This is not the popular way of looking at things. This is not how ESPN and Sports Illustrated will tell the story. They will tell you that the first round of the FedExCup playoffs was an unmitigated bore, then go on a tirade about how Tiger Woods is not in the field and only HE can make the world safe again for golf. Instead of finding someone who understands the game, they will just criticize and find fault. Never mind that two of the game’s top names battled back and forth on Sunday, and eventually decided the winner in a playoff. Never mind that there were younger, rising stars pushing things along – most in their first playoff situation - but still needing some seasoning before being able to break through.
Yes, the winning score was a shot below the phenomenal first-round, course-record 9-under, shot by Hunter Mahan, but that is a testament to the A.W. Tillinghast course design at the Ridgewood Country Club and the PGA’s setup.
“This tops Westchester. Every single player out there absolutely enjoyed this golf course,” Vijay Singh said. “Hole positions were toughened after Day 1, and the rough was just deep enough to tempt players to go for shots that just wouldn’t, and many times couldn’t hold the greens. Balls could be advanced, but not controlled, making par an adventure.”
Yes, we did see Vijay’s balky putter a few times, and yes, we did see Sergio Garcia in trouble off the tee, but more often than not, they found a way to make par. And, when they couldn’t, they fought back with a birdie.
We saw Kevin Southerland pull off an unbelievable flop shot from a severe uphill lie in thick rough for an up-and-down at 18 to get into the playoff. We saw both Garcia and Singh launch huge drives on the first playoff hole, then hit so-so approach shots 27 feet from the hole. And we saw lightning strike not once, but twice, as both men holed extremely difficult putts from opposite sides of the hole. When Singh’s putt trickled into the cup, both men smiled and high-fived each other – an act of sportsmanship rarely found in any other sport.
We also saw “the agony of defeat” when Garcia’s drive found trouble off the tee at the par-5 17th. We saw that modern technology does have a weakness when, from thick rough, he couldn’t make his ball curve enough to get into the fairway and found his ball stymied behind a tree (it resembled the middle of a real life Whack-A-Mole game where a real mole was popping it’s head up from its burrow close to where Garcia’s ball landed). Free drop and a tough approach to the green from around the tree leads to bogie, Singh birdies.
Game over and Vijay Singh is now your FedExCup points leader after Round 1. Sorry SI and ESPN, but this was not a boring golf tournament.
NEXT UP
This week, the playoffs move on to the TPC Boston for the Deutsche Bank Championship. The field has been cut to 120 players, 15 of whom were outside the top 120 at the start of Round 1. Play begins on Friday this week, with a Labor Day Monday finish. Television coverage is on The Golf Channel and NBC, with XM and Live@ linked on PGATour.com.
Capps can be reached at onthegreen@scoreatl.com.
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