The postseason is here everybody!
2014 Barclays: Tee times and pairings for Thursday’s first round
After many of the top players sat last week out following the PGA and resting for the FedEx Cup, almost every big name qualified comes to New Jersey to start a run at millions.
Ross Kinnaird
Thursday morning marks the start of the annual FedEx Cup, the four-week playoffs format put in place in 2007 by commissioner Tim Finchem and the PGA Tour. As usual, the Barclays will lead things off as the first postseason event, hosting the final 125 players in the regular season’s FedEx Cup standings. The Barclays is the former Buick Classic, which was always played at Westchester Country Club. But with this New York area tournament now an entrenched part of the postseason, the venue rotates around the NYC metro area.
This year’s Barclays will take us to Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, NJ. This is the third time Ridgewood has hosted this event, welcoming the FedEx Cup back in 2007 with the first ever postseason tournament. And then crowning Matt Kuchar with a Barclays title in 2010. So Ridgewood seems pretty settled in as a course on the New York area rota at this point.
With the exception of three players, all 125 who qualified have showed up and will play. Dustin Johnson’s “leave and injuries to Steve Stricker and Jason Dufner knocked them out of the equation. Tiger Woods, even if he were 100 percent healthy, would not have qualified for the playoffs this year. A win two weeks ago at Valhalla would have been enough to push him from his startlingly low spot in the FEC points race, but that’s about the only result that would have prevented his season from ending abruptly. Of course, more back trouble in Louisville made it obvious.
Tiger’s gone, but the best player on the planet on a Tiger-like run will be here and teeing it up Thursday in the morning wave. I wrote after the PGA win that Rory McIlroy had become golf’s must-watch force, taking over for the hobbled and decidedly tedious-to-watch Tiger. Rory’s major championship win also finally bumped him into the No. 1 spot in the regular season FEC rankings. He passed Jimmy Walker, who coasted at No. 1 almost all year after picking up three early wins before mid-February. The two will play together along with the third member who challenged for the No. 1 spot at times this season, Bubba Watson. That’s an early power grouping, and they’ll be off No. 10 at 8:26 a.m. ET.
The early morning draw is the much stronger group of players. In addition to the Rory-Bubba group I just mentioned, Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler, Adam Scott, and Jordan Spieth will all be out in the morning. It should be as close to a zoo as you get with Tiger and his army of fans not on property.
Here’s the full tee sheet for Thursday’s opening round:
Morning wave off No. 1:
| Tee Time | Players | ||
| 7:20 AM | Robert Streb | Jason Kokrak | Jeff Overton |
| 7:31 AM | Ben Crane | Jerry Kelly | Erik Compton |
| 7:42 AM | Charl Schwartzel | Cameron Tringale | Hunter Mahan |
| 7:53 AM | Justin Hicks | Phil Mickelson | Will MacKenzie |
| 8:04 AM | Gary Woodland | Charles Howell III | Jason Day |
| 8:15 AM | John Senden | Marc Leishman | Graham DeLaet |
| 8:26 AM | Kevin Na | Brian Harman | Hideki Matsuyama |
| 8:37 AM | Billy Hurley III | Vijay Singh | Michael Putnam |
| 8:48 AM | Stewart Cink | Andres Romero | Troy Merritt |
| 8:59 AM | David Toms | Boo Weekley | Tim Wilkinson |
Morning wave off No. 10:
| Tee Time | Players | ||
| 7:20 AM | Ryo Ishikawa | Robert Garrigus | Scott Stallings |
| 7:31 AM | Chesson Hadley | Scott Langley | Pat Perez |
| 7:42 AM | Russell Henley | Chris Stroud | Steven Bowditch |
| 7:53 AM | Brian Stuard | Russell Knox | Daniel Summerhays |
| 8:04 AM | Martin Kaymer | Adam Scott | Rickie Fowler |
| 8:15 AM | Jordan Spieth | Patrick Reed | Chris Kirk |
| 8:26 AM | Rory McIlroy | Jimmy Walker | Bubba Watson |
| 8:37 AM | Retief Goosen | Rory Sabbatini | Stuart Appleby |
| 8:48 AM | John Huh | Brian Davis | Martin Flores |
| 8:59 AM | James Hahn | Bryce Molder | Louis Oosthuizen |
Afternoon wave off No. 1:
| Tee Time | Players | ||
| 12:00 PM | Ian Poulter | Carl Pettersson | Andrew Svoboda |
| 12:11 PM | Billy Horschel | Henrik Stenson | Brendon de Jonge |
| 12:22 PM | Scott Brown | K.J. Choi | Brandt Snedeker |
| 12:33 PM | George McNeill | Seung-Yul Noh | Graeme McDowell |
| 12:44 PM | Harris English | Justin Rose | Ryan Moore |
| 12:55 PM | Zach Johnson | Brendon Todd | Webb Simpson |
| 1:06 PM | Matt Kuchar | Jim Furyk | Sergio Garcia |
| 1:17 PM | Kevin Kisner | Nick Watney | Luke Guthrie |
| 1:28 PM | Aaron Baddeley | Bo Van Pelt | Ricky Barnes |
| 1:39 PM | Paul Casey | Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano | Sang-Moon Bae |
| 1:50 PM | Morgan Hoffmann | Robert Allenby | |
Afternoon wave off No. 10:
| Tee Time | Players | ||
| 12:00 PM | William McGirt | David Hearn | Shawn Stefani |
| 12:11 PM | Luke Donald | Brendan Steele | Kevin Chappell |
| 12:22 PM | Angel Cabrera | Ben Martin | Jason Bohn |
| 12:33 PM | Freddie Jacobson | Kevin Streelman | Matt Jones |
| 12:44 PM | Charley Hoffman | J.B. Holmes | Camilo Villegas |
| 12:55 PM | Tim Clark | Ryan Palmer | Kevin Stadler |
| 1:06 PM | Keegan Bradley | Bill Haas | Matt Every |
| 1:17 PM | Geoff Ogilvy | Ernie Els | Jonas Blixt |
| 1:28 PM | Michael Thompson | Lee Westwood | Jhonattan Vegas |
| 1:39 PM | Justin Leonard | Danny Lee | Brice Garnett |
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