Hunter Mahan Wins at the Barclays Championship

Post by Sports Writer Derek Clements

Hunter Mahan won the Barclays Championship, went top of the FedEx Cup playoffs and surely secured a place in the American Ryder Cup team.

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Jim Furyk, meanwhile, must have done something truly terrible in a past life. How else do you explain his failure to convert yet another 54-hole lead into a victory? He hasn't won since 2010. In the interim, he has led after three rounds on eight occasions without being able to convert any of those into victories.

Earlier this season he seemed sure to get the monkey off his back when he led the Canadian Open by three shots going into the final round, only for Tim Clark to birdie five of the last eight holes and deprive him of yet another victory.

And so it happened again at the Barclays Championship, the first of FedEx Cup playoff events. He picked up three birdies on the front nine, but two dropped shots meant he reached the turn on nine under par, two off the lead. He eventually signed off with a 70 and finished eighth.

Jason Day, the Australian whose season was disrupted by a wrist injury, has been making up for lost time. Level with Furyk at the start of the day, he had four birdies and two bogeys on the front nine and had reached 11 under at the turn. He was leading by a shot until Hunter Mahan birdied the 11th. It was his third of the day and he had yet to drop a stroke.

Mahan needed a big week. Desperate to get a wild card pick for the American Ryder Cup team, he wants to lay to rest the demons of Celtic Manor in 2010 when a fluffed chip in his singles match against Graeme McDowell effectively handed the trophy to Europe. Mahan was distraught for some time afterwards because he felt that he had let his team down. He wanted a big year, but hasn't had it, only recently starting to show signs of the form everybody knows he is capable of producing.

The best golf of the final day came from Stuart Appleby.

Now a comparative veteran at the age of 43, he has struggled in recent seasons. This year he had only managed a couple of top 10 finishes and barely scraped into the field for the Barclays, but he burst into life on the back nine. After playing the first nine holes in one under par, the Australian birdied the 11th, 12th, 13th and 15th holes to join Day and Mahan at 11 under. He was on fire now, and took the lead on his own when he birdied the 16th, just as Day was dropping back to 10 under with a bogey at the 11th.

Cameron Tringale joined Mahan on 11 under with a birdie at the 15th - his fourth of the day. He added another birdie at the 16th while Mahan picked up a shot at the 13th. All three were tied on 12 under.

Tringale, Day and Applebyall finished on 12 under, but Mahan had a big finish in  mind. He birdied the 15th, 16th and 17th and could afford to drop a shot at the 18th and still finish with a 65 and a 14 under par total of 270, winning by two shots.

In the first seven years of the FedExCup Playoffs, Mahan was the only player to compete in all 28 events, but his streak was in jeopardy this season as he entered the playoffs at No. 62 in the FedExCup standings. The concern is no longer survival for Mahan, it's winning the FedExCup and its $10 million bonus.

"That would be unbelievable," he said after his final round. "You've got to play good in the FedExCup events and the whole year (to win). There's a lot of golf to be played and a lot of great players. It's gonna be fun."

With only the top 100 progressing to the Deutsche Bank Championship, among those playing no further part in the playoffs are Lee Westwood, David Toms, Justin Leonard, Nick Watney, Retief Goosen, Boo Weekley and Aaron Baddeley.

Derek Clements is a sports journalist with a particular passion for golf with over 12 years of experience covering golf and other sports including Chief Sub-Editor on the sports desk of The Sunday Times. To contact Derek email direct via [email protected]