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Chipping In: Magical Mahan, Donaldson Delight, Ryder Cup Watch

By: Nick Bonfield | Mon 25 Aug 2014


Post by Sports Writer Nick Bonfield


Magical Mahan

The FedEx Cup play-offs got off to a great start last week as Hunter Mahan produced a brilliant closing 65 to hold off a strong chasing pack and claim The Barclays, moving to first place in the FedEx Cup rankings in the process. I must admit, I still have a huge issue with the fact the play-offs award five times as many points as regular season event (after all, golf is a marathon, not a sprint, and how can it possibly be fair that, hypothetically, someone could win four times during the regular season and not amass the same number of points as a player who scrapes into the play-offs and wins an event? I don't' understand why season-long consistency - arguably the hardest thing to master in top-tier professional golf - is held in much lower regard) but that isn't anything Mahan can control.

He turned in two-under-par but caught fire on the back nine, making five birdies in seven holes - including three in a row from the 14th - to reach 15-under-par. He would bogey the last, but his stretch of inspired golf was enough to secure a two-stroke victory. It was a masterful performance, and a fitting one. Mahan has appeared in every play-off event since the inception of the FedEx Cup in 2007 - the only player to have done so. It was also a much-needed win. Mahan hadn't won on tour since the 2012 Shell Houston Open and, as such, hasn't received a huge amount of attention with regards prospective Ryder Cup picks, something not helped by the nature of his defeat to Graeme McDowell at Celtic Manor in 2010. There can be no doubt he's part of the conversation now, though.

https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/503929698666438657/photo/1

USA Ryder Cup watch

Tom Watson has spoken extensively in the last couple of months about the importance of form when it comes to making his Ryder Cup captain's picks. I have to be honest, last week, Mahan wouldn't have come close to being one of my selections (I'd have chosen Keegan Bradley, Ryan Moore, Brandt Snedeker, Webb Simpson and Jason Dufner (if fit) ahead of him), but he's put himself right back into the reckoning. His short game is much better than it was four years ago and his extremely solid tee-to-green game is a great attribute for both foursomes and fourball golf. If he can follow up with a strong showing at this week's Deutsche Bank Championship, you'd expect Watson to pick him, especially with some inauspicious performances from other contenders in The Barclays: Bradley finished outside the top 50, while Snedeker, Simpson and Moore all missed the cut.

There was some encouragement for Watson last week, though. Aside from Mahan's victory, Matt Kuchar declared himself 100% healthy and recorded a top-5 finish in his first tournament back after injury. Elsewhere, Rickie Fowler finished inside the top 10 despite admitting to not swinging the club too well - proof of his newfound resolve - as did Jim Furyk and Patrick Reed.

Appleby resurgence

On another note, it's been nice to see Stuart Appleby return to form this season. In the late '90s and early to mid '00s he was a mainstay in the world's top 30 and one of the best players in the game. But his form slumped dramatically after his victory at the 2010 Greenbrier Classic - where he shot 59 in the final round to secure his last PGA Tour victory - and he found himself outside the top 400 in the Official World Golf Ranking in October 2012. However, he's found his feet again and played some good golf this season, notching seven top-25 finishes to move to 17th in the FedEx Cup rankings and back to world number 103 - more than 300 places higher than where he was two years ago.

Delight for Donaldson

It was fantastic to see Jamie Donaldson secure his Ryder Cup place and do so in such resounding fashion. It says so much about a player when they are able to pull their best golf out of the bag when  they really need to. Granted, Donaldson would probably have made the side anyway, but his space in Paul McGinley's team was by no means confirmed before his win. He set about his task with steely determination and impressive focus; a man who knew what he needed to do and had the self-confidence and aptitude to pull it off.

He started the final round two behind Bradley Dredge - who himself deserves credit for pulling himself back from the abyss (he was playing on the EuroPro Tour earlier this season) - but started with three birdies to move into the lead, recovered from a dropped shot at the 4th with a birdie at the 6th and made two more at 10 and 12 to overtake Soren Kjeldsen - who made four birdies in his first seven holes but dropped back with three consecutive bogeys from the 8th - at the top of the leaderboard. From there, he used his experience and nous to stay in front, and made a solid par at the last to land his third European Tour victory and book a Ryder Cup debut at Gleneagles next month. Given the context and nature of his performance in the Czech Republic, you have to think he's going to be an asset for the European team.

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European Ryder Cup watch

Aside from Donaldson, Stephen Gallacher did his chances of a wildcard pick no harm with another top-10 finish in the Czech Masters, especially given how his other rivals performed. Luke Donald and Ian Poulter missed the cut in New Jersey and Lee Westwood didn't make any ground. That will please Graeme McDowell, who stumbled to an over-par final round but extended his lead in the race for the final space on the World Points List to four points.

Next week, the PGA Tour heads to Boston for the Deutsche Bank Championship, while the European Tour is in Turin for the Italian Open.


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