A playoff decided the first round of the FedEx Cup Playoffs as Vijay Singh defeated Sergio Garcia on the second playoff hole.  For Mr. Singh this was his fourth victory at the Barclays, although this win was on Ridgewood Country Club after 41 years at Weschester Country Club. “It’s a great golf course,” said Singh, the 1993, 1995 and 2006 winner at Westchester. “Westchester was a good golf course. This tops Westchester. Every single player out there absolutely enjoyed this golf course.” 

David Feherty commented during the final round telecast that Ridgewood is one of his favorite courses in the world, to which Nick Faldo rejoined was an evaluation by a man who’s been hit in the head by a car and a truck this year. 

The playoff for the playoff began with three contestants, Mr. Garcia, Mr. Singh, and Kevin Sutherland all of whom shot 8 under par 276 for 72 holes.  Mr. Garcia rolled in a 27 ft birdie on the first playoff hole, after which Mr. Singh dropped his 26 ft birdie to halve the hole.  Mr. Sutherland was on the back fringe in three and thus out of the playoff.  “I really am happy with how I played and, obviously, disappointed I wasn’t able to play a little bit better in the playoff,” said Sutherland. “I’ve got to forget about that and think about the other 72 holes.”  “I think he was surprised to make his,” Singh said. “I was surprised to see it go in and he was even more surprised to see mine go in.”

Off to the second playoff hole, where things got strange in a hurry.  Mr. Singh hit his tee shot into the middle of the fairway, while Mr. Garcia hit the ball left just short of the hazard.  From there, he attempted to hook an iron around the trees and advance the ball down the fairway in position to hit his third shot into the par 5 hole.  The ball never even thought about hooking, winding up behind an extremely large tree, with no apparent opportunity to hit the green. Mr. Singh hit a 267 yd three wood to with twenty feet of the hole for an eagle opportunity.   In a Carl Spackler kind of moment there was a burrowing gopher or mole just under the surface of the turf in the area where Mr. Garcia was to take his stance,  thus he was entitled to a drop.  This allowed him to have a go at the green, a shot which he left some 30 feet from the hole.  The chip for birdie was tantalizingly close.  Mr. Singh left his eagle putt some 2 inches from the hole and tapped in for the victory.  “He’s a good friend of mine,” Singh said. “It’s hard to see your friend not win, especially if he’s playing against you, but somebody has to win.” Indeed they do, and in a final round where it seems like nobody could get anything going even though a small army of players had chances to take the lead but didn’t, at least the last four or five holes provided some entertainment value, as did the playoff.

Kevin Streelman (72), the third round leader who appeared lost in the middle of the round but rallied nicely on the closing holes finished tied for fourth with Ben Curtis (68) and Matthew Goggin (67) at 7 under par.  Martin Laird (67), Justin Leonard (67), Nicholas Thompson (67), Mike Weir (72) and Paul Casey (72) were all another shot back at 6 under par.  Mr. Weir appeared to be drawing on the playoff superstitions of hockey players during the Stanley Cup Playoffs in that he’s sporting a playoff beard.  Either that or he’s getting ready for a long cold winter and has decided to grow some insulation. 

I haven’t had a chance to see the latest standing in the point race for the FedEx Cup, but Mr. Singh leads, followed by Mr. Garcia in second and Mr. Sutherland in third.  I know some guys who missed the cut here are done for the year.  Phil Mickelson tied for 19th and dropped from third to fourth in the standings.  With the tweaks they made to the scoring it appears that if you play well you can indeed move up significantly in the standings, which adds some excitement to the proceedings.  Lee Janzen, the final qualifier for this event at number 144, finished at even par and was able to jump to number 119 and a spot in the next event.  I’m not sure how much I care, but at least I am aware of the standings somewhat more than last year.