Cal Golf: Collin Morikawa Begins a Three-Week FedEx Cup Dash in Pursuit of $15 Million

Having already engineered a spectacular start to his professional golf career, Collin Morikawa will try to put an exclamation point in the 2021 PGA season during the FedEx Cup playoffs the next three weeks.

The 24-year-old Cal grad, in just his 27th month as a pro, already has earned more than $14 million in prize money.

If Morikawa wins the Tour Championship event and the FedEx Cup title two weeks from now, he will pocket a $15 million check.

He starts the three-week FedEx Cup series on Thursday at the Northern Trust, equipped with a slim overall lead in the final regular-season points standings.

The field of 125 qualifiers for the playoffs will be whittled to 65 (plus ties) after Friday’s second round. Golfers will earn four times their normal FedEx Cup points at the three playoff events, and the top 70 in the updated standings will qualify for next week’s BMW Championship, a no-cut event at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland.

From there, the top 30 in the standings advance to the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. The Tour Championship is also a four-round, no-cut tournament, with the winner claiming the FedEx Cup prize.

Whichever golfer has the points lead after the BMW Championship a week from now, starts the playoff-finale Tour Championship at 10 under par. Second place opens at eight under, and so on.

Morikawa earned his spot at the top of the standings through consistently high level play this season. Along with top-ranked Jon Rahm of Spain, Morikawa is the only player in the top-10 world rankings to have top-20 finishes in each of the four majors.

The winner of the 2020 PGA Championship at San Francisco, he built on that this season with eight top-10 finishes. He tied for fourth at the US Open, tied for 8th at the PGA, and tied for 18th at the Masters before winning the British Open at Royal St. George’s in Sandwich, England.

Morikawa also just missed bringing home a medal from the Tokyo Olympics. He rallied in the final round and wound up second in a seven-way playoff for the bronze, which went to CT Pan of Taiwan.

But Morikawa’s enviable starting spot this week offers no promise of a FedEx Cup victory. He has just a 32-point lead over Jordan Spieth while pre-tournament betting favorite Rahm is 168 points back.

Here's just how close the standings are:

SI’s Dan O’Niel offers this evaluation of Morikawa entering play this week:

The 24-year old British Open winner is atop the points standings coming in. Last month, he had the audacity to put new irons into play the week of his first British Open -- and then win it. Who does that? He also was T4 at the U.S. Open and T8 at the PGA. His poise, maturity and iron-play are off the charts. He is first on the Tour in tee-to-green and first in birdie average. By today’s standards, Morikawa is not long. But the FedEx facilities generally fall into the “shot-maker’s” category, which makes him a dangerous man.

Here are odds on the top entries for the Northern Trust:

Jon Rahm: 10/1

Jordan Spieth: 18/1

Collin Morikawa: 20/1

Dustin Johnson: 20/1

Xander Schauffele: 22/1

Rory McIlroy: 22/1

Bryson DeChambeau: 25/1

Brooks Koepka: 25/1

Johnson is the defending champion and McIlroy (2016 & 2019) joins Tiger Woods (2007 & 2009) as the only two-time winners of the event, which began in 2007. Spieth won in 2015 and Justin Thomas claimed the 2017 title.

Morikawa will tee off Thursday at 8:26 a.m. ET as one of four former Cal golfers in the Northern Trust field. Here are the others:

-- Max Homa, who was 27th in the final regular-season points standings, goes off at 8:15 a.m. ET at 150/1 odds. The 30-year-old has enjoyed his finest season on the tour, with five top-10 finishes and more than $3.4 million in prize money.

-- Brandon Hagy, No. 74 in the FedEx Cup standings, tees it up at 7:20 a.m. ET at 300/1. The 30-year-old has three top-10 finishes this season. Hahn has five top-10 finishes this season, but has missed the cut in nine of his past 10 events.

-- And 39-year-old James Hahn, starting at No. 105, tees off at 1:28 p.m. ET, a 500/1 longshot.

Cover photo of Collin Morikawa by Kyle Terada, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo