The culmination to the PGA Tour season is always a confusing affair. With all the talk about bubbles and projected standings it can get a little tricky working out whether your favourite player has the opportunity to win the coveted FedEx Cup, not to mention if they’ll even make it through to the next event.
Luckily, with Billy Horschel’s win in the season ending Tour Championship we don’t need to worry anymore. Instead we can look forward to the passion and prestige of the Ryder Cup, set to begin at Gleneagles on the 23rd of September.
But before we start predicting whether the USA can prevent a Europe three peat, let’s take a look at the Tour Championship and review the 2013-14 PGA Tour season.
The Tour Championship
Held at Eastlake in Georgia the final event of the season is played by only the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings and comes with an excellent purse of $8 million. (The FedEx Cup too comes with a $10 million bonus.)
The Eastlake course was the home of the legendary golfer Bobby Jones, and while none of the current field have reached his lofty heights (seven majors), two players playing pretty great golf of late were locked in a gripping final round battle.
Coming in to the final event at number 2 and number 4 in the FedEx Cup standings, Billy Horschel and Rory McIlroy could both get their hands on the FedEx Cup with a win. Paired together for the final day the two were expected to buck the trend of 4th round conservatism. However, with only Jim Furyk (and he hasn’t had a win since 2010) offering any real challenge the two could play match play of sorts – winner takes all. Rory’s challenged was effectively over on the sixth when he found water and when Horschel signed for a 12th consecutive round in the 60’s the double was his.
It was, on reflection, a wonderful achievement from a guy who started the playoffs in 69th position and before today was best known for being a bit of a hot head. Today’s win makes him a good pick for next year’s events and a sleeper for the majors.
The PGA Tour Season
It’s admittedly hard to think back to October 2013 when the season started, not because of too many gold rum and cokes, simply because of the sheer number of tournaments and the musical chair winner’s circle that the PGA Tour entails. Having said that there were some players and some moments that stood out.
Jimmy Walker dominated the early stages thanks to thee wins (at the Frys.com Open, the Sony Open, and the AT&T at Pebble Beach) and sat in pole position for the post-season events. Bubba Watson won twice including his second Masters title. Lots of Aussies enjoyed wins (Adam Scott, John Senden, Matt Jones, Jason Day, Steven Bowditch, Geoff Ogilvy, and as a nation they won the World Cup of Golf). Tiger spent most of season on the operating title, and Rory dominated every golf story in the latter part of the season, both for his golf and for the abrupt halt to his engagement.
Outside of the golf, Dustin Johnson had his ‘issues’. Adam Scott got married in secret and broke the hearts of a host of female fans. McIlroy’s dad, Gerry, got in on the action too by netting a huge payout from a ten-year-old bet, predicting his son would win an Open Championship.
Looking ahead to 2014-15 here are a few predictions:
- Tiger won’t win a major. Rickie Fowler will.
- Anthony Kim (remember him) will return to the game. But will be terrible.
- More pros will throw away their anchored putters in preparation for the 2016 ban.
