McIlroy, Horschel, Fowler, Furyk, Day: How Can They Win the FedExCup?

It’s one of the great unanswerables of the golf season: On Saturday night at the Tour Championship, will the winner of the FedExCup be Rory McIlroy, Billy Horschel, Jim Furyk, Rickie Fowler or Jason Day? They all have a chance, but each one depends on the performance of some the rest to get a victory, and most can’t win it at all.

Horschel can win the FedExCup if he wins the Tour Championship. If Furyk wins the Tour Championship, Horschel can win it by finishing second or third. If Fowler wins the Tour Championship, Horschel can win the FedExCup by finishing in a three-way tie for second.

If Day wins the Tour Championship, Horschel can win by finishing tied third. If Justin Rose wins, he can win it by finishing tied sixth. If McIlroy wins the Tour Championship, Horschel cannot win the FedExCup.

Regardless of the outcome, Horschel is enthused about his performance this year.

“In the middle of the year, if you told me I would have a chance on Sunday to win the Tour Championship and possibly FedExCup and do it while going up against the best player in our game right now,” he paused, “So no matter what happens, no matter how it turns out, it’s going to be an exciting day.”

McIlroy wins the FedExCup if he wins the Tour Championship or if he finishes solo second behind Day. If Horschel wins the Tour Championship, McIlroy cannot win the FedExCup. There are other chances, too, but they are more complex. What’s important is that if Chris Kirk, Horschel or Furyk win, McIlroy cannot capture the FedExCup.

McIlroy is pleased that he is in position to win despite not playing perfect golf, and his focus is PGA Tour title No. 10.

He’s not focused on the money at all.

“I’m not sure I ever thought about it that way, about if I had holed that putt, it would have meant another 70 grand,” he explained. “It’s always nice, you know, you draw some money out of the ATM and you've won the week before and you check your balance, and it’s nice, yeah.” His eyes got just a little bit big when he said it, like he was thinking of times when he had done that.     

But as he pointed out, he started playing professional golf when his friends were headed to college.

He recalled a couple weeks after turning professional and finishing high at the Dunhill Links.

“I checked my bank balance and it was—I don’t know, I did well—it might have been like 180,000 pounds in there,” he admitted. “It was like, oh my goodness. It’s crazy to think about now.”

Furyk, who has already won the Tour Championship and the points race before said he's just looking for a victory. He could get into rare territory with a second title at both.

“Scenario is pretty simple, I thought. I have to win,” he said, looking more relaxed than typical. “I’m more interested in trying to win the golf tournament, and you know, I’ll be thinking about my mind frame and physically what I need to do tomorrow in order to put myself in that position.”

Furyk has to win with Kirk finishing in a three-way tie for second and if Horschel is tied second or worse.  

Fowler has a chance, too, but a lot of things have to happen to other players, and he has to win. Kirk has to be in a three-way tie for third or worse, Horschel has to be third or worse, Bubba Watson has to be tied second or worse and McIlroy has to finish second or worse.

Having met three of his four goals for 2014, Fowler looks to get the last one by winning the tournament. The first three were to be ready for and contend in all four majors, to make it to the Tour Championship and to make the Ryder Cup team.

“I know if I win, I got a pretty good chance,” he said. "I know there’s some possibilities of some extracurricular activities if certain things line up properly.”

His mission, he added, is not to leave anything out there on the golf course on Sunday.

Day had a rough Saturday, but he’s not out of it. If he wins and Kirk finishes fifth or worse, Horschel finishes tied third or worse and McIlroy finishes tied second or worse, then he wins the FedExCup.

Who will win it?  It’s just impossible to predict.

Kathy Bissell is a Golf Writer for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand or from official interview materials from the USGA, PGA Tour or PGA of America.