Simpson leads playoffs
Simpson spent a few days at home in North Carolina last week before taking a buddy trip to Pinehurst for yet more golf last weekend. He pronounced himself rested and ready to go at his press conference Tuesday. He said he has no idea what he’d do with $10 million — “More diapers?” — but it may be a moot point. Parity has taken hold on the PGA Tour and at the top of the professional game in general, so that every time we think we’ve identified a dominant player — Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Bubba Watson, Nick Watney — that player’s subsequent results immediately cast doubt on our assumptions.
“We might have a few years of spreading the wealth,” Geoff Ogilvy said.
The 26-year-old explained that he owes his recent transformation to a realization he had while missing the cut at the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club last month. Although he took his time lining up his putts in practice, he came to the conclusion that he was rushing in competition. A minor adjustment led to huge success, most recently a series of one-putts that won him the Deutsche Bank Championship in sudden death over Chez Reavie.
Indeed, until a month ago Simpson’s most defining trait was his unusual first name, which harkens back to his mother’s father, James Fred Webb. In fact, Webb is legally James Frederick Webb Simpson, but that might not fit on a Tour bag.
Johnson would seem to have the best chance to overtake Simpson atop the FedEx points list. He won the BMW on the par-71, 7,386-yard Dubsdread Course at Cog Hill last year, he’s coming off a victory at the Barclays three weeks ago, and he’s in second place on the FedEx points table.
Several men will have to play their way into the 30-man Tour Championship next week, among them No. 35 Jim Furyk, a past winner at Cog Hill, and No. 37 Rickie Fowler. Again, one week changes everything.
As for the race to get on Fred Couples’s Presidents Cup team, Simpson, currently sixth in points, is probably assured a spot, but Couples, who already has committed to picking Tiger Woods as one of his wildcards, will have plenty of guys to keep an eye on as he contemplates who’s most deserving of pick number two.
Fowler is 14th qualifying points; Furyk is clinging to ninth. Bill Haas, son of assistant captain Jay Haas, is 12th, and Brandt Snedeker is 11th. Amazingly, Keegan Bradley, a two-time winner in 2011 and shoe-in for Rookie of the Year, is lingering at 20th — he didn’t earn any Cup points in 2010 — and would need not only a victory this week but also some help from the current top 10 in order to make the team outright.
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