Playoffs push has unfamiliar feel

It was about this time a year ago, at the final event of the FedExCup Playoffs, when Justin Thomas first grabbed the headlines.

At 10-under-par before striking his first shot at the Tour Championship, Thomas' unusual position atop the leaderboard was the big story when the PGA circuit arrived at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia.

Thomas, by virtue of his win the week before at the BMW Championship, carried a two-shot lead into the season-ending tournament. Those behind him would soon start the event at 9-under, 8-under, 7-under and so on.

Remember that? When staggered strokes were the biggest narrative surrounding the FedExCup? How things sure have changed only 12 months later.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made certain that this year's Fed-ExCup Playoffs will look wildly different from the start, except of course for those notorious staggered strokes, which are back once again.

Not that it seemed to matter in 2019, of course. Rory McIlroy, who began the tournament in fifth place at 5-under, eventually won by four strokes to claim the $10 million in prize money. Thomas finished tied for third.

Any comparison to past events likely ends there, however.

For a start, there won't be another picture-perfect moment of Tiger Woods walking the 18th fairway with thousands of fans cheering him on to another record-breaking victory－at least not the fans part.

The PGA Tour will continue playing without spectators in attendance for the remainder of this season in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

But fan-less sporting events have become the norm worldwide over the past few months. Imagine, instead, a postseason where your favorite player potentially joins the fans watching on TV from home.

That's the reality facing several stars who are currently on the outside of the top 125 in the standings, in large part due to the loss of 13 events that awarded FedExCup points during those initial months of the outbreak.

China's Zhang Xinjun isn't among those feeling any dread. With three top-10 finishes this season, including last week at the Memorial Tournament, the 33-year-old is safely inside the BMW Championship field at No 64 in the standings.

But few others share in Zhang's comfort. And perhaps no player's ominous standing has been discussed at length quite like that of Brooks Koepka, who exited the Memorial Tournament at No 154 in the FedExCup.

The four-time major winner was a late entry to the Jack Nicklaus-hosted event in an effort to boost his FedExCup ranking. The tour's Player of the Year in 2018 and 2019 has made just nine starts this season with only one top-25 finish.

"I'm pretty far down in the Fed-ExCup and need to make a run," he said flatly.

"I think it's pretty simple. I didn't plan on playing, but things change, and I'd like to be in Atlanta. That's what you've got to do; I'm going to basically run the table."

Koepka is not alone as a major winner on the outside looking in at the limited-field playoffs.

Last year's Champion Golfer of the Year, Shane Lowry, sits at No 147 in the standings and is likewise trying to make one last push into The Northern Trust field.

The week the Irishman was supposed to be announced on the tee at Royal St George's as the defending British Open champion, he instead found himself in a Memorial Tournament media conference explaining away what an unusual season this one has been.

"I felt at the (beginning of the hiatus) that I was starting to play well. I felt good about the way things were, and then obviously this happened, and we were in lockdown for a number of weeks," Lowry said.

"I worked very hard in my time off, probably as hard as I've ever worked in my life on the range and in the gym and came back out hoping to get off to a great start, and I didn't really do what I would have liked."

There's plenty of fellow players who fall into similar categories. Neither 2017 Players champion Kim Si-woo (No 132) nor 2019 Presidents Cup International Team member CT Pan (No 174) would qualify today.

Francesco Molinari, who over the past two seasons has won The Quicken Loans National, the British Open and the Arnold Palmer Invitational, called off the rest of his season in July as he moves his family to California from London.

Even 10-time PGA Tour winner Justin Rose (No 121), who won the FedExCup in 2018, and 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia (No 123) are teetering on the edge of qualification.

And for those already wondering, Woods, like Zhang, is comfortably inside the first two playoff events, though his current position of 42nd would currently have him out of the Tour Championship.

To be clear, the circumstances surrounding this bizarre season mean that there is no risk to a player who fails to qualify for the 125-man field at The Northern Trust, a punishment that before this year would have cost a player his tour status. Consider the 2019-20 season as a bridge year of sorts when it comes to qualification.

These stars would much rather the discussion instead be about their position at the Tour Championship and how many strokes under par they are.

The PGA Tour contributed to this story.