Golf Capsules: One week produces big jumps in FedEx Cup
NORTON, Mass. (AP) — Matt Kuchar rose to No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings after the first playoff event, and no one was quibbling about that. After a solid year, he beat one of the strongest fields of the year at The Barclays.
The new question facing this playoff system is whether too much is made of finishing second.
Martin Laird made the biggest jump in the standings last week, going up 92 places to No. 3 for his runner-up finish at Ridgewood. It was only his third top-10 finish of the year, and it came at a good time. Barring a big collapse, he is likely to get into the Tour Championship for the top 30 players, assuring him a spot in the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open.
And then there's Kevin Streelman.
He had only three top 10s all year, one of them at an opposite-field event. He came into the playoffs at No. 102 and was not assured of making it out of the first round. But he played well — that's what the playoffs are all about — and tied for third at The Barclays, moving him up 84 spots to No. 18.
Streelman finished one shot better than Vaughn Taylor, who started at No. 38 and now is three spots behind Streelman at No. 21.
Does that sound about right?
"I don't think — I know — that's too many points," Ben Crane said about the jumps made by Laird and Streelman. "We should aspire to answer the question of who's playing the best golf. You don't want to answer the question of who had a hot week. The jump probably should be more gentle. A big jump should be for playing great for two weeks."
Tiger Woods made a moderate jump, but it was good enough. With a tie for 12th at The Barclays, he went from No. 112 to No. 65, and now has a reasonable chance of making it to the third round.
Woods arrived at the TPC Boston on Tuesday for a session on the range. The tour has projected he would need to finish somewhere around 50 at the Deutsche Bank Championship to move on.
Crane holds nothing against Laird or Streelman. Everyone knew how the points worked when the playoffs began. And he finds it to be a 100 percent improvement from two years ago, when the incentive for the world's best player was simple to make the cut. Several players referred to that system as the "Michelle Wie Cup."
Even so, Crane is among those who wonder whether there's too much of a reward for finishing second or third. He won at Torrey Pines this year and came into the playoffs at No. 12. Crane tied for 12th, five shots behind the leaders, and moved up one spot.
"It is a severe jump," Stewart Cink said. "Do they award 18 percent to the winner like prize money? What about using 20 percent for the winner and 10 percent for second?"
Cink likes the system, and one thing everyone would agree to is that no system will be without flaws. Even so, he also was troubled that players could make such a quantum leap without winning.
Andres Romero started the playoffs at No. 115. With four birdies on his last five holes — the last one from 40 feet — he moved up to No. 100 to earn the last spot in the field at the Deutsche Bank Championship, which starts Friday.
By finishing third at the TPC Boston, he could move up to as high as No. 15 and be on the fast track to East Lake.
"That renders the regular season useless," Cink said.
Then again, that's what the playoffs are supposed to be all about — playing the best golf toward the end of the year. What troubles Crane, Cink and other players is that one good week — even if it's not a victory — could be all it takes to reap a significant reward by going to the Tour Championship.
Everyone knows what's at stake in the four playoff events, just as everyone knows what's at stake at the four majors. They are playing for history in the majors. They are playing for the chance at big money (a $35 million bonus pool) and big perks in the playoffs.
Streelman knew what he was up against. If he played poorly in the opening playoff event, he was headed home for a month.
"The intent was for players to be playing well in the playoffs," Streelman said. "That's why the points are up so much. It's a neat thing. If you're playing good, your goals can change quickly."
He was hopeful of going to Boston. Now, Streelman is assured of getting to the third round outside Chicago, where he grew up. And there's a decent chance of going to the Tour Championship for the first time.
All because he tied for third in the first playoff event.
For all the debate, the Deutsche Bank Championship offers another strong field, with 37 of the top 50 in the world. The other 13 players are not PGA Tour members.
"How good is this for golf?" Crane said.
Perry withdraws from Deutsche Bank
NORTON, Mass. (AP) — Kenny Perry has withdrawn from the Deutsche Bank Championship, ending his run in the FedEx Cup.
Perry's agent, Alan Bullington, says the 50-year-old Perry is exhausted and needs a few months at home in Kentucky to rest and refocus.
Perry has already stated he is planning his 2011 season on both the PGA and Champion tours.
Perry is 93rd in the FedEx Cup standings and would have needed a strong week to advance to Chicago next week.
Amateur
Young golfer disqualifies self, gives up medal
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Zach Nash was shocked when he discovered he had one too many golf clubs in his bag a couple hours after winning a junior Wisconsin PGA tournament.
But rules are rules, and the 14-year-old from southern Wisconsin made a decision that might surprise some people: He disqualified himself and surrendered his medal.
"I knew right away I couldn't live with myself if I kept this medal, so it was pretty instantaneous," Nash said during a phone interview from his home in Waterford on Wednesday, his first day of high school.
Nash shot a 77 to win the boys 13-14 age division at the Milwaukee County Parks Tour Invitational, which is run by the Wisconsin PGA Section, on Aug. 11. He beat 31 other players in his division, all while his grandparents from Iowa were watching.
After his victory, Nash went to the Rivermoor Golf Club — where he played 36 holes nearly every day this summer — to practice more and talk to one of his mentors, Chris Wood, the club's head golf professional.
"I was showing everybody my medal and then Chris and I went and we were having a soda and he said 'Hey, whose club is this? And I said 'my friend's.' And he said 'This makes 15.' I was in shock after that," Nash said.
The penalty for breaking the rule, called rule 4-4, is two strokes for each hole played with more than 14 clubs, with a maximum of four penalty strokes. But since he didn't notice his extra club during the tournament, a penalty wasn't added. That meant he signed an incorrect scorecard, which he knew disqualified him.
Nash said golf prides itself on honesty and players calling penalties on themselves. While the decision was clear, he said he couldn't help but cry a bit in front of Wood. Wood had to call Nash's father, Bob, to pick him up.
Later that night, Nash called Andy Landenberger, junior tour director for the WPGA, to explain what happened. He sent back the medal, which Landenberger said he would present to runner-up Dane Reinhardt, who shot an 80.
Nash, who has been golfing for about three years, said a friend spent the night at his house before the tournament and left a 5-wood club, and he put it in his bag not realizing it made a total of 15. Wood said Nash made him and the club proud.
"I think most people — not just kids — would have tried to justify in their mind having the extra clubs in their bag and not using them as an excuse to not call and disqualify themselves," Wood said.
Nash's father said his son is a regular teenager — he talks back to his parents, picks on his brothers — and was a bit surprised the teenager didn't consider, just for a moment, keeping the mistake to himself. But he said he did the right thing and he and his wife were proud.
"When I first heard it, when he told me the whole story, I thought, 'Wow, you are doing the right thing,'" Bob Nash said. "You have to keep doing what's right. But in the back of my mind, I'm thinking 'If you didn't say anything the standing wouldn't change.'"
The boy's honest deed was first reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Nash started his freshman year Wednesday at Waterford Union High School and plans to go out for the golf team. He played in another tournament on Tuesday — and counted his clubs three times. The faux pas has made him a better golfer, he said.
"It kind of got me to be more aware of all the rules, especially 4-4," he said.
-- Carrie Antlfinger
Seniors
No. 7 not so lucky for John Elway on this day
DENVER (AP) — John Elway pulled an Elway on the Elway hole.
"Seven on 7," the Hall of Famer said sadly after carding an even-par 72 Wednesday in his first senior golf tournament since turning 50 in June.
Elway's blunder came about when he played the wrong ball and ended up with a triple bogey on the par-4 seventh hole at the Green Valley Ranch Golf Club, site of the HealthOne Colorado Senior Open.
Elway hit a TaylorMade Penta 2 ball from the rough only to realize when he reached it again on the fairway that it wasn't his.
So, he penalized himself two strokes.
"It was the same exact ball and it was buried. I could barely see the ball and it was a TaylorMade 2, which is what I was hitting," Elway said. "I didn't mark the ball. ... I just figured it was the same lie, same everything, so I didn't check it for sure. I was happy to find it, actually.
"And after I hit it and I got up in the grass, I looked at it and I said, 'Aw, that's not my ball.' So, we went 10 yards farther and there was my ball, and it was in much better shape than the one I hit."
This golf ball is relatively new, so that made it all the odder to Elway that two nearly identical balls would be so close together to trip him up.
"I was a little bit unlucky, but I also should have checked it. It was in a big tuft of grass and I could only see about that much of it," Elway said, holding his thumb and forefinger to make a hole about the size of a dime. "And it was a TaylorMade with a 2. So, I should have picked it up to make sure it was mine."
There were only two fans watching, along with an Associated Press reporter and an AP photographer, who were far enough away that Elway and his caddie, Jeff Nickless, could have kept quiet and nobody would have known about the blunder.
Elway did the honorable thing, though, went back and played his ball.
Now, the two-time Super Bowl winner can add "honest golfer" to his resume.
"And I counted my scorecard seven times there because I wanted to make sure I didn't write down a wrong score, either," Elway said. "It was disappointing but I was able to come back and I actually played really well. So, it was just a mistake."
Otherwise, Elway played pretty consistently, never needing a three-putt.
"I was glad I came back after that 7 because it bothered me, razzed me a little bit," Elway said. "And I actually hit a good shot on the next hole, had about a 6-footer for birdie and I missed it. And I made birdie on the next hole."
Elway was the low amateur finisher Friday and is five shots behind leader Bob Niger of El Dorado Hills, Calif.
Another round like this and Elway should easily make the cut Friday when the field of 156 amateurs and pros is trimmed to the top 55 scores plus ties.
"My thought was I couldn't win it today, I could just lose it," said Elway, who tied for second at a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada in July. "So, I played probably a little bit safer that I probably would if I was chasing somebody.
"If I can play like I did today tomorrow and eliminate the big hole, then maybe I can sneak back into it."
Aside from working on his golf game, Elway has spent part of his summer dipping his toe back into the NFL with some marketing and corporate projects for the Denver Broncos
It's the first time he's been involved with his former team since retiring in 1999 after winning back-to-back Super Bowls. He'll help them promote their game in London next month against the San Francisco 49ers.
"It's kind of a perfect situation with what I have going on right now," Elway said. "So, I'll go to London with them and kind of see what happens. But it's nice to just be close, back with the Broncos."
Elway also has attended a couple of coach Josh McDaniels' practices this summer. He said he's impressed with quarterbacks Kyle Orton and Tim Tebow, the former Florida star whose popularity recalls the days of Elway's arrival in Denver in 1983.
And what does Elway make of Tebowmania?
"Tim's a popular guy. He won the Heisman his sophomore year in college, and then they won the national title, so we've heard about Tim for three years," Elway said. "I mean, he's just a popular guy and not only for what he does football-wise but for what type of person he is.
"I think now that we get into the regular season the mania may cool down a little bit and we start talking about wins and losses, and I'm sure Tim's anxious to get going with the season, too."
Like many NFL observers, Elway said he's "curious to see how they're going to use him in certain situations. But all the young guys will see things turned up a notch once they get into the regular season."
While Orton has a stranglehold on the starting job, Elway said he believes the Broncos will find ways to get Tebow on the field.
-- Arnie Stapleton
PGA European
Molinari returns to European Masters as contender
CRANS MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) — Edoardo Molinari is returning to the European Masters this week and unlike last year, no one is questioning why he's here.
When Molinari was given a sponsors' invite to play in the 2009 tournament as a relatively unknown Challenge Tour player, there were plenty of questions as to why he was picked ahead of several struggling European Tour golfers who needed prize money to keep their tour cards.
But the 29-year-old Italian finished 14th, which heralded the start of a meteoric rise in the world rankings that culminated in him being selected to Europe's Ryder Cup team for the first time on Sunday.
Molinari insists he is "not too tired" to aim for a second straight victory, after winning last weekend's Johnnie Walker Championship.
-- Graham Otway
