In the days when Tiger Woods was winning six or eight tournaments a year, the idea of a FedEx Cup crowning some sort of mythical champion was laughable. Tiger had already wrapped up Player of the Year. The FedEx Cup became sort of a ’do-over’. It was not legitimate in terms of factoring into the Player of the Year picture, because the Player of the Year was a foregone conclusion as Tiger, Tiger was burning bright.

This was clearly true the first three years of the FedEx Cup in 2007- 2009. Tiger racked up 8, 4 and 6 wins in those years, and walked away with the Player of the Year award in a romp. He also closed the deal on the FedEx Cup, but Player of the Year has already been decided.

Last year, the onset of the post-‘hand-it-to-Tiger-because-we-aren’t-worthy’ era was underway. Jim Furyk won THE TOUR Championship in 2010, and given the way the FedEx Cup Points slant to the end, Furyk won the FedEx Cup by default. But Matt Kuchar won the Player of the Year title, as he was the most consistent player week-to-week on Tour in 2010 and was a multiple winner. It must be nice to be the Player of the Year. But it’s funny how the Player of the Year Kuchar watched Furyk walk off with the $10 million bonus. Like the high class hooker says: Tell me you love me, but pay me in cash!

This year THE TOUR Championship will not only decide the Fed Ex Cup Champion, but it will have a huge impact in deciding the Player of the Year. First of all, there are six players that have already earned two victories this year on Tour. Still, you can’t make a case for all of them as Player of the Year. Some of them seemingly can’t get there even if they win this week. Let’s look at how the race for Player of the Year breaks down.

Webb Simpson – Simpson leads the current FedEx Cup points list, leads the PGA Tour Money List, has 10 top ten finishes in 23 events to go with his two wins, and is hotter than five-alarm indigestion melting down that belly putter. If he wins this week, wrap up both trophies and send them to his house. It’s over. But Simpson has never played at THE TOUR Championship at East Lake, and we see that as a decided disadvantage.

Nick Watney – Watney is in seventh place on the FedEx cup list and third place in the PGA Tour Money List. If he wins THE TOUR Championship he still needs Simpson and Dustin Johnson to finish third or worse to win the entire FedEx Cup, but that’s not too far fetched. Watney finished tied for fourth last year at East Lake so he obviously doesn’t hate the place. If he won THE TOUR Championship and the FedEx Cup, he would also very likely capture the PGA Tour Money Title, so we would have to crown him with the Player of the Year trophy as well.  You certainly have to like Watney’s past performance and respect his chances this week.

Steve Stricker – The quiet guy from Wisconsin sits number twelve in the FedEx Cup standings, is seventh on the Money List, and is ranked 5^th in the World. But he needs help to win the FedEx Cup even if he wins THE TOUR Championship. Basically the Top 5 in the FedEx Cup standings all need to fail to be in contention for Stricker to prevail. But if he won for the third time, improved his World Ranking, and got help from the top 5, he could get the Player of the Year nod as well. But that’s a lot of if’s.

Mark Wilson – Wilson is in much the same position as Stricker, but he will not be looked upon as favorably for Player of the Year unless he wins THE TOUR Championship, and the top 6 in FedEx Cup points all fail to fire, and he somehow carries home the FedEx Cup. Wilson could win all these and still fail to get Player of the Year. His wins earlier this year were lower stature events on the Tour, and he fell apart last week on Saturday and Sunday after being in contention at Cog Hill. I love Wilson, but somehow he seems sort of like a fluke, because he’s a short hitter and because he’s not flashy. That’s a hard way to get votes.

Bubba Watson – Bubba is very popular with fans, but the players vote on Player of the Year. He has played indifferently in the FedEx Playoffs and sits 18^th in FedEx points despite two wins this year. For Bubba to win the FedEx Cup he would need to win THE TOUR Championship and Simpson would have to finish 12^th or worse and the rest of the top 6 in points have to place outside the top 5. Simpson is on such a roll, that the idea of Simpson finishing outside the top 12 seems improbable at best, so Bubba needs a serious break there. And without both titles I fear Bubba’s Player of the Year hopes are a pipe dream. It also seems likely that his erratic play will not garner as much support from the rest of the players when it comes time to vote.

Keegan Bradley – Bradley is in a unique position, in that he could win THE TOUR Championship, not win the FedEx Cup, and win Player of the Year. Why? Well, the winners of The Masters, U.S. Open, and British Open are all absent from the Tour Championship. Thus Bradley could be the only three-time winner this year, and one being the PGA Championship and one the Tour Championship. That certainly seems like Player of the Year credentials to me! But winning the FedEx Cup requires Simpson to finish outside the top 13 at East Lake and the rest of the top 6 outside the top 5. That’s just not going to happen.

Luke Donald, Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose and Matt Kuchar would each also win the FedEx Cup with a win in THE TOUR Championship since they currently reside within the top 5 in FedEx Cup points. Without a doubt a win this week would sew up Player of the Year for World Ranked #1 Luke Donald. But I doubt that would be enough to earn Kuchar back-to-back Player of the Year titles, as it would be his only win of the year, and I suspect that voters would be hesitant to give it to him again without multiple victories. I also don’t think Rose can win the last two events of the year and steal player of the Year. In the case of Dustin Johnson, it could send the voters into a tizzy, with factions supporting Simpson, Donald, Johnson, Bradley, and Watney. That’s so confusing it’s almost worth rooting for.

Given all that, it seems to me that Luke Donald has worn the mantle of Worlds #1 rather well. He’s always in contention, and he finished runner-up at East Lake last year. So I would grab the chalk this week, look for Luke Donald to sweep THE TOUR Championship, the FedEx Cup, and Player of the Year. Add a $10 million bonus and a stranglehold on the World #1 Ranking, and you are talking about one heck of a year from a very classy player.