- FedExCup Points: 50,000
- Purse: $7.0 million
- Winning Share: $1,260,000
- Yards: 6,839
PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents
HARRISON, N.Y. -- As he poured in those birdies on the last three holes at Westchester Country Club Sunday afternoon, Steve Stricker was doing his level best to win a golf tournament.
He hadn't won in six years, after all, and he hadn't taken advantage of four golden opportunities earlier this year, either. Small wonder, then, that Stricker's focus was on the most immediate prize.
Once Stricker made the eight-footer that clinched the two-stroke victory at The Barclays, the first event of the inaugural PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, though, he could afford to look ahead.
The 9,000 points he earned Sunday vaulted Stricker 11 spots to the top of the FedExCup standings. He's 2,050 points ahead of the man he beat on Sunday, K.J. Choi, and 4,300 up on Rory Sabbatini, who placed third at Westchester.
"Everything that comes after (the win) is icing on the cake," an emotional Stricker said. "I'm in a great position now. There's still a long ways to go, and we all know who is coming back next week."
He paused to let the laughter die down in the interview area. Tiger Woods, the man Stricker displaced at the top of the standings, will make his Playoff debut at the Deutsche Bank Championship suddenly trailing by 4,950 points.
"I've just got to keep focused and keep doing what I'm doing and hopefully get myself some more opportunities in the next three (tournaments)," Stricker said.
At stake when the four-event Playoff series ends is a $10 million bonus for the man who holds down the top spot in the standings. Turns out that Sunday's rise by Stricker, Choi and Sabbatini proved to be a bonus for the fans, too.
For the first two rounds of each Playoff event, players are paired in threesomes based on how they rank in the FedExCup standings. So Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh will play together on Friday and Saturday at the TPC Boston.
Woods dropped three spots to fourth by taking what amounted to a first-round bye at The Barclays. Phil Mickelson lost one spot despite tying for seventh at Westchester and earning 1,612 points while Singh missed the cut and dropped four.
Mickelson came away encouraged by his play at The Barclays. He finished 11 under after a closing 67 and finally saw some putts go in. Not to mention, he got into the hunt for the first time since he won THE PLAYERS Championship in May.
"I'm looking forward to next week and the next three weeks, and it should be fun," Mickelson said.
At the other end of the spectrum, Rich Beem and Doug LaBelle came out as the big winners as they played their way into this week's Deutsche Bank Championship. Only the top 120 in the FedExCup standings at the end of The Barclays are eligible.
Beem started the final round ranked No. 134 and tied for seventh, jumping up 21 spots in the FedExCup standings. LaBelle's move was more modest, a single spot to No. 120 when he tied for 41st, but at least he was able to punch his ticket to Boston, too.
LaBelle, though, knew that he needed a birdie on the 72nd hole on Sunday to have a chance to play in the Deutsche Bank Championship. The PGA TOUR rookie was up to the task, too, making the clutch 6-footer.
"It's a great feeling to know that I did something like that under pressure," LaBelle said. "I know I can do it again. Six feet and in saved me this week, that's for sure."
Steve Allan and Mathew Goggin were the ones who got bumped out of the top 120 Sunday, eliminated from the Playoffs along with 22 others from the starting field of 144 at Westchester.
This week, the magic number at the Deutsche Bank Championship is 70. So Ian Poulter, who moved 18 spots to No. 59 and Steve Flesch, who jumped 11 to the bubble spot, put themselves in much better position to make the field for the BMW Championship at Cog Hill.
"Now I've going to go out next week and play just as hard and hopefully get myself back in the position again to play in Chicago," said Beem, who also appears to have secured his playing privileges for 2008 after jumping to No. 109 on the money list.
LaBelle trails Flesch by 3,925 points, so he needs a two-way tie for second -- or better -- to move on to the third Playoff event at Cog Hill.
"I'm a numbers guy," LaBelle said. "I have been following the points. I know I have to win or finish second next week to move on to Chicago. Is my game plan going to change at all? Probably not.
"As a rookie, I know Tiger Woods is probably going to win the FedExCup -- and rightfully so. I just want to keep playing well and see what happens. I came into the week knowing at worst, I'd have three weeks off to prepare for the last seven weeks. I'm looking at the Deutsche Bank tournament as a bonus."
Geoff Ogilvy was encouraged by his tie for fourth Sunday on a course where he had three missed cuts and a tie for 18th -- "It must mean I'm playing well," he said. Ogilvy plans to take advantage of the Deutsche Bank Championship's unusual Friday start and Labor Day finish.
"I'll take Monday and Tuesday (off), definitely, and see how it goes," said Ogilvy, who jumped seven spots to No. 14 in the FedExCup standings. "It's going to be a long four weeks. So when we get a chance to take a few days off I think we should.
Ernie Els and Mark Calcavecchia also tied for fourth with the Aussie. Els rose nine spots to 10th in the FedExCup standings while Calcavecchia jumped the same amount to No. 11 with what he called a "confidence builder" at Westchester.
Calcavecchia has never played the TPC Boston but he says he'd be happy if the tournament started Monday, rather than Friday. He thought he might take a few days off, maybe go to see a Red Sox game, but he wanted to be ready for the rest of the Playoffs.
"I knew my whole season was going to be these eight weeks starting with the British Open through the Canadian Open, Bridgestone, PGA; then one week off and then the Playoff events, four more," Calcavecchia said.
"So these eight weeks are going to be my whole season pretty much and it looks like now I will be in Atlanta (for THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola) for sure. That's great. That's where I wanted to be."
