Snedeker: “That’s all I needed.”

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The AJC's Steve Hummer with Brandt Snedeker's emotional Saturday winning $11 million in the Tour Championship/ResetCup but starting the day with a trip 11 miles away to the Shepherd Rehabilitation Center to visit the badly injured Tucker Anderson, son of his instructor Todd.

Only natural the subject of the Tour Championship would arise.

So, Tucker, you think I can beat Rory today?

Tucker Anderson had been involved in a near fatal car accident in Florida two weeks ago and was transferred to the Shepherd Center for treatment of a traumatic brain injury. The teen can’t speak yet. But as Snedeker relayed later, Tucker answered him with a wink.

“That’s all I needed,” Snedeker said.

C’mon, how you gonna beat that?

Bob Harig feels Snedeker's clean victory in the Tour Championship made his ResetCup win better too because the algorithms stayed out of the affair. Those poor calculability codes and rolled up Oxfords in PVB that couldn't bring the attention off the golfers and onto the suits!

The fact that Snedeker won the Tour Championship by 3 shots over Justin Rose and kept the typically contrived and confusing points scenarios to a minimum makes for a nice bow on that FedEx package.
Even Rory McIlroy, who finished second to Snedeker in the final FedEx standings despite two playoff victories, a major championship and a total of four wins this year (to Snedeker's two), was left to give a golf clap to Snedeker while having to "settle'' for his $3 million bonus.

"I'm a little disappointed, but at the same time, Brandt really deserves to win," McIlroy said. "If you look at his stats the whole way [throughout] the week, he played the best golf out of anyone. He knew what he needed to do. He needed to come in here and win. He controlled his own destiny, just like I did, and he was able to come and do that. Because of that, he really deserves it."

Rob Matre posts a lovely album of final day shots and also this awesome shot of Snedeker making a key putt.

Snedeker's entire post round interview transcript.

For those of you counting at home, the aggregate scoring concept for the Playoffs would have finished this way:

Rory McIlroy, 41 under (-1) -42   
Dustin Johnson, 36 under (-1) -37  
   

Tiger Woods, 34 under (-2) -36
Brandt Snedeker, 25 under (-10) -35
Ryan Moore, 24 under (-6) -30
Phil Mickelson, 31 under (+1) -30
Louis Oosthuizen, 34 under (+7) -27

And for those of you favoring the "Plus One" concept endorsed by Brandel Chamblee and Johnny Miller last week, that means the final foursome after the Tour Championship play would have been McIlroy, Woods, Johnson and Snedeker, playing either one round or 36 for the $10 million prize.

Now that's one reset I'd love to see!

ESPN's Sportscenter highlight package:

Tour Championship Final Round Open Comment Thread

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It's the day we've all been waiting for, the last PGA Tour round before the Ryder Cup!

I'm sure the algorithms will work themselves out and at some point there will be a chance for a statistical tie, forcing NBC's Steve Sands to hit the white board. Goosebumps just thinking about those permutations and data matrixes.

Your tee times here. The leaders go at 1:50 ET.

Snedeker's 64 Is His Best Ryder Cup Practice Round Yet!

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I tried to watch some of the Tour Championship today but with playoff chases in baseball, some decent college football games and those Web.com Tour-sized galleries splattered amidst that distance-diffusing East Lake setup (a 16-yard wide landing area?), the ResetCup was relegated to a distant third on my priority viewing list.

Even then, I tended to land on a commercial break whenever I flipped over.

The Ryder Cup can't come soon enough.

Because as Mark Lamport-Stokes reports, Captain Davis Love's selection Brandt Snedeker is playing super heading into the Ryder Cup and even has a chance to win $10 million Sunday.

Snedeker described his third-round 64 in breezy conditions on a fast-running layout as one of his best displays this year and he has targeted something similar for Sunday.

"I actually won't look at the leaderboard all day," he said with a smile.

Don't worry Brandt, all you'd miss are a lot of ads and recognitions of the host pro, The First Tee and high fructose-laden corn syrup soda pop.

"My goal tomorrow is to shoot as low as I possibly can. If that's 63, it's 63. If it's 72, it's 72.

"Whatever it is, it's going to be everything I've got on that golf course tomorrow. The biggest thing tomorrow is going to be how patient you can stay because this golf course eats guys up that don't stay patient."

Or find those under-20 yard wide strips called fairways!

The PGA Tour's highlights:

For fans of Gary Van Sickle's proposed aggregate stroke play for the playoffs, I've updated the scores of the only remaining contenders based on Jim McCabe's item from after the BMW Championship. So here are the scores heading in, with this week's scores in parentheses and the overall total. As it should be, Rory McIlroy has opened a commanding lead. It wouldn't make for exciting viewing but it would also be a win free of resets and based on a playoff consistency.

Rory McIlroy, 41 under (-5) -46    

Tiger Woods, 34 under (-4) -38

Dustin Johnson, 36 under (-1) -37 
  
Louis Oosthuizen, 34 under (E) -34 

Brandt Snedeker, 25 under (-8) -33

Ryan Moore, 24 under (-6) -30

Phil Mickelson, 31 under (+2) -29

Oh and Luke Donald hit a super second shot at 14 Saturday, thankfully posted on YouTube so we can see it:

Tour Championship Third Round Open Comment Thread

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What is there to say? Oh I know...over/under on first Steve Sands session with the RussertBoard to tell us of a scenario that might happen, only to have that scenario wiped out by a birdie by the 10th place player?

Golf Channel has early coverage until 2 p.m. ET, then NBC picks up the coverage.

I'll go with 2:17 ET as the over/under. Place your bets!

Tee times.

Live online coverage here.

Jack To Shark: “Quiet Greg, quiet. Down boy."

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Thanks to reader Lloyd who saw GolfChannel.com's post on Jack Nicklaus' radio interview with Washington D.C.'s ESPN 980 that covered a variety of topics, including Greg Norman's assertion that Tiger Woods is intimidated by Rory McIlroy.

The full transcript is here:

“Quiet Greg, quiet. Down boy. I think Tiger had a pretty darn good year this year. It’s the first time he has gotten himself back into contention in the majors, he didn’t finish them and I think by his own admission he said he had a hard time finishing them. That’s like anything else. He had a pretty big event in his life that changed a lot of things and he has to learn how to go back and play again. I think he’s learned how to play again, now he has to learn how to finish again. I think Tiger has a lot of wins left in him. He does have a lot more competition. During the couple of years when Tiger wasn’t really there all of the sudden you have Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley and I could probably name a half dozen other guys that have all won and learned how to win in Tiger’s absence. They’re not scared of him anymore. Before Tiger just showed up coming down the stretch and everybody said ‘oh there’s Tiger and I wilt.’ They don’t do that anymore. Tiger’s got his work cut out for him but I don’t think Tiger is by any means finished. I just think Tiger is too good of an athlete and too good of a player.”

John Strege reminds us that Norman's jab may be a result of an ego clash dating back to the early years of Bill Clinton's second term.

Whatever Norman's reasons for his latest analysis of Woods, it is an extension of a clash of egos that dates to 1996 and effectively ended a relationship that had begun five years earlier, when Woods was 15. Tiger was in Florida for a junior tournament, when an arrangement was made for the two to play golf together at Bay Hill Club in Orlando.

Rory Laughs Off Intimidation Factor; Devises A Much Better Answer To The Olympic Question

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Jeff Babineau reports on Rory McIlroy's Tour Championship press conference Wednesday where the culturally unidentifiable lad laughed off Greg Norman's suggestion that Tiger is somehow intimidated by his presence.

To which McIlroy replied, “How can I intimidate Tiger Woods? I mean, the guy’s got 75 or 70-whatever (actually 74) PGA Tour wins, 14 majors … I mean, he’s been the biggest thing ever in our sport. How could some little 23-year-old from Northern Ireland with a few wins come up and intimidate him? It’s just not possible.”

And an unbylined Sky Sports story has this on the dreaded cultural identity question. Much better.

"It just hit home with me at how my success is welcomed by everyone. It would be terrible for me to nearly segregate myself from one of those group that supports me so much.

"It's four years away - I still have a bit of time to decide. But, I'm very, very appreciative and very grateful of the support that I get from everyone.

"It's great that I get so much support. There are not many people in my position that have to go through what I might have to go through in four years' time, but it is what it is.

"I'm a golfer first and foremost and I just want to play well on the golf course. Hopefully people enjoy that and the entertainment that that brings."

Furyk: "Nope, I have no idea" Of FedExCup Standing As It Unfolds

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When former FedExCup Jim Furyk made his comments today at East Lake about having no idea about where he stands in the ResetCup as the Tour Championship unfolds, he was repeating what's been said many times over the last five years. So it's hardly news.

But it got me to thinking, is there any other "championship" in the world of sport where the combatants aren't sure where they stand as they compete in the final moments?

Certainly makes it unique.

"Nope, I have no idea," the American told reporters on Tuesday when asked if he was fully versed in what he needed to do to emulate his 2010 FedExCup success. "I know I would have to win (the Tour Championship), and a lot of (other) things would have to happen. But I'm never really worried about that.

"I had two or three friends try to text me, 'do you know what you have to do?' No. It's hard enough winning a golf tournament. I can't control the rest."

Finchem On ResetCup: "Fans...want to be challenged to keep up with the permutations."

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John Maginnes pitches the softballs, as he should when the Commish is signing his paycheck.

However, listening to this 18-minute interview with Tim Finchem on Sirius/XM, I was doing my best Mike Francesa-nodding-off-impersonation-while-listening, then had similar wild eye/wake-up moment (which Francesa swears was not what you think it was), all as Finchem started in on the fan's love of the ResetCup:

There's  a lot of different stories, things turn quickly. You know, in the early days of the cup, you know there was concern about it being too complicated and this and that. But actually, people like that. Fans want to see different things going on, they want to be challenged to keep up with the permutations. And, in today's world, 65% of our fans are sitting around watching on television, the ones that are watching on television are also following it online, so they've got another matrix of data coming at them.

You know those wild and crazy fans, they love their matrixes of data! Reminds them of work.

And uh the fans…the players are totally into it now, the fans have been into it since day one.

Day one! They have, and they've shown their love by tuning in with massive, record ratings for golf...well, the ratings are always the last thing to kick in, the scientists report.

Each year with a little history, as it gains a little stature, both the players and the fans are more into it. But yes, to answer your question, it's gotten to this point quicker than I assumed.

The Commish then declared that forthcoming calendar year schedule--you know, the one where they play PGA Tour golf about 50 weeks a year and everyone involved with the PGA Tour is a burnout by 2015--will be even better.

Next year is even better, because next year we stop the season and start a few weeks later. So everything is coming to an end. The ballots next year, the ballots will go out for player of the year right after the FedExCup is handed out, the next morning players will be asked to say who is the player of the year on the heels of the FedExCup being awarded. The money title, which is represented by the Arnold Palmer award, will be identified at the end of the FedExCup. Everything's coming to a head. For the first time we'll have a real season when, a few weeks later, everything will start, it builds up for almost a full year, then you have another conclusion. So even thigh this is going to be really going, it going to be even better next year.

It's interesting that everyone involved thinks year-round competition makes for a "real" season. What are all these other silly professional sports doing with their off-seasons and their vacations?  The morons!

The interview:

Update: Reset Cup As A Stroke Play

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Believe it or not, Doug Ferguson has filed yet another rave review for the FedExCup and it includes a nice mention of all the fawning (well, rear-end-kissing) texts Tim Finchem received for the BMW Championship leaderboard (any follow-up texts today congratulating him on a 2.5 rating that would indeed edge out a poker championship on ESPN).

Thankfully, Randall Mell points out this year's ridiculous oddity and the overall awkward nature of the cup: Louis Oosthuizen can finish second this week and win the Reset Cup without winning any playoff tournaments.

Now, in an alternate universe where the bar is a bit higher than merely celebrating a gathering of stars no matter how silly the competition, we look for ways to actually make this competition appealing to a wider audience.

Gary Van Sickle's suggestion for an aggregate FedExCup continues to appeal despite one (not deadly) flaw: season-long points don't mean much besides getting you in the playoffs. However, the issue of trying to reward good play during the regular season could be remedied and that's not important right now. (It's easy to visualize a stroke-based system that rewards the top players and penalizes the bottom feeders.)

Seeing as how we are through three playoff stages with only the Tour Championship at East Lake next week, Jim McCabe updates us on the leaderboard for those who have played all three playoff events (Dufner and Garcia therefore are DQ'd).

Here are the top 10 (McCabe lists more and has more plus some other good playoff notes worth checking out):

    •    Rory McIlroy, 41 under
    •    Dustin Johnson, 36 under
    •    Tiger Woods, 34 under
    •    Louis Oosthuizen, 34 under
    •    Phil Mickelson, 31 under
    •    Lee Westwood, 31 under
    •    Brandt Snedeker, 25 under
    •    Ryan Moore, 24 under
    •    Adam Scott, 24 under
    •    Nick Watney, 19 under

How would this not be a more interesting race to follow at East Lake along with the Tour Championship itself? Two tournaments going at once and every fan can understand scores to par. And as Van Sickle has proposed, perhaps a five-stroke credit for winning a playoff event to, gulp, incentivize the boys.

More important, would this be fan friendly?

When the PGA Tour's dynamic video scoreboards take a break from showing ads or telling us who the host professional is, they could easily tell us where the tournament and FedExCup stand. Right? And wouldn't the entire affair have more credibility with fans if they could actually understand what is going on? Or is the fan that low on the list of the insulated world of the PGA Tour that they simply do not care about that aspect of the Reset Cup?

2012 BMW TV Ratings Up Over '11's Abysmal Numbers

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The Nielsen overnights NBC's BMW Championship telecast where Rory McIlroy bested one of the best leaderboards you'll see in modern times.

Third round: 1.8 (1.0 in 2011)

Final round: 2.6 (0.9 in 2011)

Reset Cup: Rory Wins Again, Then Loses His Huge Playoff Lead

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From Doug Ferguson's game story covering Rory McIlroy's impressive win over a star-studded leaderboard at Crooked Stick in the 2012 BMW Championship:

Any of the top 30 players who advanced to the Tour Championship have a mathematical shot at winning the $10 million prize.

McIlroy earned 2,500 points for winning the last two playoff events, each time 1250 more points than the second place finishers, giving him a commanding 3,232 point lead. Except that this is the Reset Cup, and now McIlroy holds a measly 250 point lead, allowing the other top five players a legitimate chance to win the vaunted trophy.

The full results here.

Mike McAllister tells us about the top 30 advancing. He explains the movement of several players near the bottom, a series of truly spellbinding moments in golf television history that NBC covered dutifully to keep Ponte Vedra happy. Even better for us viewers, allowed for perfect channel changing to NFL and U.S. Open tennis until the telecast returned to the superstars clogging up the leaderboard.

Sean Martin breaks down each of the top 30 to advance and earn exemptions into the first three 2013. Way to go John Huh, overcoming the Q-School baggage!

Jim McCabe on a how Hunter Mahan played himself into the Tour Championship without a top 10 since April and weekend rounds of 80-77. In his usual canded manner, Mahan reveals he's "out of gas," showing perhaps how hard he worked to find his game for the Ryder Cup. I mean The Playoffs.

The SI Confidential gang was very happy to see Phil Mickelson finish T2 and T4 in consecutive weeks just before the Ryder Cup.

ESPN's highlights:

"The cream has risen to the top, hasn't it?"

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That's Lee Westwood quoted in Doug Ferguson's BMW Championship gamer where a storyline pairing leaderboard emerged without the rule staff having to do a thing. As opposed to the Crooked Stick grounds crew who somehow made the course playable after 2.94 inches fell overnight on an already water logged course.

The full leaderboard. Golf Channel's Golf Central highlight package from round three.

Check out the last four groups:

Woods/D. Johnson - 1:15 - Former bomber/current bomber contrast of styles and also possible Ryder Cup teammates despite their struggles in the Presidents Cup.

Scott/Garrigus - 1:25 - Who let them in the middle of this?

McIlroy/Westwood - 1:35- Former "stablemates" have had an awkward and awkwarder relationship since

Mickelson/Singh - 1:45 - Former footwear feuding rivals still won't be sharing any stock tips even if they've softened with age and injury

The leaderboard seems to be validating Crooked Stick as a venue, something the WGA has already taken note of as they are making clear a return would be A-OK with them according to this AP note.

ESPN's highlights: