The top five seeds only have to win the tournament to claim the richest bonus in golf, though there has been three occasions that the Fedex Cup was won by someone else.

This year holds the promise of split trophies — one Tour Championship winner, a different FedEx Cup champion — because the competition has been extraordinarily tight, and the depth of talent is greater than ever.

One concept being explored is staging the Tour Championship, handing out a trophy, and then the top FedEx Cup finishers playing the next day over 18 holes to determine the winner.

Furyk joined Tiger Woods as the only FedEx Cup champions who didn't play the opening playoff event — Woods skipped The Barclays on purpose in 2007, Furyk missed it in 2010 when his phone (and alarm) died overnight and he missed his pro-am, which back then meant he was ineligible to play.

Still with work to do are Hunter Mahan, the only Ryder Cup player in the field, and Sam Saunders, the grandson of Arnold Palmer who would rather not rely on sponsor exemptions that PGA Tour events are more than willing to offer.