Barclays Boogaloo

Alas Poor Furyk, I knew him Horatio.

Looks like our man Jim, don't you think?  At the very least, they share a barber.

Forgive me the Shakespearean-themed gloat, but so few golf predictions pan out.  And he has truly become a man of infinite jest, at least on Sunday afternoons when the collar gets a wee bit tight...

But it was Hunter Mahan's day, per the AP game story:

Mahan pulled away with three straight birdies, sealing the victory with a 20-foot putt down the

slope on the par-5 17th. That allowed him a bogey from the trees on the final hole for a 6-under 65 and a two-shot victory in the opening FedEx Cup playoff event.

Furyk now has failed to win the last eight times he has held at least a share of the lead going into the final round. He was in the mix until missing the fairway on the 14th and taking bogey, and he wound up with a 70 to finish in eighth place, four shots behind.

That last bit is the crux of the Furyk issue, and doesn't bode well for the Ryder Cup.  But this is the best part, a graphic illustration of the inanity of these "playoffs":

Mahan finished at 14-under 270 and earned $1.44 million. He moved to No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings, assured of being among the top five players at East Lake with the best shot at capturing the $10 million bonus.

So what means that seemingly endless wraparound schedule in which Mahan had exactly one prior top-ten?  Pretty much nada, but thanks for playing.

Shackelford is of course on the case, with his post titled thusly:

Is Team USA So Desperate That Hunter Mahan Just Locked Up A Ryder Cup Captain's Pick?

Yes.  Next question...

Now Lindsay Gibbs sees Tom Watson's glass as half full:

Suddenly, Watson's Ryder Cup team that seemed to be limping to Scotland next month looks like a force with which to be reckoned. The Stars and Stripes might be able to give Rory McIlroy and Co. a run for their money after all.

Mahan was a Ryder Cup afterthought a few weeks ago, but the two-time team member has been picking up steam lately. After 13 straight tournaments without a top-20 finish, Mahan has now finished tied for 15th at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, tied for seventh at the PGA Championship and now alone in first at The Barclays.

 Lindsay, you ignorant....errr, probably shouldn't go there.  But she takes encouragement from Jim Furyk's high finish, so that'll provide all the context required.

Michael Fitzpatrick, also writing in The Bleacher Report, plays the role of Dan Aykroyd:

Watson is currently leading a U.S. Team filled with cold, injured and out-of-form golfers, and his prospective captain’s picks at the moment would contain, among others, players such as

Ryan Moore, Brandon Todd, Chris Kirk and Harris English. 

Bubba Watson is the No. 1 ranked player on the U.S. Ryder Cup team point standings and he has notched just one top-10 finish since the Masters. In his last three events, Watson has a missed cut, T37 and T64. At the three majors played since his Masters victory back in April, Watson has missed the cut at both the U.S. Open and Open Championship and finished tied for 64th at the PGA Championship.

That's hardly the extent of the bad news, and he doesn't even mention the Bubbameister's love of playing in the rain.  Fortunately it rarely rains in Perthshire....and by rarely I mean that he can leave the Oakley shades at home.  If you were Paul McGinley, wouldn't you at least be considering a long-drive contest?

The Sports Illustrated writers have a go at the relevant question, and unanimously have him on the team.  The lone dissenter is Mike Bamberger, who sensibly notes that the picks aren't due until September 2nd, so why not sit tight until then.    As always, the question is misstated... It's not whether Hunter should be on the team, it's Hunter vs. Ryan Moore, Chris Kirk or Brendon Todd.  The latter is the only one I saw all weekend, and his Sunday 76 was downright Furykian.

As the adage goes, in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king.