The Barclays Preview 2016

The Barclays 2016 Pre-Tournament Notes
Dates: August 22-28, 2016
Where: Bethpage State Park (Black Course), Farmingdale, N.Y.
Par/Yards: 36-35–71/7,468 yards
2015 champion: Jason Day
Purse: $8,500,000/$1,530,000 (winner)
FedExCup: 2,000 points to the winner
Format: 72-hole stroke-play
Website: www.thebarclaysgolf.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBarclays
Twitter: @TheBarclaysGolf
Instagram: @TheBarclaysGolf
Field: Players ranked in the top 125 in the FedExCup standings following the Wyndham Championship who choose to compete. (No. 20 Sergio Garcia, No 75 Danny Willett and No. 87 Shane Lowry chose not to compete)
A look at The Barclays 2015

• With a final-round, 8-under 62, Jason Day finished The Barclays with a 19-under-261 total and a six-stroke victory over Henrik Stenson. It was his fourth win of the 2014-15 PGA TOUR season. A fifth win for Day came two weeks later at the BMW Championship.
• Day became the 10th player to win both a major championship and FedExCup Playoffs’ event in a career and the fourth to do so in the same season, joining Adam Scott (2013 Masters Tournament and The Barclays), Rory McIlroy (2012 PGA Championship, Deutsche Bank Championship and BMW Championship) and Tiger Woods (2007 PGA Championship, BMW Championship and TOUR Championship).
• Day, the 2015 PGA Championship winner, became the 11th international winner of The Barclays and the fifth from Australia (Bruce Crampton in 1970, David Graham in 1976, Wayne Grady in 1989 and Adam Scott in 2013).
• Day was the first 54-hole leader/co-leader to go on to win The Barclays since Steve Stricker in 2007.
• Day led the field in Driving Distance (326.4 yards), Greens in Regulation (83.33 percent) and Strokes Gained – Putting (2.193) during his victory at The Barclays last year.

Bethpage State Park (Black)

• The Barclays returns to Bethpage State Park (Black), site of The Barclays 2012 when Nick Watney was victorious.
• Bethpage Black is a difficult and challenging course and one of the last courses designed by master golf course architect A.W. Tillinghast. Many believe it to be his finest work.
• The Black Course served as the site of the 102nd U.S. Open Championship in 2002, won by Tiger Woods, and again at the 109th U.S. Open in 2009 when Lucas Glover claimed the title
• The narrow fairways, high roughs, well placed bunkers and small greens help to make this an extremely difficult course. It regularly ranks among the best courses in the country.
• Five different courses have hosted The Barclays since it became a FedExCup Playoffs event (Westchester CC in 2007, The Ridgewood CC in 2008, 2010 and 2013-14, Liberty National GC in 2009 and 2013, Plainfield CC in 2010 and 2014-15, Bethpage Black in 2012 and 2015-16).

FedExCup and The Barclays

• The Barclays is the opening event of the FedExCup Playoffs for the tenth consecutive season since the FedExCup Playoffs were introduced in 2007.
• Each playoff event offers 2,000 FedExCup points to the winner.
• The top-125 players on the final PGA TOUR Season FedExCup points list (following the Wyndham Championship) qualify for The Barclays.
• The top-100 players on the FedExCup points list following The Barclays qualify for the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston.
• The top-70 players on the FedExCup points list after the Deutsche Bank Championship advance to the BMW Championship, contested at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, IN.
• The top-30 players following the BMW Championship will qualify for the TOUR Championship. Prior to the TOUR Championship, a points reset will take place, giving all players in the field a mathematical opportunity to win the FedExCup title. The top-five players control their own destiny and would claim the FedExCup with a victory at East Lake.

The FedExCup Top Five

• No. 1 – Jason Day (Australia)
  • With wins at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, World Golf Championships-Dell Match Play and THE PLAYERS Championship, Day is the only three-time winner on the PGA TOUR this season. Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, Russell Knox and Dustin Johnson each have two victories in 2015-16.
  • In 16 starts this season, Day has collected nine top-10 finishes and missed just one cut (Farmers Insurance Open).
  • Day has made 187 career starts on the PGA TOUR. It took 149 starts for Day to capture his first two PGA TOUR titles, but just 28 starts to capture wins 3-10. Earlier this year he reclaimed the No. 1 position in the Official World Golf Ranking when he defeated Brooks Koepka in the Quarterfinals of the 2016 World Golf Championships-Dell Match Play, an event he won, defeating Louis Oosthuizen in the final, 5 and 4.
  • He has maintained the No. 1 position since reclaiming it in Austin. Day will join Adam Scott to defend their World Cup of Golf title in Australia in November in Melbourne, Australia.
  • Day will be making his ninth start in The Barclays, his previous best result before last year’s win coming in 2014 when he finished T2. Day has finished outside the top 25 in The Barclays just once, with a T31 in his first appearance in 2008. Day enters the FedExCup Playoffs with a slender 34-point lead over Dustin Johnson in the standings. He is looking to advance to the TOUR Championship for the sixth time in his career.
    • FedExCup Playoffs starts – 27
    • FedExCup Playoffs wins – 2 (2015 The Barclays, BMW Championship)
    • FedExCup Playoffs top-5s – 8
    • FedExCup Playoffs top-10s – 11
• No. 2 – Dustin Johnson (United States)
  • An 11-time winner on the PGA TOUR, Johnson is looking to join Jason Day as a three-time winner this season.
  • His U.S. Open win at Oakmont Country Club extended his streak of winning at least once a year to nine straight, the current longest active streak.
  • He became the fifth player in the last 100 years to win the U.S. Open a year after finishing runner-up in the championship, joining Tiger Woods (2007-08), Payne Stewart (1998-99), Jack Nicklaus (1971-72) and Bobby Jones (three times).
  • Johnson also won the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club.
  • With a T2 at the RBC Canadian Open last month, Johnson is the player with the most top-10 finishes this season (12). He has 22 top-10 finishes in his last 38 PGA TOUR starts.
  • Johnson will make his eighth appearance at The Barclays, an event he won in 2011.He has three additional top-10 finishes to go with his 2011 victory (T3/2012, T9/2015, T9/2010) as well as at T15 in 2009 and missed cuts in both 2013 and 2008.
  • Johnson is seeking to advance to the TOUR Championship for the seventh time in his career.
    • FedExCup Playoffs starts – 25
    • FedExCup Playoffs wins – 2 (2011 The Barclays, 2010 BMW Championship)
    • FedExCup Playoffs top-5s – 7
    • FedExCup Playoffs top-10s – 12
• No. 3 – Adam Scott (Australia)
  • Scott opened the 2015-16 PGA TOUR season with a runner-up finish at the CIMB Classic and added another T2 at the Northern Trust Open before winning in back-to-back weeks at The Honda Classic and the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship to claim his 12th and 13th TOUR titles.
  • With the win at Trump National Doral, Scott claimed the lead in the FedExCup standings for the first time in his career and held on to it for nine weeks until countryman Jason Day overtook him.
  • Since the Cadillac Championship victory, Scott has recorded just one top-10 finish, a T10 at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. Scott will team with Jason Day to defend their World Cup of Golf title in Australia in November in Melbourne, Australia.
  • Scott makes his 10th appearance at The Barclays after winning this event in 2013, his only FedExCup Playoffs victory in 29 starts. Scott’s only other top-10 finish at The Barclays was a T9 in 2010. He missed the cut at this event last season and failed to advance any further in the FedExCup Playoffs. Scott is 672 points behind leader Jason Day in the FedExCup standings entering the FedExCup Playoffs.
  • He is looking to advance to the TOUR Championship for the seventh time in his career.
    • FedExCup Playoffs starts – 29
    • FedExCup Playoffs wins – 1 (2013 The Barclays)
    • FedExCup Playoffs top-5s – 3
    • FedExCup Playoffs top-10s – 10
• No. 4 – Russell Knox (Scotland)
  • Knox will make his 22nd start on TOUR this season having posted two wins and two runner-up finishes, his only four top-10 results.
  • With 21 starts this season, he has the most starts of players in the top five of the FedExCup standings.
  • He claimed the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions early in the season and followed with a recent victory at the Travelers Championship.
  • Between the two wins, Knox was runner-up at the OHL Classic in Mayakoba after losing a playoff to Graeme McDowell and also recorded a T2 at the RBC Heritage.
  • Knox played all four major championships this year, missing the cut at the Masters but finishing top 30 in the U.S. Open (T23), The Open Championship (T30) and the PGA Championship (T22).
  • After his HSBC Champions win Knox took membership of the European Tour in the hope of making the 2016 Ryder Cup team.
  • He will represent Scotland in the World Cup of Golf in Australia this November.
  • In 2013, Knox shot 59 in the second round of the Albertsons Boise Open, becoming the fifth player on the Web.com Tour to post that score.
  • This will be Knox’s third appearance at The Barclays. His T20 finish in last year’s event is his second-best result in six FedExCup Playoffs starts, bettered only by a T12 at last season’s Deutsche Bank Championship.
  • Knox has performed consistently in the FedExCup Playoffs the past two seasons but has failed to advance to the TOUR Championship on both occasions.
  • Last year, he was T29 in the FedExCup standing through the first two Playoff events but finished T45 at the BMW Championship to drop out of the top 30 and miss the TOUR Championship.
  • Knox trails leader Jason Day by 734 points in the FedExCup standings.
    • FedExCup Playoffs starts – 6
    • FedExCup Playoffs wins – N/A
    • FedExCup Playoffs top-5s – N/A
    • FedExCup Playoffs top-10s – N/A (best finish is T12 at 2015 Deutsche Bank Champ.)
• No. 5 – Jordan Spieth (United States), 2015 FedExCup Champion
  • Spieth will be making his 18th start of the 2015-16 PGA TOUR Season this week, having collected six top-10 finishes.
  • Of those, Spieth claimed his seventh and eighth TOUR titles at the Tournament of Champions and DEAN & DELUCA Invitational, respectively.
  • He was also T2 at the Masters Tournament, where a quadruple-bogey at the par-3 12th hole in the final round derailed his chances to win the title for a second consecutive year.
  • Spieth’s only other top-five finish this season came at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational where he finished T3.
  • This will be Spieth’s fourth consecutive start in The Barclays.
  • He finished T19 in his debut at Liberty National Golf Club in 2013 and T22 in 2014 at The Ridgewood Country Club.
  • Last year, when he missed the cut at Plainfield Country Club, he joined Billy Horschel (2014) as the only players to miss the cut at The Barclays and go on to win the FedExCup.
  • Spieth has played in all 12 FedExCup Playoffs events for which he has been eligible, advancing to the TOUR Championship in each of the last three seasons, winning last year’s finale to become the 2015 FedExCup champion.
  • Spieth lies 770 points adrift of FedExCup leader Jason Day.
    • FedExCup Playoffs starts – 12
    • FedExCup Playoffs wins – 1 (2015 TOUR Championship)
    • FedExCup Playoffs top-5s – 3
    • FedExCup Playoffs top-10s – 4
• No. 6 – Brandt Snedeker (United States), 2012 FedExCup Champion
  • Snedeker will make his 24th start of the season at The Barclays having collected seven top-10 finishes, including a T3 at last week’s Wyndham Championship where he shot 15-under to finish six strokes behind first-time PGA TOUR winner Si Woo Kim from South Korea.
  • He began 2016 at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions with a T3 finish and followed with a playoff loss to Fabian Gomez at the Sony Open in Hawaii the following week. In his very next start he won the Farmers Insurance Open, his eighth PGA TOUR victory.
  • Later in the year he recorded another top-five finish (T5) at the RBC Canadian Open. His other top-10s came in back-to-back starts, a T9 at the World Golf Championships-Dell Match Play and a T10 at the Masters, his best result in the four major championships this year.
  • Snedeker joins Adam Scott as the only two players in the top six in this season’s FedExCup standings who have reached the FedExCup Playoffs for the 10th consecutive season. In his nine previous starts at The Barclays, Snedeker has made four cuts, missing the cut the last three years.
  • His best result came in 2012 when he was runner-up and went on to win the TOUR Championship and raised the FedExCup trophy as champion at Eastlake.
  • He also finished T3 at The Barclays in 2011.
  • Snedeker is seeking to advance to the TOUR Championship for the sixth time in his career.
  • He lies 1,021 points behind FedExCup leader Jason Day.
    • FedExCup Playoffs starts – 31
    • FedExCup Playoffs wins – 1 (2012 TOUR Championship)
    • FedExCup Playoffs top-5s – 5
    • FedExCup Playoffs top-10s – 8

Additional Notes

• This year is the 50th playing of The Barclays.
• Members of the World Golf Hall of Fame who have won this event include Vijay Singh (4 times), Ernie Els (twice), Seve Ballesteros (twice), Jack Nicklaus (twice), Hale Irwin, Raymond Floyd, Curtis Strange, David Graham, Gene Littler, Johnny Miller, Arnold palmer and Julius Boros.
• The event was also been known as the Westchester Classic (1967-1975), American Express Westchester Classic (1976-1978), Manufacturers Hanover Westchester Classic (1979-1989), Buick Classic (1990-2004), Barclays Classic (2005, 2006) and The Barclays (2007-2016).
• Next year, the event will be known as THE NORTHERN TRUST.
• Olympic Golf silver medalist Henrik Stenson posted four sub-par rounds for the first time in five Barclays starts to claim his first top-10 finish in the event last year.
  • Prior to his second-place showing, The Barclays was the only FedExCup Playoffs event the 2013 FedExCup champion had not posted at least a tie-for-25th finish or better.
  • While winning The Open Championship this year, Stenson was just the second major champion to post 63 in a final round and first to do so since Johnny Miller in the 1973 U.S. Open.
  • He is seeking his sixth career win on the PGA TOUR this week (2007 WGC-Dell Match Play, 2009 PLAYERS Championship, 2013 Deutsche Bank Championship, 2013 TOUR Championship, 2016 The Open Championship).
• Phil Mickelson will be making his 19th start of the 2015-16 PGA TOUR and his 545th career start on TOUR.
  • Mickelson has collected six top-5 finishes in 18 starts this season, including three second-place showings (AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, FedEx St. Jude Classic and The Open Championship).
  • His six top-5 finishes in 18 starts this season is four more than the number of top 10s he collected in 19 starts in the 2014-15 PGA TOUR Season.
  • Despite not recording a win in 2015-16, Mickelson is eighth in the FedExCup standings and in a strong position to qualify for the season-ending TOUR Championship for the eighth time in his career and the first time since 2013.
• Rory McIlroy, No. 36 in the FedExCup standings, has collected six top-10 finishes in 14 starts, four of which were top-5 showings (T3/WGC-Cadillac Championship, 4th/WGC-Dell Match Play, T4/ Wells Fargo Championship, T4/Memorial Tournament and T5/The Open Championship).
• In the history of the FedExCup Playoffs, the worst-ranked players entering The Barclays to go on to qualify for the TOUR Championship were Morgan Hoffmann in 2014 and Heath Slocum in 2009 at No. 124.
  • Slocum finished No. 8 on the strength of a victory at The Barclays.
  • The only other player to advance to the TOUR Championship after starting the FedExCup Playoffs outside the top 100 was Kevin Streelman in 2010 at No. 102.
• Last year, Jordan Spieth joined Billy Horschel (2014) as the only players to win the FedExCup after missing the cut at The Barclays.
  • In 2014, Horschel was No. 69 in the standings heading into The Barclays, the highest standing for an eventual FedExCup champion, with Snedeker the next highest (No. 19, 2012).
  • Last year, Spieth entered The Barclays ranked No. 1 in the FedExCup standings.
• Vijay Singh is the only player to win The Barclays and go on to win the FedExCup (2008).
• Since 2007, when The Barclays became a FedExCup Playoffs event, eight aces have been recorded at this event, with Justin Rose making the first on No. 14 in round three at Westchester Country Club in 2007.
  • Rose made the first hole-in-one in Olympic Golf competition while winning the Gold medal in Rio earlier this month.
  • In the final round of The Barclays last year, Brian Harman became just the third player in PGA TOUR history to record two holes-in-one in a single round, and the first since Yusaku Miyazato in 2006.
  • Harman aced the third hole at Plainfield Country Club with a 7-iron from 183 yards, then repeated a hole-in-one on the 14th hole with a 4-iron from 218 yards.
• It took 614 points to advance to the Deutsche Bank Championship last season, with Jason Kokrak earning the final spot.
• The Barclays has experienced two playoffs since becoming a FedExCup Playoffs event in 2007. Vijay Singh prevailed over Kevin Sutherland and Sergio Garcia in 2008 while Matt Kuchar defeated Martin Laird in 2010.