Geoff Ogilvy just won the first event of the PGA season, a tourney composed of the winners of last year’s events.
His earnings for the week, $1.1 mill, guarantee him his card for next year, as well as a two-year exemption as a tournament winner, and eligibility for the majors (redundant, due to his US Open win). Plus, he is the first player eligible for next year’s winners-only season opener. And, he is the current leading in points for the season-ending playoffs.
I was wondering, is there any other sport in which the season’s first event confers as great a benefit to the winner?
NASCAR’s first race each year is also its biggest and most prestigious, the Daytona 500.
Cool. I was thinking motor racing might be the most likely competition. Does winning the Daytona 500 confer other benefits, such as exemtpion from qualifying for other events?
I think winning the first game in a major tennis match is a huge advantage, especially if it is a break.
In terms of the first full event, I should think winning the first rally of the year in WRC tends to give a huge advantage for the season.
Well it does kind of end up that way I guess.
The top 35 cars in points for the season are guaranteed a start in any race. And winning the first race makes it mathematically unlikely you will drop out of the 35 in the early part of the season. The 35 do qualify for position, but anyone not in the 35 is fighting to race at all based on position.
How many NASCAR cars are there competing for how many starting spots in a race? Does the number of available starts vary or is it the same each week?
43 cars start each race. In the grand scheme of things, winning the 500 really does not mean a whole lot, it scores the same points as any other race. Also, guaranteed starting positions for the first 5 races are based on the previous years owner’s points standings. Ryan Newman won the 500 last year and by the 5th race of the year he was out of the top 10 in points and ended 17th in the points. It was his only win all season. The win didn’t even keep him in his ride, by mid season it was known he was going to be out of the 12 car, for 2009 he is driving for a new team in a car that did very little last year.