Asian stars look to set a FedEx Cup playoffs record at BMW Championship

Asia’s golfers on the PGA Tour are pushing for record representation at the season-ending FedEx Cup Tour Championship at Atlanta next week, but will need to get through the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields in Illinois before that.

Since the inauguration of the FedEx Cup in 2007, the most Asian golfers that have made it to the Tour Championship was three last season when Koreans Sungjae Im and K.H. Lee, and Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama qualified amongst the top 30 of the three-stage elimination playoffs that started last week with the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

Only the top 70 in the season-long FedEx Cup standings go through to the Playoffs. After the first event, 50 survive for the BMW Championship with the final 30 going through to the East Lake showdown in Atlanta that offers $18 million to the season-topper.

Before that, Matsuyama and Byeong Hun An of Korea face battles for survival at this week’s BMW Championship, the PGA Tour said.

Matsuyama, 31, has qualified for East Lake continuously in the past nine seasons which is a record for an active PGA Tour member while the resurgent An is hoping to punch his ticket into the showpiece for the first time to put the icing on a stellar season.

Fellow-Korean Si Woo Kim, who enters the BMW Championship 17th in the FedEx Cup standings, is virtually safe for a long-awaited return to Atlanta since his rookie season in 2016 while Joohyung ‘Tom’ Kim, ranked 18th, is in line to tee it up at East Lake as well.

Sungjae Im, runner-up at the Tour Championship to mark Asia’s best ever finish at the FedEx Cup is ranked 28th entering the week in Olympia Fields, Illinois for the BMW event and knows he is vulnerable in a top-quality field led by Spain’s top-ranked Jon Rahm.

“I have faith that I can make it to the Tour Championship, and I know if I play my game, I can do it. So that's my goal. I think if I keep this good form and continue to putt like this, it's possible,” said the 31-year-old An, back in the Playoffs after 2020.

An, ranked 38th in the FedEx Cup standings, possibly needs at least a two-way tie for 10th place to have a chance of advancing into the finale. A return to Olympia Fields will provide some confidence too as he finished T12 when the BMW Championship was last played at the venue.

His putting has also been solid, having changed recently to the broomstick putter on the advice of Adam Scott and Si Woo Kim. “It's a good decision to change the putter as a result,” An said.

Matsuyama, ranked 47th, brilliantly played his way into the BMW Championship after a rousing finish at last week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship where he made an eagle and birdie in his last three holes to squeeze into this week’s top-50.

To extend his streak of having played in every finale since 2014, the eight-time tour winner needs to finish no lower than a three-way tie for fourth place and be reliant on other players’ finishes as well. In 2020, Matsuyama finished joint third at Olympia Fields.

“I've got to play better in order to make it to East Lake. I'm just going to give it my best shot,” said the 2021 Masters champion.

After a T6 finish last week, the smooth-swinging Im hopes to ride on his momentum to get to Atlanta again, which is his US base. “I was in the Tour Championship for four consecutive years, so it will be my fifth if I can get in again this year. That is my goal,” said the two-time PGA Tour winner.

And he is counting on all four Koreans and Matsuyama to rewrite a small slice of golf history this week. “Si Woo and Tom are kind of safe, while me and Ben are not. I hope we play well and get into the Tour Championship together,” he said.