Fifth Time Is a Charm for Thomas Bjorn

FIVE WAS THE NUMBER at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles in Scotland. Five players—George Coetzee, Bernd Wiesberger, Pablo Larrazabal, Mark Foster and Thomas Bjorn—completed 72 holes at 11 under par. The five men headed back out to the 18th tee to settle the matter in a sudden-death playoff.

It took a while. The men played the 18th, a par 5, five times to decide the championship. The last two men standing were Bjorn and Coetzee, and then it was just Bjorn when his South African opponent couldn’t match his third straight birdie on the finishing hole.

It was Bjorn’s 12th career title on the European Tour and second victory this season.

“I’m delighted,” Bjorn said. “The way I played the last three playoff holes, I couldn’t be more proud. When I’m under the cosh I feel pretty calm and good.”

Foster was not delighted. A bogey at the 72nd hole prevented the Englishman from capturing his first tour win since 2005. Foster dropped out of the playoff after a bogey on the fourth extra hole.

While Hurricane Irene shortened The Barclays in New Jersey, fog and swarms of wasps disrupted play at Gleneagles. But the fog cleared and left a sunny Bjorn to contemplate his first-ever playoff win—and his first win since turning 40.

“If life begins at 40, then I’ve made a pretty good start!” he exclaimed.

It has been a very good year for the Dane, who now finds himself just outside the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Bjorn won the Qatar Masters in February and led the British Open at Royal St. George’s before finishing fourth. Fourteen months ago he won the Portuguese Open, breaking a four-year victory drought.

Indeed, Bjorn, which means bear in Danish, is looking strong at 40.

−The Armchair Golfer

Let the FedEx Cup Playoffs Begin

THE FEDEX CUP PLAYOFFS get underway on Thursday with The Barclays at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, New Jersey. The four-event playoff series, which includes the Deutsche Bank Championship and BMW Championship, concludes in Atlanta with the Tour Championship.

After much criticism and formula tinkering, the FedEx Cup points race has slowly gained acceptance. No, it’s not the majors or the Ryder Cup. No, it can’t compete with football. But it’s far better than the days when everyone tuned out after the PGA Championship. With all that cash up for grabs, the top PGA Tour players surely welcome the playoffs and gladly play deep into the month of September. That’s good for core golf fans.

Above are PGATour.com’s top 10 shots from The Barclays. I remembered three of the shots. Four, actually. After seeing it again, I did recall Sergio Garcia’s putt in his 2008 playoff against Vijay Singh. Of course, I also remembered Vijay’s long one that he made on top of Sergio. And there was Matt Kuchar’s iron out of the rough to three feet. That was last year.

I think Heath Slocum got robbed, though. Slocum’s tournament-winning 20-footer in 2009—the biggest putt of his life and the one that beat Tiger Woods—is No. 6 on the list.

Really? Only No. 6?

That’s just wrong.

−The Armchair Golfer

It Rains Money in Atlanta for Jim Furyk

2010 Tour Championship Recap
Winner: Jim Furyk
Score: 8 under, 272 (67, 65, 70, 70)
Quote: “It’s my second biggest win.”
Fact: Won $11 million with used $39 putter.
Thought: Winning Ryder Cup would cap off best year of Furyk’s career.

I DON’T TALK TO the TV a lot. Certainly not as much as I used to. And usually not with my family around (not that they care). But I was talking to the TV late this afternoon as I tuned in to the final holes of the Tour Championship. I was talking Jim Furyk through those last few holes because I didn’t want to see him blow the tournament and FedEx Cup.

I don’t understand how the the FedEx Cup points work. I let the talking heads and graphics help me keep score. What I did understand was that if Furyk won the tournament, he’d also win the FedEx Cup (and $10 million). The same was true for Luke Donald and Retief Goosen as they played the closing holes.

I decided Furyk is my guy. Nothing against the others, but I’ve always liked Furyk’s grind-it-out style.

So then he bogeys 16. Me: “Um, Jim. C’mon, buddy.” Good drive at 17 and then a weak approach shot. (I thought he hit his second shot fat long before Johnny Miller asked him what happened in the post-round interview. Was it that hard for the TV guys to see?) Another bogey. Me: “JIM!”

Eighteenth tee, long par 3. It’s raining hard, sure. Tough conditions. I get it, TV guys. (Hey, I’ve played in lots of rain and with soaking wet grips, just not for the Gross Domestic Product of a small nation.) Me: “Just get it on the green, Jimmy. C’mon now.”

Bunker.

Some work to do here. Making it interesting, eh Jim? Nothing to say now. I’m just watching. The ball comes out clean, hops, spins and checks two or so feet from the cup. I could make that one. Well, maybe. At least the soaking rain might hide the soiled spot on my pants.

Jim turns his cap around so the rain won’t drip off the bill and taps it in. He later called the putt dummy proof.

It was a nice ending. The guy who missed The Barclays because of a faulty alarm ends up winning it all. And with that used putter he picked up at Joe & Leigh’s in the Boston area, which sounds something like the House of Putters.

“It was like 65 bucks,” Furyk said, “but they sold it to me for $39, I think. I didn’t ask for that, trust me. I didn’t barter.

“It was a used putter. It’s got a nick on the back flange. It’s got a little ding in the top line. I never loft and lied it which is rare for me because I’ve always got my putters on a loft-lie machine at home, and the way the grip is on it, it might be slightly off center but that’s kind of how I like it anyway.”

Next stop for Jim and his $39 putter is Wales for this week’s Ryder Cup.

So, with three wins and the FedEx Cup, Jim Furyk is player of the year, right? I can’t make a stronger case for anyone else.

−The Armchair Golfer

2010 Deutsche Bank Championship TV Schedule and Tournament Notes

THE 2010 DEUTSCHE BANK CHAMPIONSHIP starts Friday at TPC Boston in Norton, Massachusetts. Matt Kuchar, last week’s winner at The Barclays, leads the FedEx Cup playoffs points race.

Purse: $7.5 million
Winner’s share: $1.35 million
Defending champion: Steve Stricker


The field
Tee times
The course
Video
Tournament news
2010 playoffs primer


2010 Deutsche Bank Championship Leaderboard


TV SCHEDULE

Thirteen hours of TV coverage are scheduled for the 2010 Deutsche Bank Championship.

Friday, Sept. 3
3-6 p.m. (GOLF)

Saturday, Sept. 4
3-6 p.m. (GOLF)

Sunday, Sept. 5
3-6 p.m. (NBC)

Monday, Sept. 6
2-6 p.m. (NBC)

PGA Tour radio coverage

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image: Keith Allison/Flickr)

Whistling or Dire Straits for Harrington’s Ryder Cup Hopes

Editor’s note: Brian Keogh, a golf correspondent for The Irish Sun and a regular contributor to The Irish Times and Golf Digest Ireland, writes about the dilemma of five-time Ryder Cupper Padraig Harrington.

By Brian Keogh
Special to ARMCHAIR GOLF

PADRAIG HARRINGTON ADMITS THAT this week’s US PGA is his last chance to avoid the need for a Ryder Cup pick. The Dubliner plans to skip the final qualifying event at Gleneagles to play in the clashing FedExCup play-off tournament in New Jersey in two weeks’ time. And that means he must grab a top-four finish at Whistling Straits to ensure that he is not relying on one of skipper Colin Montgomerie’s three wild cards on August 29.

Confessing he could be in dire straits instead of Whistling Straits on Sunday night, Harrington said: “It’s very precarious. No one who doesn’t qualify automatically deserves to be in the team. If you don’t make it on merit, you are asking for a little bit of a favour.”

Ian Poulter sparked a massive controversy two years ago when he decided not to travel to Gleneagles despite the fact that he could still qualify for the team. It was alleged that Poulter had been given “the nod” by skipper Nick Faldo, who later handed him a captain’s pick.

But Harrington will have safety in numbers this time as Paul Casey and Justin Rose, who are also outside the qualifying places, also intend to skip the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles in favour of The Barclays.

Harrington said: “It is a very awkward situation, there’s no doubt about it. I saw the last time round that one of the players [Poulter] didn’t come to play the last event and I thought he should have. Now I am in the same situation because I have a Special Olympics clinic at The Barclays and I don’t want to let them down.

“I have talked to some of the other guys who will be looking for a pick and they are all saying they will be playing The Barclays. So at the moment I am committing to the Special Olympics and I’m going to try and qualify this week and have nothing to worry about.”

Seventh in the race for four places from the World Points List and just over €13,245 behind Miguel Angel Jimenez in the battle for the other five places from the European Points List, Harrington knows he needs a massive week in Wisconsin.

“The goal is to get in on the world ranking points because that ends in a week’s time. Even if I pass Jimenez in the money, he can jump by me in the last event in Gleneagles so the goal is to play well this week and sort it out.”

Brian Keogh covers golf for The Irish Sun and contributes to a variety of golf publications. Pay him a visit at Irish Golf Desk.

(Image: Mike Davis/Flickr)