Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports
When The Barclays gets underway next week, there will be at least two notable names missing from the field. Both Zach Johnson and Steve Stricker have announced that they will not be competing at Liberty National for the first FedEx Cup Playoff event. Stricker is currently 19th in the standings and Johnson sits in 23rd position.
Both me have legitimate reasons for not participating – even though they don’t really need them. Johnson has a prior engagement, as he will be the best man in his brother’s wedding. If you were the brother of one of the more prominent players on the PGA Tour, wouldn’t you try to make sure your wedding wasn’t on a date that would require your brother – and best man – to miss the first event of the playoffs? I mean I know people who have nothing to do with professional sports that have planned their weddings around the bye week of their favorite team.
Stricker has played a very limited schedule this season as he enters semi-retirement. That fact makes his current standing of 19th in FedEx Cup points even more impressive. He has already skipped one major this year – the British Open – so the fact that he won’t be playing next week isn’t a huge surprise. Both Johnson and Stricker will likely tee it up the following week at the Deutsche Bank Championship.
Neither of these two men is in any danger of being eliminated from the playoffs in the first week. At the conclusion of the Barclays the top 100 ranked golfers will progress to the second leg of the playoffs. Since they are in the top 25 right now, they are all but guaranteed a spot in the second event.
Carl Conrad is the Senior Golf Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter or add him to your network on Google.
