Sep. 30, 2008
By Vartan Kupelian, PGATOUR.COM Contributor
Vijay Singh became the second winner of the FedExCup thanks to his fast start in winning The Barclays and the Deutsche Bank Championship.
Camilo Villegas finished second with an equally fast finish, winning the BMW Championship and THE TOUR Championship.
In between, Sergio Garcia, Anthony Kim, Dudley Hart and Phil Mickelson, among others, produced plenty of highlights in the four events of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.
Which were the best? It's likely that if you asked 10 people, you'd get 10 different responses.
Still, here are my 10 favorite moments (click here for photo gallery of top-10 moments):
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| 1. Topped |
On the first playoff hole at The Barclays, Sergio Garcia dropped a 27-foot birdie putt. This was sudden-death, and Garcia was now firmly in charge of his playoff with Singh and Kevin Sutherland, who would soon be the first to exit. There was nothing left for him to do except wait and see.
Garcia stood off to the side to watch Singh's attempt at birdie, which was about 12 inches closer to the hole than Garcia's putt. Make, and Singh would force another extra hole. Miss, and Garcia would strike the first blow in the FedExCup. It was a birdie putt few expected Singh would convert.
Singh made the highlight-reel putt, though, and went on to win with another birdie on the next hole. This was the first of his two Playoff victories. |
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| 2. The 7-iron |
It was a dead, solid, perfect 7-iron -- the kind that wins titles. The timing was dead, solid, perfect, too.
Camilo Villegas hammered that shot from 184 yards to 12 feet on the 71st hole at East Lake, which enabled him to get into a playoff and, eventually, win the TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola -- for his second straight victory.
"Probably the shot of the tournament there," he said. No doubt about it. |
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| 3. You gotta have heart |
Garcia's birdie putt at the first playoff hole at The Barclays included some memorable theatrics.
Surely, the putt would be a winner, or so Garcia imagined. When it dropped, he pumped both fists -- was he practicing for the Ryder Cup? -- and turned toward the CBS broadcast tower, where Nick Faldo, Europe's captain, was watching and reporting.
Garcia tapped his chest and blew a kiss to his captain. Garcia's reaction to Singh's birdie putt?
"I think he was surprised to make his, and I was surprised to see it go in," Singh said. Garcia nonetheless was smiling and shaking his head when he walked over to congratulate the winner. |
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| 4. Putting machine |
Be honest. Did you ever think Singh would be called a putting machine? No, and neither did he.
But that's what continued to happen during the FedExCup when the field arrived at TPC Boston for the Deutsche Bank Championship.
Singh holed a 35-foot birdie putt on the 13th hole and went even deeper on the next green when he dropped a 60-foot bomb.
If that wasn't enough, Singh nailed another 35-foot birdie putt on the 17th to cap his heroics on the greens. Pretty amazing.
"It was awesome," Garcia, his playing partner, said. "I don't think you guys are going to realize how good that was, because you aren't playing, and you don't know how tough the course was playing. When Vijay plays like that, it's hard to beat him.
"It's like when Tiger plays well. You want to beat him, but it's good to watch. You're watching history." |
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| 5. Upward mobility |
Dudley Hart knew what he needed to reach THE TOUR Championship, and he went out and did it. Birdies on his last two holes that led to a runner-up finish at the BMW Championship allowed him to make the elite field for the first time in his career.
"I figured that I needed to finish fourth by myself or better," Hart said. "I wasn't totally sure on that, because you kind of have to be a mathematician to figure it out. But I was trying to do my best."
The best of what Hart did came on the 18th hole.
"I wasn't really looking at the scoreboards much, but I looked up and I noticed that I was tied for third," he said. "I looked at my caddie, and told him, 'We need to give this thing a run.' "
Hart gave it a really good run, made the lengthy putt and reached THE TOUR Championship. |
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| 6. V is for Villegas |
Call it the coming of age for Camilo Villegas. If FedExCup winner Singh was the story of the first two Playoff events, Villegas took over center stage for the final two with victories at the BMW Championship and THE TOUR Championship.
It took Villegas, 26, a Colombian who starred at the University of Florida, 85 events to win his first on the PGA TOUR but he made short order of No. 2 with a playoff victory over Garcia, the victim of golf's inexorable fates during the FedExCup Playoffs. |
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| 7. Mind games |
At peak performance levels, professional athletes know no boundaries. It's true in every sport.
On the greens during the FedExCup, Singh acted and sounded like a man who truly believed he had discovered golf's Holy Grail -- perfect putting.
Singh qualifies as an expert on the nuances of the art because he has experienced it from every point on the spectrum -- good, bad and points in-between. And he's had more putting advice from more sources than anyone might imagine.
"Whatever they can tell me, it works briefly," Singh said. "But it has to come from inside me, and that was the biggest thing."
At The Barclays, he said that he "just kind of felt like I belonged on the greens. That was the biggest thing." The feeling was confirmed at TPC Boston where he kept thinking and saying, "I'm the best putter in the world." |
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| 8. Magic number |
In golf, it's 59. Just three players in TOUR history have achieved. But two golfers -- Mike Weir and Tim Clark -- were in position to join elite company at TPC Boston.
Weir made his bid in the opening round of the Deutsche Bank Championship before falling short with a 10-under 61. He needed just 21 putts.
In round 2, Tim Clark was 10-under through 13 holes, including two eagles in a three-hole span. He needed just two more birdies over the final five holes for 59. He got one of those birdies but not the other. Clark then made bogey on his final two holes to shoot 9-under 62.
And the three golfers who have shot 59 in a TOUR event? That would be Al Geiberger, Chip Beck and David Duval. |
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| 9. Anthony's encore |
Four days after helping the United States win the Ryder Cup, Anthony Kim teed it up at THE TOUR Championship, and the adrenalin was still flowing. Kim shot 6-under 64 to claim a big, early lead despite a bogey on the first hole.
However, he knocked it stiff and converted birdie putts of 2, 2, 8 and 15 feet on the front. He was flashing his best Ryder Cup form and made four more birdies on the back.
"It took me a couple days to get over that celebration that we had on Sunday night, so I wasn't expecting too much," Kim said. "Just taking what the course gave me."
The best was yet to come, though. Kim and Sergio Garcia, his Ryder Cup Singles victim, were paired together in the final group on Saturday. The Spaniard shot 67 to wrestle the lead away from Kim, who had a 72. |
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| 10. Home sweet home |
Jay Williamson is a member at Bellerive Country Club, site of the BMW Championship. He had circled the week on his calendar when the tournament was announced two years ago and was desperate to make the field.
Williamson, though, had started the Playoffs ranked 99th and only the top 70 would play at Bellerive in the third event. He moved up to 65th at The Barclays and 60th at the Deutsche Bank Championship -- and got to join his family, nearly all of whom were volunteering -- at the BMW Championship. |
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Vartan Kupelian is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.
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