If not already qualified for THE 2011 PLAYERS Championship, PGA TOUR members competing in this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans will be playing for a lot more than the tournament title. A win this week, or at next week’s Wells Fargo Championship, earns the player a trip to TPC Sawgrass for THE PLAYERS.
Tommy ‘Two Gloves’ Gainey
In addition, the FedExCup standings will be used to fill THE PLAYERS field to 144, if necessary, making a player’s position in the FedExCup at the end of this week all the more important.
Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey, who moved to 30th thanks to a third-place finish at last week’s Heritage, is the highest-ranked player in the FedExCup standings not otherwise qualified for THE PLAYERS, followed by Chris Kirk (No. 33), Troy Matteson (No. 60), Keegan Bradley (No. 62) and Kevin Chappell (No. 67). All except for Kirk are playing the Zurich Classic.
Additionally, players hovering around No. 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking will look to secure a spot in THE PLAYERS field with a good finish this week in one of three tournaments taking place around the world.
Several players who are not otherwise qualified include 18-year-old Italian Matteo Manassero (No. 33), South Korea’s Kyung-tae Kim (No. 39), Sweden’s Peter Hanson (No. 43), 19-year-old Ryo Ishikawa of Japan (No. 44), England’s Ross Fisher (No. 47) and Denmark’s Anders Hansen (No. 49). Should they go on to qualify for THE PLAYERS, all except for Fisher would be making their first appearance at THE PLAYERS.
Kim is competing this week at the Ballantine’s Championship in Seoul, South Korea, on the European Tour; Ishikawa is playing The Crowns Championship on the Japan Golf Tour; and Hanson is in the field at the Zurich Classic. Manassero, Fisher and Hansen are idle this week.
Also competing in The Crowns Championship is Japan’s Yuta Ikeda, who is currently ranked No. 57 in the OWGR.
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Tour Report: Will Two Gloves make PLAYERS field? (PGATOUR.com)