It was a picture-perfect week for golf in upstate New York, and the
excitement of golfers chasing after a Tour Card or an exemption is truly fun to
watch. The sheer length of Atunyote ended up getting to a lot of players
this week (with a couple of exceptions), and there were a few unexpected
finishers in the top-25 who got there almost exclusively on length alone.
Three golfers in the top-10 (including a stunning T-3rd from Davis Love III)
were outside of the top-125 on the money list coming into this week, and did
their level best to change that this week. Similar to the sprint to make
the FedEx Cup, this sprint to the top-125 of the money list is great to see;
and is adding drama to the PGA Fall Series more and more each year.
Gold
Dustin Johnson - We may just have next week's "Who Is
He" for next week; because we may not have heard from him since Pebble
Beach, where he finished
T-7th. Well, now he's got a Tour Card through 2010 thanks to his win this
week. He's a terrific length driver, finishing 4th on Tour this season in
Driving Distance. In fact, you could argue it was, in fact, his driver
that won him this tournament. He unleashed two 350+ yard drives on 17 and
18 to give him wedges to the green for kick-in birdies to win. As you'd
imagine with such a long driver of the golf ball; he's pretty bad with all the
other stats, normally. You'd be right, although he's a better putter than
you think. He was 61st in Putting Average and 110th in Putts Per Round,
which is pretty good; especially for a "long drive champion" kind of
player. This week, as expected, he was 1st in Driving Distance and 64th
in Driving Accuracy. No real surprise there. He was T-43rd in
Greens In Regulation; again, no shock. He was T-4th in Putts Per round
and 2nd in Putting Average - and that was, indeed shocking. Toss in his
T-1st in Sand Saves; and you've got yourself a winning formula. That is
exactly what happened, and this 24-year-old will be with us for a couple of
more years, anyway.
Silver
Ryuji Imada - Finally, Imada has re-shown up; as he had pretty much
done nothing since the AT&T Classic in mid-May. He was one of the
Tour's hottest players early on, so much so that Imada was high up in the FedEx
Cup point standings and Money List. So after May, Imada had just one
top-25, and that was at the Deutche Bank (T-13th). That's why this week;
his T-3rd should be a huge confidence booster for the 2009 season. This
week, it was a grinding tournament; not finishing better than T-11th in any
major category this week: T-18th in Driving Accuracy, T-54th in Driving
Distance, T-11th in Putts Per Round, T-22nd in Putting Average, and T-34th in
Greens In Regulation. All that added up to was, somehow, a T-3rd
finish. It's still not known of Imada will call it a season or not after
this week; but if he sticks around the Fall Series; watch out everyone else
trying to get your Tour Card.
Bronze
Davis Love III - Hey,
you have to give the guy credit for his, by far, best finish of the season; a
T-3rd. The win sneaks him into the top-135 or so; and while sponsors'
exemptions will keep him on our TVs for a while, being able to get his card for
himself would be quite the achievement. He's been in free-fall since
2005, dropping from 16th in the OWGR to 167th, and has completely fallen off
the map as being a true contender to much of anything week after week. In
fact, he's been a "sit" in my mind almost all Tour Season long.
That's why a finish like this could build a lot of confidence for him;
especially if he could sneak another similar finish in the coming weeks.
He's battled injuries for so long; it's good to see him finally break through,
a little bit anyway.