았기 때문이다. 그는 벨레리브의 연습장으로 나갔다.
계획했던 것보다 훨씬 오래 걸렸다. 솔직히 말해서 정말 끔찍한 날이었다저스틴 토마스
Thomas는 126개의 공을 쳤다. 필드 내에서 거의 가장 많은 양이었다. 그는 시즌 연속성을 절박하게 원하고 있다. Presidents Cup 팀 선발을 노리는 것도 아니고, FedExCup 우승을 꿈꾸는 것만도 아니다. 더 이상 골프를 멈추고 싶지 않다는 것이 진짜 이유다.
"3월부터 시작해서 평균적인 시즌이었음에도 불구하고 이런 성취를 이루는 것은 정말 멋진 일이 될 것 같다"고 Thomas는 말했다. "더 많이는 나 자신을 위해서다. 이 시즌 골프를 계속 하고 싶기 때문이다."
Thomas는 아내 Jill과의 대화에서 이것이 "인생 마지막 토너먼트 같은 기분"이라고 표현했다. 그는 "솔직히 최악이다"고 덧붙였다. 1라운드에서 언더 3의 12위 공동으로 출발했지만, 현재 예상 순위는 43위다. 시즌 내내 상위 10위 피니시가 단 2번뿐이다.
좋은 경기를 하거나, 아니면 내 시즌이 끝나거나저스틴 토마스
하지만 Thomas가 직면할 수 있는 현실은 이것이다. 좋은 경기를 하더라도, 시즌이 끝날 수도 있다. 그 정도로 상위 30인 경쟁은 치열하다.
03Original (English) — PGA TOUR
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The bubble is bubbling. Let's get into it …
ST. LOUIS – A PGA TOUR season is made up of thousands of swings across hundreds of rounds and dozens of tournaments, designed to methodically separate the best from the rest.
It's the culmination of innumerable small outcomes that add up to paint a full picture of who you were. By season's end, your spot on the FedExCup standings is no fluke. It's earned.
At the BMW Championship, roughly half of the 50-man field has earned the right to be nervous.
Only the top 30 advance to the TOUR Championship, which comes with a litany of benefits. If you're one who likes statistics, they'll tell you that about 26 golfers have already secured their place in next week's season finale. The rest of the field is relegated to fighting it out for the final four spots.
With that in mind, I set out for two men who know this struggle well – Gary Woodland and Adam Scott – and who found themselves amid the large contingent with elevated heart rates this week.
Woodland hasn't made it to East Lake since 2019, the year he won the U.S. Open. At No. 31 in the standings, he's tantalizingly close to keeping his season alive. Scott is in a better spot, 27th on the points list, but he can't rest on his laurels either. At ages 42 and 47, respectively, Woodland and Scott can't count on continued success for years to come. Each season they are playing well, they need to capitalize. Scott is trying to maintain an incredible streak of 101 straight majors, and a full year of exemptions comes with making the top 30, valuable security at this stage of his career. Woodland's incentives are similar, though it comes with the added pride of accomplishing it while continuing to battle the effects of the brain tumor he had removed nearly two years ago.
It's with those stakes that I followed their back nine at Bellerive Country Club, wondering what it was like to play with the bubble hanging over you.
Very quickly, the dichotomy of this week was laid bare. The randomness that the TOUR's lengthy season is designed to stamp out is suddenly what will decide this week and alter career trajectories.
As I reached the twosome, Scott's ball-striking, which has carried him all season, let him down. He pulled a long-iron approach on the 10th and did the same with wedge in hand on 11 and 12.
"So bad, Adam," Scott said as his flip-wedge on the 11th drifted left.
Seconds later, Woodland, who ranks 115th on TOUR in approach shots under 100 yards, holed out from 99 yards for eagle at the 11th to race out to 6-under, four clear in the early stages.
That's how this week will go. There are only around 200 swings and 54 holes left. The season is long, until it's not. And we've reached the stage of the season where it doesn't matter what you've done, only what you can conjure up for the next few days.
"I can promise you East Lake wasn't on my mind to start the year," Woodland said.
It is now. Woodland shot 6 under and – with a win – is projected to move to 14th. Scott, who found a few late birdies to shoot 2 under, is projected inside the top 30 as well. It would do wonders for both. Can they hang on?
After every round, we will take a look at who is projected to move in and out of the top-30 bubble. After 18 holes, here's where things stand.
IN
OUT
Monday was a terrible day. At least for Justin Thomas.
Fresh off a gruelingly hot week in Memphis that didn't go as planned, Thomas wanted nothing more than to take the day off.
He couldn't let himself. His game wasn't in a good enough place. So he trekked out to Bellerive and planted himself at the range. What he expected to be a short range session turned into a lengthy one. He couldn't leave without finding some positive momentum. He hit 126 golf balls, nearly the most on property.
"It took a lot longer than I planned or wanted it to," Thomas said. "Really it was, honestly, a pretty terrible day, to be perfectly honest."
Thomas desperately wants his season to continue, and it's not necessarily for any reason the outside world would prescribe. It's not to try and play his way onto the Presidents Cup team. He learned that the hard way in 2023, trying to make the Ryder Cup team. It's best for him not to think about it. It's not to get to East Lake and lock in major starts. He's confident he will qualify in some way. It's only partly because he wants to win the FedExCup.
Mostly, it's just pride.
"I think it would be a pretty awesome accomplishment, in my opinion, starting in, you know, in March and being able to do that with I feel like a pretty average season," Thomas said. "... I just really, really want it for me more than anything, because I'm just not really ready to be done playing golf yet this season."
Thomas is feeling that pressure, which he called "really, really weird." In a conversation with his wife Jill earlier this week, Thomas said it feels like "the last tournament of my life."
"It sucks, to be honest," he told the media.
Thomas is doing his best to change that. He shot 3 under on Thursday, tied for T12 after the first round. That won't be good enough, though. He needs at least a solo seventh finish, and as it stands after 18 holes, he's projected to finish 43rd in the FedExCup. He has only two top-10 finishes all season, on pace for the fewest in his career.
"I either play well or my season's over," Thomas said.
The thing Thomas may have to grapple with: He might play well and his season still might end.
