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JERSEY CITY, N.Y. — It’s playoff time, golf style. And there is not much time to get settled and take it all in.

The FedEx Cup playoffs begin this week at the Northern Trust, continue next week with the BMW Championship and conclude a week later with the Tour Championship.

At the end, a PGA Tour player will have earned a $15 million bonus. The last-place player in the 30-man field at the Tour Championship will get paid, too. That is worth $395,000.

This is the 15th year of the FedEx system, the third under a format that has three tournaments, down from four, and featuring a single FedEx Cup champion as opposed to the possibility of a tournament winner and FedEx winner at the Tour Championship.

Here’s a look at what is ahead:

Now things get interesting

The Northern Trust at Liberty National features the top 125 players off the regular season FedEx Cup points list, with no alternates. The tournament has a cut to the top 65 and ties and will offer four times the number of points as players competed for in regular PGA Tour events. So instead of 500 points, the winner gets 2,000, which creates the possibility of volatility and the ability for players who are way back to advance. The top 70 in points following the tournament will advance to the BMW Championship.

The return of Rahm

For the first time since he tied for third at The Open, No. 1-ranked Jon Rahm is playing. It has been a wild summer for the Spanish golfer who twice has contracted COVID-19 and played some of his best golf in the meantime. He was a 6-shot leader after 54 holes at the Memorial when he tested positive and had to withdraw; he then came back to win the U.S. Open, birdieing the final two holes. He finished tied for seventh at the Scottish Open and then made a last-day run at The Open. Then he tested positive again, missing the Olympics. Rahm enters the playoffs fifth in the FedEx Cup standings.

How quickly things can change

Open champion Collin Morikawa is No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings, but that doesn’t mean much with so many points now at stake. He leads No. 2 Jordan Spieth by just 32 points and is just 450 points ahead of No. 10 Sam Burns. There can be quite the shake-up depending on results.

Jordan says … I’m back

It has been a solid year for Jordan Spieth, who regained his form after a couple of years of struggling, winning the Valero Texas Open and contending several more times. It’s now to the point where Spieth himself believes another victory — or two — is possible. Spieth has not made it to the Tour Championship since 2017.

Back to where Brooks vs. Bryson began

Back where it all started. Well, at least where it escalated. The feud between Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau actually began early in 2019 when Koepka noted DeChambeau’s pace of play at a tournament in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It went to another level when DeChambeau had his issues at the Northern Trust, with Koepka calling him out, words between their caddies, an agreement — allegedly — to not mention each other’s names in such tussles … and then it blowing up big time at the PGA Championship in May this year. And so here we are. DeChambeau is seventh in FedEx points and Koepka is 15th.

Trying to figure out DJ

Dustin Johnson hasn’t been awful — he just hasn’t been as great as he was a year ago at this time, when he won the Northern Trust, lost in a playoff at the BMW, then won the Tour Championship to capture the FedEx Cup.

He is a rather pedestrian 17th in the standings heading into the playoffs and most of it is based on his tie for sixth at the U.S. Open and his victory at the Masters — in November 2020. Remember, this is a six-major season, and Johnson missed the cut in two majors in 2021. He did tie for eighth at the Open, which is his best finish since a tie for eighth at the Genesis Invitational in February.

What about Phil?

Phil Mickelson is proof that all it takes is one good week to position yourself nicely for a FedEx run. Sure, he’d love to be higher than 58th in points. But that number basically assures him of qualifying for the first two playoff events. He has work to do to make it into the top 30 and the Tour Championship. As it stands now, he is 396 points out of 30th. You figure he’ll probably need at least 500 more points to make it. Two top-12 finishes would possibly take care of it. Mickelson, who has made the playoffs every year, was the only player to make it to the second-to-last playoff event every year until the streak ended in 2020.

JT’s quiet year

A strong final round at the Players Championship led to victory for Justin Thomas, but otherwise, this has mostly — by his own admission — been a frustrating year. Since that victory, Thomas has no top-10s on the PGA Tour and didn’t contend in any of the major championships. He enters ninth in the FedEx Cup and can perhaps salvage something by pushing through in the playoffs. He won the FedEx in 2017.

The ongoing Ryder Cup questions

This will be the backstory during the playoffs. The U.S. team’s six automatic qualifiers will be decided following the BMW Championship. U.S. captain Steve Stricker then has six picks following the Tour Championship.

Morikawa, Johnson, DeChambeau, Koepka, Thomas and Xander Schauffele are the six automatic qualifiers at the moment, with Spieth, Harris English, Patrick Reed, Daniel Berger, Patrick Cantlay and Tony Finau holding down the seventh through 12th spots.

Webb Simpson, Scottie Scheffler, Phil Mickelson, Max Homa, Billy Horschel, Will Zalatoris and Kevin Kisner will be other names mentioned — perhaps more — for the at-large spots.

While Stricker will soon know who his automatic team members are, he’d undoubtedly like to see some form out of players in the mix. Reed, Cantlay and Finau have been quiet of late. Mickelson said he needs to have some solid results to be considered. Homa and Horschel would seemingly need to do something in the playoffs.

And it wouldn’t hurt if locks such as Johnson, DeChamabeau and Thomas started playing better, too.

The European team will be decided following the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, which concludes on Sept. 12.

The Ryder Cup is Sept. 24-26.

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Devils’ Nemec, scratched in G1, plays 2OT hero

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Devils' Nemec, scratched in G1, plays 2OT hero

NEWARK, N.J. — Simon Nemec hasn’t had an ideal start to his NHL career. But in Game 3 of the New Jersey Devils‘ Stanley Cup playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes, he finally had his career highlight.

The 21-year-old defenseman scored an unassisted goal at 2:36 of double overtime on Friday night to give the Devils a 3-2 win and new life, cutting the Hurricanes’ series lead to 2-1.

In the process, Nemec, the No. 2 pick in the 2022 NHL draft, had the most impactful moment of his pro career with his first playoff goal.

“I was so happy,” he said. “Amazing feeling. It’s been a tough season for me, and that’s a really big win for us.”

A native of Slovakia, Nemec spent his first season after the draft in the American Hockey League. He split time between the AHL and the Devils in Year 2, thrust into action because of injuries to the New Jersey defense. He split time between the NHL and the minors again this season. Nemec has played 87 games in the NHL, with five goals and 18 assists while skating to a minus-17.

He was a frequent healthy scratch in New Jersey, including Game 1 on Sunday, and his lackluster play caused many to wonder if Nemec would live up to his lofty draft position. Nemec was last on the Devils in goals above replacement at minus-8.7, according to Evolving Hockey.

Thanks to injuries to defensemen Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon, Nemec was called upon in Game 2 against Carolina and was back in the lineup for Game 3, in which the Devils lost defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic to injury after just 10 shifts. That injury, plus the multiple overtimes, meant massive increases in ice time for veterans such as Brian Dumoulin (36:29) and Brett Pesce (32:25), as well as more responsibility for Nemec.

“You just need guys to step up at the right times,” Dumoulin said. “He knew he was going to be going out there, we’re going to be relying on him, and we needed him. You could see that he took that moment. He wasn’t scared of it, and he took the reins of it.”

Nemec said the overtime goal, which beat Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen (34 saves), was the kind of boost he needs in his career.

“Yeah, it helps me a lot,” he said. “I feel like my confidence is back the last couple games. I’m just trying to play my game and do this stuff. I have to play offense a little bit, too, so my confidence is higher, and I just feel good about myself.”

Devils coach Sheldon Keefe admitted that he dreamed about defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler, who returned to the lineup for the first time since Feb. 4 and played 27:09, being the Game 3 hero.

“But if I was really thinking, I would have said, ‘Wouldn’t this be something if the young guy who just stepped up so big for us here, if he ended the game?'” Keefe said.

The message the coach gave his team in the overtime intermissions was one of aggressiveness. That apparently wasn’t lost on Nemec.

“We’ve got to go win this hockey game. We don’t want to sit back, we don’t want this game to go on forever,” Keefe said. “Credit Nemo with doing that. To have the mindset to do it, not just sitting back and conserving energy. He was on the front foot. You love to see it and love to see him get rewarded.”

Game 4 of the series will be Sunday afternoon in New Jersey.

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Follow live: Kings look to take 3-0 series lead vs. Oilers

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Hagel suspended for Game 3 due to hit on Barkov

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Hagel suspended for Game 3 due to hit on Barkov

Tampa Bay Lightning winger Brandon Hagel was suspended one game by the NHL Department of Player Safety on Friday night for what it labeled “an extremely forceful body check to an unsuspecting opponent” that injured Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov.

Hagel will miss Saturday’s Game 3 in Sunrise, Florida. The Panthers lead the series 2-0.

Around midway through the third period of Thursday’s Game 2, Tampa Bay was on the power play while trailing 1-0. Barkov pressured defenseman Ryan McDonagh deep in the Lightning zone. With the puck clearly past Barkov, Hagel lined him up for a huge hit that sent the Panthers captain to the ice and thumping off the end boards.

A penalty was whistled, and the officials conferred before calling a “five-minute penalty.” After review, Hagel was given a 5-minute major for interference. Barkov left the game with 10:09 remaining in regulation and did not return to the Panthers’ 2-0 win.

Lightning coach Jon Cooper said after the game that he didn’t expect Hagel to receive a major penalty for the hit.

“Refs make the call. I was a little surprised it was a five, but it was,” he said.

The NHL ruled that Hagel’s hit made “some head contact” on Barkov.

“It’s important to note that Barkov is never in possession of the puck on this play and is therefore not eligible to be checked in any manner,” the league said.

In the Friday hearing, held remotely, Hagel argued that he approached the play anticipating that Barkov would play the puck. But the Department of Player Safety said the onus was on Hagel to ensure that Barkov was eligible to be checked. It also determined that the hit had “sufficient force” for supplemental discipline.

It’s Hagel’s first suspension in 375 regular-season and 36 playoff games. He was fined for boarding Florida’s Eetu Luostarinen in May 2022.

The Panthers held an optional skate Friday. Coach Paul Maurice said Barkov “hasn’t been ruled out yet” but “hasn’t been cleared” for Game 3.

“He’s an irreplicable player,” Panthers defenseman Seth Jones said of Barkov. “One of the best centermen in the league. He’s super important to our team.”

The Lightning lose Hagel while they struggle to score in the series; they scored two goals in Game 1 and were shut out in Game 2. Tampa Bay was the highest-scoring team in the regular season (3.56), with Hagel contributing 35 goals and 55 assists in 82 games.

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