PGA Tour tries, again, for dramatic finish

Now that the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup playoffs have been reconfigured again, we know something for certain -- but that's been the problem all along.

Unlike the first two seasons of the FedEx Cup playoffs where the winner had been determined before the Tour Championship was played, the 2009 version of the playoffs guarantees no player, not even Tiger Woods, will be able to have locked up the big playoff check before the end of the Tour Championship, which will be played Sept. 24-27 in Atlanta.

Sounds like an improvement.

The FedEx Cup has fizzled in its first two years because Tiger and Vijay Singh have bleached the drama out of the four-event playoff by locking down the overall championship before it could build to a big finish. They've done it by playing spectacular golf but, in the process, they undercut the idea of a dramatic finish at East Lake before the PGA Tour fades beneath football's glaring light.

Under the new twist, it won't be possible to win the $10-million bonus before getting to East Lake. At least that's the idea.

The new format announced by the PGA Tour on Tuesday includes a handful of changes. Among the most significant:

-- The season-long points race won't end until after the third playoff event. Previously, it ended prior to the playoffs with players being seeded for the final four events. Next year, season points will accumulate through The Barclays, the Deutsche Bank Championship and the BMW Championship. After the BMW, only the top 30 will advance to the Tour Championship but only after the points have been reset.

-- Only the top 125 in points will advance to the playoffs, a reduction from the 144 who advanced the first two years. The top 100 will qualify for the second event and the top 70 will reach the BMW.

The FedEx Cup hasn't suffered because of bad golf. In fact, it has had some great shows, including the Singh-Sergio Garcia playoff this year and Camilo Villegas' double-shot finish this year.

The playoffs won't ever attract March Madness-like attention and they haven't come close to doing for golf what the Chase has done for NASCAR. But they keep working to make the system better. They seem to be on the right track.

Gaston CC plays persimmon for a day

Have you ever wondered how you'd play if you if had to go back to the equipment that was considered state of the art back in the 1960s and '70s?

What if you had to trade in your 460cc driver for a persimmon-headed model with a head that looked about as big as a tennis ball?

The members at Gaston Country Club got a taste of it Saturday.

As part of the club's 50th anniversary celebration, members played with persimmon drivers, old-school irons and balata golf balls.

They played golf with the stuff that made Jack and Arnie famous.

And it made them appreciate the advances in golf club technology.

"Absolutely," said Walter Gray.

The long drive contest was won by a 257-yard poke by a young player who can usually hit a 3-wood that far.

That's how things have changed, in case you've forgotten.

Just finding the equipment was a challenge. An e-mail campaign rustled up enough sets of vintage irons that every foursome had a set.

Gray played with a set of 1961 Wilson Staff Dynapower Fluid Feel irons with the original grips and shafts. They're available on e-bay for $20 if you're interested.

They bought 30 dozen Titleist balls with balata covers they found on the internet and no one was in a hurry to start playing those again any time soon.

"Those balls would fall out of the sky like a shot duck," Gray said.

It was, Gray said, fun for a day.

On Sunday, though, everyone went back to their modern equipment.

Erik Compton: A golf story with heart

The most emotionally compelling story in golf this year doesn't end with someone holding a trophy.

It ended, at least for the moment, last Saturday when 28-year-old Erik Compton (right, in a file photo) missed advancing to the finals of PGA Tour qualifying school by one shot.

It was probably the three-putt par from 20 feet on the 16th hole that did Compton in during the final round of the second-stage qualifier where he finished tied for 22nd, knowing only the top 20 finishers (and ties) would advance.

Still, the achievement far outweighs the disappointment.

That's because on May 20, Compton underwent a 14-hour heart transplant that saved his life.

It was his second transplant, his first coming when he was 12 years old, and six months later Compton was chasing a spot on the PGA Tour. His is a remarkable and inspiring story. A former All-American at Georgia, Compton was bitterly disappointed when he talked to reporters after his near miss finish in Florida last Saturday.

His life could have changed had he reached the finals of tour school. He admitted to thinking about health insurance and family matters and other things while he was playing and how could he not? The pressure, he said, was too much.

But Compton is alive and playing golf, looking forward to his wife giving birth to their first child in February.

The disappointment will fade. His life, thankfully, will go on.

Wachovia Championship: An awkward leftover

It will be strange next spring to have the Wachovia Championship played at Quail Hollow when Wachovia, at least as Charlotte and the rest of the country has known it, no longer exists.

The word awkward comes to mind.

There's still so much smoke swirling around the Wachovia/Wells Fargo merger that it will take time for everything to be sorted out. Certainly, there are more important matters to be considered than the name of a golf tournament.

However, the announcement last week that the Wachovia name will remain raises questions.

Is it as simple as not having enough time to redo the branding of the event that led to the decision to keep the name as it has been through the first six years of the tournament?

Or does it suggest that perhaps Wells Fargo isn't sold on taking over the title sponsor role of the tournament?

I don't know.

It would seem an ideal way to become a part of the community where there are plenty of bruised feelings.

My guess is if Wells Fargo were to choose not to continue in Wachovia's role, the tournament could find another sponsor. There's another big bank in Charlotte that might be interested if it were asked. Again, I don't know but it would seem a logical question if sponsorship became an issue.

I do know a handful of naming options were considered before the decision was made to stick with the Wachovia Championship. And the decision to keep the name of an essentially defunct brand hasn't been popular with many associated with the event.

The tournament itself should be fine. The organization that runs it -- Champions For Education -- is committed to keeping it among the elite events on the PGA Tour. The top players will be here again next spring and in future years. The quality won't suffer.

Golf tournaments change names all the time. It's the nature of sports marketing these days.

This one seemed immune to that happening. Ultimately, though, it wasn't.

The Wachovia Championship name will live for one more year.

Beyond that, who knows?

Love's place in golf Hall probably secured

Davis Love III probably secured his place in the World Golf Hall of Fame Sunday when he won his 20th career PGA Tour event.

He’ll get my vote next year.

Love (right, with Mickey) was likely to get in anyway but winning a 20th time – at age 44 after a two-year winless stretch – reinforced the quality of his career and provided another milestone for anyone who wants to quibble about numbers.

When Love was in Kannapolis recently, he talked about his desire to end this year on a high in hopes it would springboard him into 2009. That’s what he’s done.

Now he gets to play the Mercedes Championship at Kapalua, where he’s typically played well, and he has a realistic chance of playing his way onto the Presidents Cup team next year.

Tiger pitches Asheville course he's designing

Tiger Woods, who has already spent a significant amount of time at High Carolina near Asheville, put the sales pitch on approximately 1,000 people who stopped by to see him Saturday at The Cliffs community where he is designing his first American golf course.

Woods, who said he still isn’t sure when he’ll return to competitive golf after knee surgery in June, unveiled the layout of the new course, which is scheduled to begin construction next year.

The course will play 7,500 yards from the back tees but Woods has designed six sets of tees to accommodate players of different skill levels. He has also made an effort to design the greens so that players will have the option of running shots into the putting surfaces rather than having forced carries.

Walking will be encouraged at High Carolina, where Woods has reportedly hiked the property extensively, even after his surgery. The course is expected to open in the fall of 2010.

'Two Gloves' closes strong

It was nice to see Tommy ‘Two Gloves’ Gainey finish second Sunday at Disney World after a disappointing season.

Gainey didn’t win enough money to keep his tour card for next year but he exempted himself into the final stage of qualifying school where he may be able to play his way back onto the big tour. If not, he’ll be able to play the Nationwide Tour.

On Daly, Augusta, Quail Hollow ...

Catching up on a few things in the golf world:

- John Daly said this week that the fact he spent 24 hours in a Winston-Salem jail last week sobering up "wasn't that big of a deal."

Daly was found outside a Winston-Salem Hooters restaurant at 2 a.m., after the restaurant had closed. Daly admitted in a wire-service story that he was drunk, but he had planned to go back to his bus to sleep. He said when he was found, he was asleep with his eyes open and slow to wake up. That led to a 911 call.

With no place to go, Daly was taken to the Forsyth County facility where he had a day to sober up.

What a waste.

- Augusta National announced this week a few minor changes to the golf course. Nothing dramatic was adjusted with most of the work being done to some tees and rebuilding a few greens to put heating and cooling systems underneath.

The first tee was adjusted, adding a few yards to the front and taking a few yards off the back to alleviate some spectator congestion in the area. The hole will now measure 10 yards shorter at 445 yards.

Additional yardage was also added to the front of the seventh and 15th tees, which leads to the thought that perhaps the course will play a bit shorter and, hopefully, easier in April.

-- Still no verdict on the name of the Wachovia Championship for next year. There's a chance it will keep the Wachovia Championship name for 2009, but it seems more likely to become the Wells Fargo Championship. It would be nice if Quail Hollow were in the name, but that seems unlikely.

- It will be worth watching how many PGA Tour players point their schedule toward the European Tour to take advantage of the super big bucks available in the Road to Dubai sweepstakes that's been created. Phil Mickelson says he intends to become a member of the European Tour in the future but won't this year. The tour requires a player to tee it up 12 times but the four majors and three World Golf Championship events get you more than halfway there.

The $10-million prize that will be available in Dubai has turned the heads of several top players.

- I knew the so-called Fall Finish wouldn't get much attention, but it's been almost invisible. It ends this week, but to most people it never really started.

Honestly, how much golf have you watched since the Ryder Cup?

Wachovia Championship to get name change?

Catching up on a couple of things:

Despite all the problems swirling around Wachovia, Charlotte's PGA Tour event will return in 2009, though likely with a different name.

Organizers have received written assurance from corporate officials that the tournament will continue despite the problems of the title sponsor.

It's important to know that the tournament organization and the title sponsor are two different things. The tournament is owned and operated by Champions For Education. Wachovia pays a fee to put its name on the event.

If Wachovia goes away, as seems likely, I would expect Wells Fargo or Citigroup to put its name on the event. Citigroup just became presenting sponsor of the Presidents Cup through 2013 so it already has a presence on the PGA Tour.

Should the new company decide it doesn't want to remain title sponsor, the combination of Quail Hollow and the early May date would make finding a new sponsor easier than it might be for other events.

Tournaments change names regularly. The Wachovia Championship didn't seem like one that would change but it will. The good news is the tournament will continue here with all its special touches.

-- Charlotte resident Brendon de Jonge continues to lead the Nationwide Tour money list entering the last four events of the season.

De Jonge has already secured his spot on the PGA Tour next year but finishing as the tour's leading money winner would guarantee him a spot in The Players Championship and pretty well assure he's in any tournament he wants to play (aside from the majors) next year.

The Nationwide Tour plays the next three weeks then takes a week off before playing its tour championship the first week of November in McKinney, Tex.

Next Ryder Cup captain should be ...

Now it should be Jay Haas's turn as Ryder Cup captain.

The next matches are two years and an ocean away -- in Wales -- but already there's speculation about who the next American Ryder Cup captain will be.

There's a natural wave of emotion to bring Paul Azinger back but he looked surprised when asked about the possibility Sunday evening.

If Azinger will do it again, great. But I'm guessing he'll turn it over to someone else. American captains have traditionally been one-term guys, plus Zinger will be 50 in two years and the Champions Tour awaits.

So the PGA of America should forget its unwritten rule that captains should be major championship winners, preferably PGA Championship winners, and give Haas an honor he deserves.

He's still in touch with the PGA Tour players, has a great touch with people and has earned it. When you've received the Bobby Jones Award from the USGA, the game's highest honor, you're worthy of a Ryder Cup captaincy.

Haas played in several Ryder Cups and he'll be one of Fred Couples' assistants at the Presidents Cup next fall in San Francisco, so he'll be perfectly suited.

Couples won't get it because of his Presidents Cup captaincy. Corey Pavin has been mentioned as the next Ryder Cup captain, with Davis Love in four years, when he'll be 49.

Jay Haas should be the next American captain.

Boo's influence more than words

The word is compatibate.

And the American Ryder Cup team can thank Boo Weekley for it.

Leave it to Boo to throw out a word that really isn’t a word to describe what made this Ryder Cup team different from the last three that, apparently, didn’t compatibate.

Boo couldn’t exactly define what compatibate means when asked Sunday night but it means something like 16 ½ - 11 1/2 , which was the final score at Valhalla Golf Club.

Maybe the Ryder Cup comes down to nothing more than which team plays the best. There is a strong correlation between holing putts and winning trophies, no matter which trophy is at stake.

But U.S. captain Paul Azinger had a plan that first popped into his mind a few years back when he was watching a documentary. If he ever captained the Ryder Cup team, Azinger decided he would use the concepts he learned from the documentary, which suggested breaking big groups into smaller groups.

With 12 players on his team, Azinger broke them into four-man groups for practice rounds, team matches and, I’m guessing here, seating assignments at dinner.

It was easy to pick out the groups.

The alpha group included Phil Mickelson, Anthony Kim, Hunter Mahan and Justin Leonard. Funny, how they were the first four guys to go out in Sunday’s singles.

The second group included southerners Kenny Perry, J.B. Holmes Boo Weekley and Pennsylvania native Jim Furyk, who was an adopted southerner while in Louisville.
Those four, coincidentally, went out in the middle of the singles lineup.

The final group – Stewart Cink, Steve Stricker, Ben Curtis and Chad Campbell – the mild-mannered, quiet guys went at the end.

“I had to sell it to the players and they were, to a man, behind this,” Azinger said.
See what happens when you compatibate?

Europeans rally in morning, trim U.S. lead

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Despite the decision by captain Nick Faldo to rest stars Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood, the European team closed the gap on the United States in Saturday's morning session at the Ryder Cup, cutting the American lead to 7-5 entering the afternoon four-ball play.

The Europeans got a huge boost from the team of Henrik Stenson and Oliver Wilson, who rallied from 4-down to upset Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim 2 & 1.

Europe also got help when Miguel Angel Jimenez and Graeme McDowell won the 18th hole to salvage a tie against Justin Leonard and Hunter Mahan.

Ian Poulter and Justin Rose easily defeated Stewart Cink and Chad Campbell 4 & 3 while the American's only win came in a 3 & 1 decision by Jim Furyk and Kenny Perry over Padraig Harrington and Robert Karlsson.

“We're digging deep,” McDowell said. “We're over here to win the trophy.”

Faldo's strategy to sit Garcia and Westwood, saying he wanted fresh legs in the morning matches, could have backfired with the Europeans starting the day three points behind.

When Mickelson and Kim began misfiring, however, the momentum shifted. The Americans lost six of the last 11 holes in the match, often creating their own problems with wayward tee shots.

“For Stenson to turn that match around with Ollie Wilson, that is just fantastic,” Faldo said. “I said, ‘Just chip away, one at a time, one at time' and he really looked after Ollie Wilson. Just unbelievable.”

- Ron Green Jr.

MJ shows up as Ryder Cup spectator

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In his blue jeans, white T-shirt and white Ryder Cup cap, Michael Jordan spent Friday just the way he wanted – watching the Ryder Cup matches at Vahalla Golf Club.

Jordan, who has attended every Ryder Cup since the 1997 in Valderrama, Spain, intends to spend the weekend at Valhalla before returning to Charlotte in advance of the Charlotte Bobcats’ preseason training camp.

“It’s my favorite event (outside of basketball),” Jordan said while watching Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim play Padraig Harrington and Robert Karlsson Friday morning.

“I love the competition. There’s no money. It’s all about pride. Every shot makes somebody happy or sad.”

Jordan said he’s been in Louisville since Tuesday, playing golf with friends before the matches began Friday.

Next fall, when the top American professionals face the International team in the Presidents Cup matches in San Francisco, Jordan is expected to be an assistant on captain Fred Couples’ staff.

“I heard I have no choice,” Jordan said. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”

Mickelson gets wish, is paired with Kim

When Anthony Kim qualified for the U.S. Ryder Cup team earlier this year, Phil Mickelson quickly called captain Paul Azinger and asked to be paired with the Wachovia Championship winner.

“I said, ‘Way to go out on a limb, Phil. You want Anthony Kim, really?” Azinger cracked after announcing the pairings Wednesday afternoon.

Mickelson got his wish, pairing with Kim to face the powerful European duo of Padraig Harrington and Robert Karlsson in the first match at 8:05 a.m. Friday.

If there was a surprise to the pairings, it was that Azinger elected not to pair Kentuckians Kenny Perry and J.B. Holmes in the first match, as he hinted he might.

Instead, Perry will play with Jim Furyk in the final morning match against Europe’s top duo, Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood.

“It just made sense to me that it would be a really solid pairing,” Azinger said.

Azinger added that he will play all 12 players on Friday, meaning Boo Weekley, Steve Stricker, Ben Curtis and Holmes will play in the afternoon best-ball matches.

Faldo wouldn’t make the same commitment about playing all of his players on Friday.

“I’m not going to make any promises or assumptions or anything,” Faldo said.

The United States has not led after the morning session since 1991 and has not led at the end of a day since its famous winning comeback on Sunday in 1999.

FRIDAY'S PAIRINGS

- 8:05 a.m.: Phil Mickelson-Anthony Kim vs. Padraig Harrington-Robert Karlsson.

- 8:20: Justin Leonard-Hunter Mahan vs. Henrik Stenson-Paul Casey

- 8:35: Stewart Cink-Chad Campbell vs. Justin Rose-Ian Poulter

- 8:50: Kenny Perry-Jim Furyk vs. Lee Westwood-Sergio Garcia

Missing Tiger, hidden dagger?

So how much does it matter that Tiger Woods isn't part of the United States Ryder Cup team this year?

Think about that for a second. He's the best player in the world by far, he's an intimidating presence and he's a good teammate, even if he isn't the rah-rah type in the room.

Of course, it makes a difference that Tiger isn't here at Valhalla.

Are you kidding?

I know all about his 10-13-2 record in these matches. That's not great.

But, no offense to Chad Campbell or Ben Curtis, but wouldn't you rather send Tiger out than one of them?

Captain Paul Azinger has Tiger on speed dial this week but not in his lineup. I doubt Azinger will ring Tiger to chat about the events but you never know.

Without Tiger, the Americans have another motivational tool at their disposal, as if they didn't have enough already given the recent history of this event. Imagine the satisfaction of taking down the favored Europeans without Tiger.

It's tougher without Tiger. But not impossible.

State secrets revealed at Ryder Cup?

During the Wednesday Ryder Cup practice session at Valhalla Golf Club, a television camera zeroed in on a sheet of paper held by European captain Nick Faldo as he talked with his team.

The image showed Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood paired together as were Padraig Harrington and Robert Karlsson while the other names were listed in no particular order.

It, of course, set of a frenzy of speculation that Faldo's Friday morning pairings, at least the first two, had been discovered. Alert the CIA. Mobillize the Secret Service. Call captain Azinger.

Faldo tried to tap-dance around the issue during his daily press briefing, saying first it was a sandwich list ("who wants tuna, who wants beef, who wants ham") then later said they are pairings for Thursday's final practice session.

Part of the fun in the run-up to the matches is how the captains will pair their players and how the pairings will fall. Unlike the Presidents Cup, where captains are privy to each other's selections, the Ryder Cup pairings are treated like state secrets.

It would be a bigger shock of Faldo doesn't pair Garcia and Westwood together Friday morning than if he does. It's what almost everyone else would do.

Captains like to play coy and may do that with their teams in order to minimize the disappointment to the four players who must sit out during each session prior to singles.

Azinger has been elusive when asked specifics but has made it clear he wants to put Kenny Perry and J.B. Holmes together and, if he does, he'll put them out first Friday to start the fun.

He may put Boo Weekley with Jim Furyk and Anthony Kim with Phil Mickelson.

The plan, Azinger said, is for all 12 Americans to play Friday. Faldo said he intends to play all of his players on the first day too. But, Faldo added, the matches start and things change.

That's part of the fun.

Five questions for Ryder Cup week

Five questions as Ryder Cup week begins:

1. Will the Americans finally win?

That's a definite maybe.

Considering there's no Tiger Woods -- even if he is 10-13-1 in the Ryder Cup -- maybe is better than no.

The edge going in belongs to the Europeans if for no other reason than they have Sergio on their side. He's playing great and he plays the Ryder Cup like he's possessed.

But I'm not as down on this American team as some may be. I like what Anthony Kim brings and Jim Furyk is always solid. If Phil MIckelson plays well and guys like Hunter Mahan and Kenny Perry are on, this might be the end of the streak.

2. How much do the captains matter?

Not as much as everyone believes.

Sure, they're high profile, particularly in this case with Paul Azinger and Nick Faldo the perfect foils for each other. And they get a ton of attention in the build-up because they're the ones waiting for their teams to come together.

Azinger and Faldo are both dominating personalities. It's been amusing to watch the mini-storm about the fact Faldo has just once assistant captain -- the wise Jose Maria Olazabal -- while Azinger has Olin Browne, Dave Stockton and Raymond Floyd.

Ultimately, both captains will make their own decisions.

And the winning captain, strangely enough, is the guy whose players tend to make the most putts during the week.

3. Aside from Sergio, do the Europeans have a secret weapon?

He's not a secret but beware Robert Karlsson. He won Sunday on the European Tour and has three top-10 finishes in major championships this year.

Karlsson has a great short game and a cool demeanor. Watch for him to be a big factor this weekend.

4. Who are some likely pairings?

Well, Faldo killed the automatic Lee Westwood-Darren Clarke pairing when he selected Ian Poulter instead of Clarke. It's possible Garcia and Westwood may go out together given their past success together in team play.

Padraig Harrington can play with anyone and Faldo may send him out early with a rookie, maybe Soren Hanson or Oliver Wilson, to help them get comfortable.

As for the Americans, Azinger may go with Kentucky boys J.B. Holmes and Kenny Perry together one time, banking on some bluegrass magic. The fact is most spectators at the Ryder Cup are from around the country, not around Louisville, so that emotional edge may be minimal.

5. Who will be the American team leader?

That's a question Azinger is probably asking.

On paper, it should be Mickelson and he'll try, though it may not be a role that fits him well. Furyk is a tough guy and he'll be a steady presence as will the underrated Stewart Cink.

As for a fiery guy, Anthony Kim is just a rookie but he may feel right at home.

Golfing greats gather at Rock Barn

Walking into the banquet room inside the clubhouse at Rock Barn Wednesday morning was, as someone there said, like walking into a museum.

Outside, the pro-am for the Champions Tour event was being played with today's stars on a tour that's built around yesterday.

But in the banquet room, scattered around circular tables with bacon, eggs and coffee in front of them, were the so-called Great Grand Champions of the PGA Tour.

There was Billy Casper, the most underrated great player of all time. There was Miller Barber, Don January, Dow Finsterwald and Gene Littler.

There was Lee Elder and Charlie Sifford, who didn't win as many events as some players in the room but had everlasting impacts on the sport. There was Walter Morgan and Jim Ferree and others.

Bob Goalby told stories as he introduced each player to the amateurs who were playing in the nine-hole pro-am with the legends. He made jokes about Doug Sanders missing a short putt to lose the British Open and found other targets, all in good and gentle fun.

A few times each year, these old guys get together to play a little golf, tell some stories and bask in the glow of who they are and what they did.

Golf is bigger, flashier and different than it was when they were among the best in the world.

But like it does for all of us who play, it remains the tie that binds.

In any language, LPGA plan was a disaster

After getting blowtorched in the court of public opinion, the LPGA has wisely decided to rescind its plan to penalize players who are not coversant in English by 2009.

The question is whether the tour, which has traveled a rocky road under commissioner Carolyn Bivens, has done serious damage to itself or, as the marketers like to say, its brand.

It certainly didn't help itself.

In the days and weeks after the policy was revealed -- it had not officially gone into effect -- the tour was ripped by the media, some players and, more to the point, some sponsors and advocacy groups.

State Farm Insurance, a long-time supporter of the tour, urged adminstrators to reconsider the idea.

Shortly before Bivens announced the policy would be revised to eliminate the threat of suspensions, there were reports that the Asian Pacific American Legal Center planned to publicly demand the policy be rescinded.

It all swirled into a public relations disaster for a tour that can't afford one.

There is no question the tour has had a problem with so many of its Asian players -- there are approximately 45 Koreans on tour -- not speaking English. It has made pro-ams, where much of the money comes from, awkward, media room sessions difficult and trophy presentations strained.

However, the threat of suspension was too much.

It is not wrong for the tour to encourage its foreign players to learn to speak English and it has had a program in place to help them for three years.

But the heavy-handed policy was a mistake.

Intent on dealing with one problem, the LPGA created an even bigger one that may leave a stain.

Singh: Not bad for an old guy

Recently, NBC commentator Johnny Miller said Vijay Singh is playing the best golf any 40-something has played since Ben Hogan was hitting soft fades in his heyday.

He's probably right.

Singh has been on a remarkable roll, winning three of his last four starts, including the first two FedEx Cup playoff events to sap the drama out of the season-ending money grab.

In the process, Singh has reminded us of what an exceptional player he is, not just now but over the span of his career. He's not in the best of the best class -- that's Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones and a few others -- but Singh is just outside it.

And imagine if he could putt.

Singh is, at times, a terrific putter. You don't win 34 PGA Tour events including three majors by slapping it around on the greens. It's no great revelation, however, to point to Singh's perpetual love-hate relationship with his putter as his most glaring deficiency.

His reputation has been built on his legendary practice regimen and his devotion to the gym, where he spends more time than some basketball coaches. Sheer work and will account for a sizeable portion of Singh's success but he also possesses rare talent.

It has been tough for the public to warm up to Singh over the years, in part because he's been so guarded with the media. There's obviously a funny, playful side to Singh -- there are too many stories and compliments to dispute it -- but it's been hard for the world to see.

I don't think Singh cares much about how popular he is, though he's earned enormous respect. In the process, Singh seems to have softened and why not?

At 45, he's still close to the prime of his career.

And he keeps reminding us of it every week.

Azinger throws a zinger into Ryder Cup choices

As U.S. Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger announced his four at-large choices for his Ryder Cup team Tuesday morning, everything was going fairly close to expectations.

Steve Stricker was a lock. He's too good to leave off and he's playing well, something in seriously short supply among the American side.

Hunter Mahan made sense. He made some silly remarks last month about how guys didn't want to play in the Ryder Cup and, discovering he sounded like a jerk, Mahan recanted and deserved the spot Azinger offered.

J.B. Holmes wasn't a surprise. Azinger has seemed infatuated by Holmes' enormous power off the tee and his familiarity with Valhalla, where the matches will be played in two weeks. It didn’t hurt that Holmes is a Kentucky native, though the fact remains that the vast majority of fans on site in Louisville will be from someplace outside Kentucky state lines. This isn't going to be like Rupp Arena, in other words.

The shocker came when Azinger named Chad Campbell as his final choice.

Chad Campbell?

What about Rocco Mediate? Or Scott Verplank? Or D.J. Trahan? Or any of a half-dozen other guys?

No, Azinger chose Chad Campbell, who finished tied for seventh Monday in the Deutsche Bank Championship, thereby earning a spot based on Azinger's pre-determined criteria -- whomever is playing well at the moment.

Azinger was, in effect, trapped by his determination to go with the hottest American players because there really aren't any.

He thought about rookie Kevin Streelman but that would have been an ultra long-shot pick.

He thought long and hard about Mediate, whose personality would have been worth at least half a point to the American side.

He thought about a bunch of guys and settled on Campbell, who seemed almost as surprised as everyone else that he was picked.

Campbell had a nice run in July when he finished tied for seventh at the John Deere and third at Milwaukee but those aren't high-profile events. He did have a tie for 14th at the World Golf Championship event at Firestone but, until his top-10 in Boston, he had a missed cut and a tie for 65th. Not exactly smokin.'

The truth is Azinger didn't have many easy choices.

Across the pond, European captain Nick Faldo was already getting beaten up for picking Ian Poulter over Darren Clarke, a move that has the tabloids in a frenzy.

By his own admission, Azinger is a control freak and likes to be a dominant personality. He restructured the team selection process to give himself more say-so in his roster in part because he wanted it that way and, in part, because nothing else has worked for the Americans since 1999.

He solicited advice from many people, crunched some numbers and, finally, made his own choices.

There is a tendency to give the captains too much credit for what goes right and what goes wrong in the Ryder Cup. They make the pairings, pick the outfits then sit back and watch.

Azinger will bring the fire to the American team. In Faldo's case, there is reason to wonder if the players can warm up to a coach who was so coldly dismissive of others for so many years. Is this the year when the Europeans' famous cameraderie finally fails them?

Questions, questions.

And it's still more than two weeks before we get any answers.

U.S. Amateur champ may be golf's next big star

There’s a tendency to quickly label someone the next big thing after they’ve won a significant event and it’s the same with 18-year-old Danny Lee after his dominating performance in winning the U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst.

Is he the next big thing?

It’s too early to say for sure, but he definitely bears watching.

Lee has plenty of power but, more than that, he has an exceptional short game and a putting stroke he believes in. Lee was able to continually hit shots close at Pinehurst No. 2 by virtue of his high ball flight and, by his own admission, it was one of those weeks when it felt like every putt was going in.

He made believers of a lot of people, and it will be interesting to see if he sticks to his plan to remain an amateur through next summer to play in the major championships he’s now exempted into. Potential agents were walking around No. 2 watching Lee and you know equipment companies are lining up to sign him.

He may be that good.

-The FedEx Cup playoffs may not have Tiger Woods, but they got off to a good start at the Barclays with Vijay Singh beating Sergio Garcia and Kevin Sutherland in a playoff.

Not only did the win add another gold brick to Singh’s Hall of Fame career, the finish gave the FedEx Cup standings the kind of dramatic reshuffling they need. Singh jumped to the top and Sergio is second and Kenny Perry, who had been No. 1, tumbled to seventh.

Ideally, a handful of players will still have a legitimate chance of winning the whole thing when the Tour Championship arrives next month.

- If you’re European Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo, don’t you pick Paul Casey and Darren Clarke as your two at-large choices now?

Casey had a solid week at Greensboro and followed it up with a stronger week at the Barclays while Clarke has resurrected his game, winning twice recently. He’s been at the heart of the Europeans’ success and it seems natural to put him and his mate Lee Westwood together again.

- Former Charlotte 49ers golfer Trevor Murphy picked up a win on the Gateway Tour over the weekend, his first since turning pro. Murphy, who shot 60 during one round of the event, is pointing toward tour qualifying school in the fall.