The 2009 FedEx Cup Playoffs, the series of four

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

tournaments that determined the season champion on the

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-based

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

, began on August 27 and ended on September 27. It included the following four events: *

The Barclays The FedEx St. Jude Championship, founded as the Westchester Classic in 1967, is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour. The Championship has a partnership with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, with the hospital serving as the to ...

—

Liberty National Golf Club Liberty National is a country club located in Jersey City, New Jersey adjacent to Liberty State Park on the Upper New York Bay. Its clubhouse, guest villas, teaching center, and "Cafe 12" halfway house were designed by Lindsay Newman Architecture ...

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

Deutsche Bank Championship The Dell Technologies Championship, originally the Deutsche Bank Championship, was a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour that was played annually from 2003 to 2018. It was held in Norton, Massachusetts, United States, over the Labor Day ...

— TPC Boston,

Norton, Massachusetts Norton is a New England town, town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, and contains the villages of Norton Center, Massachusetts, Norton Center and Chartley, Massachusetts, Chartley. The population was 19,202 at the 2020 United Stat ...

* BMW Championship — Cog Hill Golf & Country Club,

Lemont, Illinois Lemont is a village located in Cook, DuPage, and Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, and is a south-west suburb of Chicago. The population was 17,629 as of the 2020 census. The village is situated on a hillside along the south banks ...

The Tour Championship The Tour Championship (stylized as the TOUR Championship) is a golf tournament that is part of the PGA Tour. It has historically been one of the final events of the PGA Tour season; prior to 2007, its field consisted exclusively of the top 30 ...

—

East Lake Golf Club East Lake Golf Club is a private golf club 5 miles east of downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1904, it is the oldest golf course in the city. East Lake was the home course of golfer Bobby Jones (golfer), Bobby Jones and much of its clubh ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

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For the second time in the three-year history of the playoffs,

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins, PGA Tour wins, ranks second in List of men's major championships winning golfers, men's m ...

won the FedEx Cup. These were the third

FedEx Cup The FedEx Cup is the championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction in 2007 marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Since its inception, the competition has been sponsored by FedEx. In 2022, the PGA Tour ...

playoffs since their inception in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. Substantial changes were made to the point structures, playoff reset of points, and field sizes for 2009. The point distributions can be seen

here Here may refer to: Music * ''Here'' (Adrian Belew album), 1994 * ''Here'' (Alicia Keys album), 2016 * ''Here'' (Cal Tjader album), 1979 * ''Here'' (Edward Sharpe album), 2012 * ''Here'' (Idina Menzel album), 2004 * ''Here'' (Merzbow album), ...

Regular season rankings

The Barclays

The Barclays was played August 27–30. Of the 125 players eligible to play in the event, only one did not enter—

Paul Casey Paul Alexander Casey (born 21 July 1977) is an English golfer who is a member of LIV Golf. He has also played on the US-based PGA Tour and the European Tour. In 2009, he achieved his highest position, third, in the Official World Golf Rankin ...

(18), due to a rib injury. Of the 124 entrants, 77 made the second-round cut at +5.

Heath Slocum Tyler Heath Slocum (born February 3, 1974) is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. Early years Slocum was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He attended St. Anthony of Padua Catholic School in Bunk ...

, who only made the top 125 and the tournament field by two FedEx Cup points, won by sinking a 20-foot (6 m) par putt on the final hole, putting him one shot ahead of a distinguished group consisting of

Ernie Els Theodore Ernest Els (; born 17 October 1969) is a South African professional golfer. A former , he is nicknamed "the Big Easy" due to his physical stature along with his fluid golf swing. Among his more than 70 career victories are four major ...

Pádraig Harrington Pádraig Peter Harrington (born 31 August 1971) is an Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has won three men's major golf championships, major championships: The Open Championship in 2 ...

Steve Stricker Steven Charles Stricker (born February 23, 1967) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has twelve victories on the PGA Tour, including the WGC-Match Play title in 2001 WGC-Accenture Match Pla ...

, and

. The top 100 players in the points standings advanced to the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Deutsche Bank Championship

The Deutsche Bank Championship was played September 4–7. Of the 100 players eligible to play in the event, only one did not enter—

(27), due to a rib injury. Of the 99 players who entered the tournament, 73 of them made the 36-hole cut at one-under-par.

won by one stroke over Jason Dufner and

Scott Verplank Scott Rachal Verplank (born July 9, 1964) is an American professional golfer, who has played on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. Early life Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Verplank was a leading member of the W.T. White High School g ...

and took the lead in the FedEx Cup standings. The top 70 players in the points standings advanced to the BMW Championship.

BMW Championship

The BMW Championship was played September 10–13. Of the 70 players eligible to play in the event, only one did not enter—

(36), due to a rib injury. With a field limited to 70, and 69 actually playing, there was no cut. The top 30 players in FedEx Cup points after this event advanced to the Tour Championship and also earned spots in the 2010 Masters, U.S. Open, and (British) Open Championship.

blew away the field in Saturday's third round with a course-record 62 and cruised from there to win by eight shots over

Jim Furyk James Michael Furyk (born May 12, 1970) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. In 2010, he was the FedEx Cup champion and PGA Tour Player of the Year. He has won one major championship, the 2 ...

and

Marc Leishman Marc A. Leishman (born 24 October 1983) is an Australian professional golfer. He has won six times on the PGA Tour. In 2009 he won the Rookie of the Year award on the PGA Tour, the first Australian to win the award. Career Leishman was born i ...

. Woods retook the lead in the FedEx Cup standings going into the Tour Championship. Furyk moved from 18th in the standings to third, putting him into position to claim the FedEx Cup with a win in the Tour Championship. Leishman, who only made the field for the BMW Championship by making an eagle on the final hole of the Deutsche Bank Championship, placed himself in the field for the Tour Championship. The real drama was for the 30th and final spot in the Tour Championship.

Brandt Snedeker Brandt Newell Snedeker (born December 8, 1980) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He won the 2012 FedEx Cup with a victory in the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. Following this victory, he moved into the top t ...

was in the final 30 until disaster struck on the final hole. Needing only a bogey to secure his place in Atlanta, and on the green of the par-4 hole in three, he missed his par putt from 12 feet and then had his 3-foot putt for bogey lip out. Snedeker then two-putted from tap-in range. That opened the door for

John Senden John Gerard Senden (born 20 April 1971) is an Australian professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. Senden was born in Brisbane, Queensland and turned pro in 1992. Senden has played all over the world. He is a regular competitor on the PGA ...

and

Ian Poulter Ian James Poulter (born 10 January 1976) is an English professional golfer who plays in the LIV Golf League. He has previously been ranked as high as number 5 in the world rankings. The highlights of Poulter's career to date have been his two ...

, but both seemingly tried to throw away their shots at a trip to Atlanta. Senden badly chucked his approach shot to the par-5 15th, and hit a bunker shot into the water on 17 for a double-bogey, but Snedeker's mistake allowed him to sneak into the top 30 by 0.46 points over Poulter, who hit his approach on the 18th hole into the water. With the FedEx Cup points reset after the BMW Championship, all 30 remaining players had at least a mathematical chance to secure the season crown, and any of the top five players could claim the FedEx Cup with a win in the Tour Championship.

Reset points

The points were reset after the BMW Championship.

The Tour Championship

The Tour Championship was played September 24–27, after a one-week break. All 30 golfers who qualified for the tournament played, and there was no cut.

Phil Mickelson Philip Alfred Mickelson (born June 16, 1970) is an American professional golfer who currently plays in the LIV Golf League. He has won 45 events on the PGA Tour, including six Men's major golf championships, major championships: three Masters ...

claimed his first PGA Tour title since his wife and mother were both diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

in spring 2009. This was also his second Tour Championship title, as he won the 2000 edition, also held at East Lake. Mickelson entered the final round four shots behind

Kenny Perry James Kenneth Perry (born August 10, 1960) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He won 14 PGA Tour events and has won nine PGA Tour Champions events including four senior major championships: the 2 ...

, but shot 65 while Perry faded to a 74. Three golfers—top seed

, second seed

, and Mickelson—had a reasonable chance of claiming the FedEx Cup entering the final nine holes, but consecutive birdies by Woods on the 15th and 16th holes secured his second-place finish for the tournament, three shots behind Mickelson. Since Mickelson was not among the top five seeds entering the Tour Championship, this was enough for Woods to secure the FedEx Cup and its $10 million prize.

Final leaderboard

For the full lis
see here

Table of qualifying players

Table key:
* First-time Playoffs participant

References

{{FedEx Cup Playoffs FedEx Cup FedEx Cup Playoffs