News analysis
Impossible is what Asian stars are fighting for in FedExCup play-offs
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South Korea's Tom Kim is one of five Asian golfers competing in the FedExCup play-offs.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Chuah Choo Chiang
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There is one particular statistic about the FedExCup that serves as a reminder why it is billed as the ultimate prize on the PGA Tour.
Since its inauguration in 2007, only 13 golfers have managed to get their hands on the glittering, season-long trophy – out of a possible 2,709 over the past 16 seasons.
The odds of winning are slim, 0.48 per cent to be exact, but the reward is gargantuan as the FedExCup champion earns a cool US$18 million (S$24 million).
The road to golf’s glory, though, demands utmost consistency across the season, and peaking during the play-offs which begin with the St Jude Championship this week, the first of three play-off events limited to the top 70 players.
Five Asians – South Korean quartet Tom Kim (ranked 14th), Kim Si-woo (18), Im Sung-jae (32) and An Byeong-hun (37) and Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama (57) – will tee up at TPC Southwind in Memphis knowing full well that an Asian golfer has yet to win the FedExCup.
It seems like mission impossible for any of them to upset the odds and upstage the likes of current FedExCup No. 1 Jon Rahm, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler or Rory McIlroy, who enters the play-offs ranked third and seeking an unprecedented fourth crown.
But truly, impossible is what the Asian players are fighting for over these next three weeks.
In the history of the game, Asian men were never regarded as favourites to claim any of golf’s four Majors.
Then, South Korea’s Yang Yong-eun delivered the impossible when he came from behind to upset Tiger Woods during his prime at the 2009 PGA Championship. Woods had never lost in his previous 14 Major victories while holding the 54-hole lead.
In 2021, Matsuyama rewrote more golf history by becoming the first Asian to claim the green jacket at the Masters.
An, 31, remembers watching Yang’s historic triumph over Woods which served as an inspiration as he went on to become the youngest ever at 17 to win the US Amateur just two weeks after Asia’s Major milestone.
“Obviously the first Asian, first Korean to win a Major… it was very impressive,” said An, who is making a return to the play-offs for the first time since 2020.
“We all got the confidence seeing an Asian do it and a few weeks later, I won the US Amateur. I bet it gave a lot of us the confidence that we can do it too.
“There is also K.J. (Choi) before us. They showed us that it can be done.”
Matsuyama is fighting to make the top 50 and qualify for next week’s BMW Championship in his hopes of extending an impressive streak of having qualified for nine consecutive Tour Championships.
The 31-year-old Japanese said: “Competing here, there are many players from different countries, and to not yet have a player from Asia win is something that motivates me.
“I’d be very happy if more people believed that a player from Asia could win it.”
Im has come the closest to winning the PGA Tour’s biggest prize.
Last season, he battled courageously against McIlroy and Scheffler before finishing tied-second.
His current form, though, isn’t exactly on fire, with three top 25s in his last five starts but he knows he can light up in the play-offs. “It is coming back,” said the 25-year-old, who is ranked 10th among the best scoring average in play-off history and also 10th in one-putt percentage.
Fresh from a runner-up finish at the Wyndham Championship last week and a top three at the Scottish Open, the in-form An added: “The confidence is there.
“As far as winning the FedExCup, the primary goal is to get to the Tour Championship first.”
