If there was ever any doubt that the golf gods have a sense of humor yet guard their game with jealous hands, they were all cleared up after last week’s TOUR Championship/FedExCup playoff finale. For three weeks, we were forced to listen to the “experts” tell us that THE TOUR Championship would be boring since the big money prize was all but decided. The FedExCup and the $10 million top prize were all there was to THE TOUR Championship week. All Vijay Singh had to do was play 72 holes and he was the big winner – nothing else mattered. Tiger Woods was sitting in Florida playing as himself on Game Boy, and television took every opportunity to remind us of that fact.
Enter the golf gods. “OK experts, you think this week is about FedEx and their $35 million and their points system? Guess again. This is a GOLF tournament. This is THE TOUR Championship – presented by Coca-Cola. (Even the golf gods acknowledge good sponsorship.) This is East Lake, the home of Bobby Jones.”
The golf gods trotted out a lineup of Phil Mickelson, Anthony Kim, Sergio Garcia and Camilo Villegas … the last two were also in charge of sun dresses and gallery decoration.
Phil was Phil – he hung in there and made some spectacular putts and put on a short-game exhibition only he can perform. Anthony Kim opened the week shooting the low round of the tournament, a 64 on new greens that are light years from last year, and flashing his Ryder Cup champion smile and AK belt buckle. Sergio woke up from his Ryder Cup funk and flashed his own brand of brilliance, hitting 200-yard 7- and 8-irons.
And then there was Villegas, he of the bulging biceps and Spiderman pose on the greens. We knew he could play—he just won the BMW three weeks earlier—but he was starting the final round five shots behind Sergio. On Sunday, we found out that he has a lot of heart to go with those biceps. After birdies at Holes 3 and 4, he double-bogeyed 6 and bogeyed 7 – it looked like a three-man race for THE TOUR Championship.
Then the golf gods took off the governor and Villegas birdied five of the next six holes to close the gap, force a playoff with Garcia and close out the win on the first playoff hole.
A GREAT FINISH
Was this the boring tournament the “experts” thought would happen? Not a chance. This was one of the best weekends of golf of the entire year.
Thankfully, the sellout crowd of 25,000 Atlanta golf fans who filled the fairways had a little more faith in the golf gods than the “experts.” We witnessed some truly great golf on a great course. The course, by the way, was spectacular. The changes did everything they were supposed to do.
Sure, Vijay walked off with the FedExCup and the $10 million prize, but golf and golf fans were the big winners. Vijay was off balance and played like it. Sportsmen aren’t used to the idea of just showing up and being handed the trophy.
In the end, it was THE TOUR Championship and great golf at center stage – not the big money FedExCup. And that’s how it’s supposed to be.
Capps can be reached at onthegreen@scoreatl.com.
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