Kuchar moves into FedEx Cup driver's seat

Poetic justice seemed to intervene in Matt Kuchar's playoff victory over Scotland's Martin Laird yesterday in the first round of the FedEx Cup playoffs at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J.

Five shots behind to start the final round of The Barclays, Kuchar closed with a 5-under-par 66 and got into a playoff when Laird three-jacked for bogey from just inside 25 feet on the final hole. Laird, who had managed to stay in the lead most of the day because of miraculous putting, finally ran out of magic on the 72nd hole when he blew his first putt past the hole and his comeback putt never had a chance.

It was as if the golf gods wanted to see the PGA Tour's most consistent player all year (with nine top-10 finishes) prevail when Kuchar hit a 7-iron out of the rough with his second shot of the playoff. The ball came cleanly toward the back of the 18th green before it caught enough of a slope to turn sharply to the left and roll within 30 inches of the cup for a birdie. Laird, meanwhile, hit out of the rough to about 50 feet and managed to make par.

Laird, a one-time winner on the PGA Tour who entered the playoffs ranked 95th, climbed all the way to No. 3 in the rankings with his runner-up finish and will likely be among the top 30 at the Tour Championship when that group competes for the $10 million prize that goes with the FedEx Cup.

The third PGA Tour victory in Kuchar's career but first this season will likely move him to a career-best No. 10 in the world rankings. More important, it puts him atop the FedEx Cup standings. The $1.35 million winner's check also puts him atop the PGA Tour money list for the first time in his career.

Oldgolfdawg would throw The Barclays four dog biscuits on his entertainment scale of 1 to 5. The one hole playoff decided by a brilliant 7-iron from the rough was short but sweet. CBS' golf announcing team of Jim Nantz, Nick Faldo, David Feherty, Gary McCord, Ian-Baker Finch and Peter Kostis, which was entertaining all season long, will be turning over the reins of the rest of FedEx Cup playoffs to NBC. The CBS crew will be a tough act to follow.

* * * * *

Tiger Woods, who started these playoffs at No. 112 in the standings, finally got his flat stick working and closed with a 4-under 67 to easily make the top 100 who advance to the second round next week at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Woods tied for 12th, his best finish since June, and moved up to No. 65 in the FedEx Cup rankings. Among those who didn't advance in the playoffs were Lancaster native Joe Ogilvie (112) and Ostrander native Ben Curtis (119).





* * * * *

Couldn't help but be mezmerized by the Chambers Bay Golf Course near Tacoma, Wash., on which Oklahoma State's Peter Uihlein won the U.S. Amateur on his 21st birthday with a 4 and 2 victory over Stanford's David Chung.

It's not hard to understand why the USGA has decided to let the course play host to its 2015 U.S. Open. The links-style layout carved out of an old gravel pit forced me to switch channels to NBC occasionally during The Barclays just to see players tackle its various nuances which include a shoreline railway track on the par-3 17th hole and giant concrete sorting bins that acknowledge the site's mining operation heritage.

The course and its fescue greens will create quite a stir when the U.S. Open is played on it in 2015, much like the stir created by Whistling Straits.

Information from Golf.com, PGATOUR.com and the Associated Press contributed to this post.