Top 30 players compete for FedEx Cup

ATLANTA, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- The year's final event on the PGA Tour begins Thursday with five players, Tiger Woods included, controlling their own destiny in the battle for $10 million.

The FedEx Cup and its accompanying huge cash prize will be awarded at the end of the Tour Championship, during which 30 players will compete for four days over the home course of golfing legend Bobby Jones.

Points have been awarded throughout the season to determine which players would meet at the East Lake Country Club and that group ranges from Woods (No. 1 on the list thanks to five tournament victories) to Dustin Johnson (No. 30).

The points have been reset going into this event so it is possible for any of the 30 players to win the FedEx Cup and the $10 million, but those positioned among the lower spots in the standings will have to win this tournament and get a lot of help in the form of poor play from those near the top.

Bill Haas has come the farthest in the seven previous FedEx Cup competitions, having climbed from 25th place to the title two years ago.

Although anyone playing this week has a chance for a FedEx Cup victory, those taking up the first five places at the start of the week have the best opportunity of all.

Any of those five -- Woods, Henrik Stenson, Adam Scott, Zach Johnson and Matt Kuchar -- will win the FedEx Cup if they win the Tour Championship. The next five on the points list are Steve Stricker, Graham DeLaet, Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose and defending FedEx Cup champion Brandt Snedeker.

Scott, Stenson and Zach Johnson have won the first three of the four tournaments that make up the season-ending playoffs.

The only rookie in the field this week is 20-year-old Jordan Spieth, who began the year without any official playing status on any tour and is now ranked 30th in the world. He holds down the No. 13 spot on the points list going into the Tour Championship.