Post by tutu on Sept 21, 2011 7:22:53 GMT
ESPN.com senior golf writer Michael Collins
Horse for the Course: Steve Stricker
Even though he's fallen from eighth to 12th in the FedEx Cup standings goingcheap golf clubs into the final week, Stricker loves the Tour Championship in odd years. In 2009 he finished solo sixth, and in 2007 he was tied for 17th. Well it's 2011 and Stricker's closing out a two-win season where the frosting on this cake will be at a course that you don't have to be a bomber to do well.
Birdie Buster: Matt Kuchar
How is it that such a nice, respected, and well liked guy good have the potential to be the fly in the Fed Ex Cup ointment? Twenty out of 22 cuts made. Seventeen top-25s. Nine top-10s, a solo third, two runner ups... and no wins. That'll get ya fifth in FedEx Cup points and make guys in suits at PGA Tour headquarters lose sleep because the guy with the million dollar smile could walk away with $10 million bucks and haveTaylorMade R9 Irons zero wins to show for it. Yes, that nightmare scenario is out there. Halloween is coming, so we might as well get prepared for Michael Myers. Last year was Kuchar's first making it all the way to East Lake and he did not have a great showing (T-25), but remember he finished second to Jim Furyk for the TaylorMade Burner 2.0 IronsCup itself. So expect big things this time around for the Georgia Tech grad (hint!)
Super Sleeper: Y.E Yang
He has been admitting for the past two months that his goal was to get back to East Lake and the Tour Championship. Last week at the BMW Championship, the pressure got to be so much I saw for the first time Y.E. throw and then dropkick a club! But he has now reached two of his three goals this year: Make the Tour Championship and makeTaylorMade Burner SuperFast 2.0 Driver the Presidents Cup team. One last thing to do now that the pressure is off& win again on the PGA tour. The last time he played with no pressure was a little event where he beat Mr. Woods in the final group of a major on Sunday, so don't think for a minute there's gonna be a "letdown" in Yang's game.
Winner: Webb Simpson
It's been a while since we've seen a run like this on tour. After missing the cut at the PGA Championship, this guy has two wins, a fifth, and a tie for 10th. He's now in the driver's seat to win the FedEx Cup and he is giving his caddie (Paul Tesori) a lot of credit for his success. The two of them are going to be an unbeatable pair at East Lake. Webb enjoying the confidence of his game being in great shape, and Tesori being the calming factor in the stress of trying to win for the third time and oh yeah, (do your Dr. Evil face) $10 million dollars (now the evil laugh)! Don't forget it took a solo second in Tampa at the Transitions Taylormade Burner SuperFast 2.0 Fairway WoodChampionship and the heartbreak of the playoff loss in New Orleans at the Zurich Classic for the 26-year-old kid to become the man he is now, but what a man he has become. After this week, we could be calling Webb Simpson the next "one".