Predictions: Tour Championship and Fedex Cup 2012
September 18, 2012
UPDATED 9/24 in bold
After watching Bill Haas stun Hunter Mahan last year with his Jesus shot (see https://thepowerfade.com/2011/09/26/play-of-the-week-24/), it became apparent to me that the Tour Championship is every bit as important (maybe more) than most majors, if for no other reason than what it pays. So, without further ado, LG and I predict the future below:
JK:
Who wins the Tour Championship: Louis Oosthuizen T-23. Congrats Sneds
Who win the Fedex Cup: Louis Oosthuizen
Rory McIlroy (1) will: Finish 15th T-10, two shots from T-15
Tiger Woods (2) will: finish 2nd T-8, five shots from T-2
Nick Watney (3) will: finish <20th 28th
Phil Mickelson (4) will: T-2 with Tiger. T-15
Brandt Snedeker (5) will: finish where he started, 5. won it
Story of the tournament will be: Rory falling while Oosthuizen putts his way to victory. Sneds solid play on the back 9
Tiger Woods will be: upset he didn’t win because his putter let him down yah
Phil Mickelson will be: happy he just got a chance to play in it this year yah
Dustin Johnson will: double-hit a ball chipping out of the bermuda. finish <20 T-10, better than i thought
Will you watch? Maybe parts of it over the weekend and the end on Sunday. exactly
Who is most likely to Hunter Mahan it? Tiger. no one really did
Will the weather hold out? It will rain all weekend. it was awesome all weekend
Number of references to Bobby Jones during the telecast on Sunday? I’m putting the over/under at 5. no idea, due to the answer three question above
LG:
Who wins the Tour Championship: Dustin Johnson T-10
Who win the Fedex Cup: Dustin Johnson
Rory McIlroy (1) will: Make Cut there is no cut. LG FAIL
Tiger Woods (2) will: Top 10 T-8, so yes
Nick Watney (3) will: Make Cut
Phil Mickelson (4) will: Top 10 T-15, so no
Brandt Snedeker (5) will: Make Cut I’ll say
Story of the tournament will be: Phil giving it away…again.
Tiger Woods will be: contending Saturday, forgotten by Sunday. how did you know????
Phil Mickelson will be: 2 stroke lead going into Sunday, giving it away on the back. not even close
Dustin Johnson will: WIN
Will you watch? If I’m not at the office
Who is most likely to Hunter Mahan it? Phil.
Will the weather hold out? I’m not even sure what this question means.
Number of references to Bobby Jones during the telecast on Sunday? 25.
Play of the Week 24
September 26, 2011
The POTW this week…or maybe for the whole year…is Bill Haas.
The Tour Champion and proud owner of $11.4MM is none other than son of former PGA Tour player Jay Haas. Like Jim Furyk last year, Haas had a 3-shot lead coming down the back 9 Sunday of The Tour Championship. Like Furyk, Haas bogeyed down the stretch. However, Haas’s bogeys gave Hunter Mahan a shot at a win–if Mahan could’ve birdied the extremely difficult 18th hole. Mahan par’d to force a playoff. The first hole was a replay of the 18th hole. Both players hit their shots short and right, Mahan in the sand, Haas in the far more difficult bermuda rough. Haas hit his ball to about 15 feet, Mahan to about 5 feet. Haas stood up and hit the 15-footer with 2 feet of break to the bottom of the cup. Mahan made par.
While Haas’s putt could’ve been enough for the POTW, it was the second playoff hole–the 17th–where Haas showed his metal.
Haas put his drive into the bunker on the right side of the fairway. Now, I’ve hit the drive at 17. It’s tough. Just look below. However, I’ve never hit it in a PGA Tour event, so I can only imagine what it must feel like. I certainly don’t blame the guy for bailing right.
Unfortunately, from the bunker, Haas hit his ball over the left of the green, which has a steep slope leading to water. Mahan put his drive in the fairway and his approach to the center of the green. It looked all but certain–Mahan was the champion.
In a stroke of luck, it hasn’t rained more than 2 inches in the last 2 months here in Atlanta, and the East Lake was a little low. There is a rule that, if you can see more than half of the ball in water, you should be able to hit it out. Haas’s ball found ground under the surface of the East Lake, and he had a shot. That is when Haas took the tournament.
Did you see that? Let’s look again.
No way.
One more time.
The playoff ended on the next hole, when Haas made par and Mahan bogeyed from the front-right bunker. Haas won the tournament without hitting a single green-in-regulation for any of the three playoff holes. A tremendous tournament capped off by an amazing playoff and a heroic shot.
To you, Bill Haas, you have earned this POTW. We salute you. And your enormously bloated bank account.
The Power Fade Golf Blog 