Martin Laird is proof of that. The 25-year-old rookie by way of Scotland has already emerged as the FedEx Cup's biggest Cinderella story. In Laird's first 17 tournaments this year he missed the cut seven times and failed to finish better than 22nd. "I had no idea where the ball was going," says Laird. "I had no idea where I was going. I was seriously wondering what I was doing out here." Some hard work with his coach, Steve Dahlby, and an ensuing tie for fourth in Reno gave Laird a shot of confidence, but he still headed to the, quote unquote, regular-season finale, the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, a distant 182nd in the FedEx standings. A second-round 74 there seemed to push the playoffs out of reach, but he rebounded with a 64 on Saturday and during the final round birdied three of the first four holes. On the par-5 5th hole at Sedgefield Country Club he lost his drive to the right and feared his ball was out-of-bounds. It wound up staying in by a few yards, and from there Laird ripped a four-iron to 10 feet. Instead of a 7 he made a 3, keying a closing 63 that propelled him to the Barclays, which he began at 128th on the points list. With rounds of 70-69-72-67 at Ridgewood, he finished at four under and in a tie for seventh, surging to 67th in the standings.
Does Laird think he can ride this hot streak all the way to the $10 million bonus lavished upon the FedEx Cup winner? "Why not?" he says. "Every week is its own opportunity now."
That's only partially true for the players still fighting for spots on both Ryder Cup teams. As the culmination to the Deutsche Bank, both teams will be finalized when Europe's Nick Faldo announces his captain's selections on Sunday night and the U.S.'s Paul Azinger follows suit two days later. Along with Ian Poulter and a resurgent Darren Clarke, Paul Casey is a prime candidate for one of Faldo's two picks, and Casey certainly didn't hurt himself by tying for seventh at the Barclays. When he wasn't fretting about his own fortunes, he took time out to check on his would-be antagonists. "You know, I'm actually just as interested in the U.S. team," Casey says. "It's very intriguing. It might affect me, it might not, but either way I have an interest in it."
Two players in the mix to be among Azinger's four captain's selections were headliners early in the week at the Barclays. Hunter Mahan opened with a 62, and the next day Steve Stricker shot a 64 to wrest the lead from Mahan. Both failed to build on their stellar rounds, with Mahan doing a slow fade and Stricker imploding spectacularly, going seven over par in an eight-hole stretch during the third round. No doubt Cap'n Zinger was especially attuned to Sunday's 12:15 pairing as the golf gods put Mahan with Stricker. Mahan was aware of the opportunity the audition presented. "I thought it was funny that Steve and I were in this predicament together," he said. Their round featured a collegial vibe but only so-so golf, as Stricker shot 71 to Mahan's 73. Had it been match play Stricker would have won 1 up. "I thought we would've played a little better because we both know what's at stake," said Mahan, who finished 31st, 12 slots behind Stricker.
By the time the leaders made the turn on Sunday all the other subplots had played out and the focus became the ferocious back-nine dogfight, which at various points featured seven players within a stroke of the lead. Garcia, still trying to shake off the disappointment of his Sunday slip at the PGA Championship, had the lead until bogeying the 70th hole, at which point Singh showed again why he's one of the most merciless closers in the game. It was a rousing finish to an eventful week, but what's really exciting is that this FedEx Cup race is just getting started.
