Last Man Standing

Haas had one foot in the water and the other on dry land, his almost comical stance capturing his position perfectly as the Tour Championship reached a gripping conclusion on a muggy Sunday evening in late September.

Haas was straddling a number of goals as he prepared to hit his third shot on the second hole of a sudden-death play-off with Hunter Mahan. With a strong showing, Haas could potentially secure a wildcard pick on the United States team for the Presidents Cup in November.

With a victory, he could end a year-long title drought and take home the US$10 million FedEx Cup bonus, although he said later that he wasn't 100 per cent sure of his position in those particular standings at that moment. "I was just trying to win the Tour Championship," he laughed.

So much was resting on the outcome as Haas hit his half-submerged ball onto the 17th green and watched it stop less than three feet from the cup. He made the putt and went on to defeat Mahan with a par on the third extra hole.

“I got very fortunate and pulled off a great shot,” said Haas, who closed with a two-under 68 for a 72-hole total of eight-under 272. Mahan, playing in the last group, carded a 71. "If I don't pull it off, I'm shaking Hunter's hand," Haas added.

He made another great shot, from the rough between the green on the par-three closer and the grandstand, to save par on the first extra hole.

“That was equally good if not better than the one out of the water,” Haas, the son of Presidents Cup vice captain, Jay Haas, said.

For most of the day, it appeared that the tournament winner would get the silverware but somebody else would take home the real prize, the FedEx Cup bonus. The leaders in the projected FedEx Cup standings were like candidates on election night, their fortunes changing as rapidly as results were posted on the leader board at Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club.

At the beginning of the day, Mahan, the third-round co-leader with Aaron Baddeley, was the projected leader. He was supplanted by KJ Choi when the Korean chipped in for birdie on the fifth. Less than 20 minutes later, Mahan regained the lead when Choi overshot the green with his second shot on the par-four eighth, chipped short of the green and two putted for a double bogey. Such are the intricacies of the much maligned FedEx Cup Playoffs point system.

“It’s one of those things where it’s like you can’t even worry about it, just because you can’t do the math that fast,” Mahan said.

A few minutes later, Webb Simpson leapfrogged over Mahan and Choi with his second consecutive birdie on the back nine. Simpson, who began the week atop the FedEx Cup standings, closed with a 73 to finish in 22nd place, yet remained in the running for the bonus until the end. Baddeley, who could deliver the mega-millions to Simpson with a victory, missed a long-range birdie attempt on the final hole that would have put him in the play-off.

In the end, Simpson finished second in the FedEx Cup standings, directly ahead of Luke Donald, the world No. 1, who closed with a 69 to finish tied for third in the tournament. Donald himself could have bagged the riches for himself if he had finished in a tie for second. He failed to make it – by a shot.

Simpson’s ragged week raises the question: should someone who beat only eight people at the season-ending championship be eligible to collect the season-ending bonus?
Simpson, unsurprisingly enough, did not see why not.

“I don’t think you can wipe all the points away from the first three events and start from scratch here,” he said. “I just don’t think that would accurately show who the best player in the playoffs is. I think what they do, handicapping everybody, is perfect.”

It was a storybook ending for Haas, who dispatched some demons before dismissing Mahan. Haas was in contention during the final round the previous week, at the BMW Championship outside Chicago, before he shot a 42 on the back nine on his way to a 78 and a 16th-place tie.

The nerves that were his undoing then paid Haas another visit down the stretch in the all-important final round. He bogeyed two of his final three holes to lose his two-stroke lead. In the third and fourth rounds, Haas covered 17 and 18 in four over par but the holes were kinder to him in the play-off with Mahan.

After curling in a 10ft putt for par on the 18th, the first extra hole, Haas hit his drive on 17 into the same fairway bunker he had found less than an hour earlier. He pulled his second shot, which bounced on the green and rolled down the slope into the water fronting the left side of the putting surface.

Haas was rather more solid when they returned once again to the home hole. He found the green with a 4-iron at 18, where Mahan’s tee shot ricocheted off a spectator into a greenside bunker. Mahan hit out to 15 feet and missed his par putt to open the door for Haas, who sank a four-footer for the win.

“It looked like 12 feet,” said Haas, who had been playing for so much that some details escaped him.

During the awards ceremony, there were two trophies, for the tournament winner and the FedEx Cup standings champion, but he was the only golfer.

It all finally clicked for Haas. “That’s when I realised I had won it,” he said.

FedEx Cup Playoffs Points Standings

1 Bill Haas USA 2,760
2 Webb Simpson USA 2,745
3 Luke Donald ENG 2,567
4 Dustin Johnson USA 2,488
5 Justin Rose ENG 2,253
6 Matt Kuchar USA 1,853
7 Hunter Mahan USA 1,800
8 Brandt Snedeker USA 1,668
9 Nick Watney USA 1,420
10 Chez Reavie USA 1,220
11 KJ Choi KOR 1,207
12 Jason Day USA 1,058
13 John Senden AUS 1,030
14 Aaron Baddeley AUS 1,007
15 Phil Mickelson USA 795
16 Adam Scott AUS 778
17 Gary Woodland USA 773
18 Steve Stricker USA 740
19 Charles Howell III USA 708
20 David Toms USA 648

Written by The Editors

Photography by AFP

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