Charley Hoffman Injects More Drama to FedExCup, Ryder Cup

Say this for the PGA Tour's FedExCup: it's very interesting, even if the reasons are all unexpected.

Although only two tournaments now remain in the postseason playoff series after Charley Hoffman's butt-kicking victory Monday evening in the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston, the storylines keep coming like campaign promises.

Wow! Hoffman, 33-year-old journeyman with one previous career victory, a player who once missed 16 consecutive cuts on the developmental Nationwide Tour, blew away the field with a final-round 9-under 62. He finished 22 shots on the happy side of par, five strokes in front of runners-up Geoff Ogilvy (66), Luke Donald (69) Jason Day (71). He zoomed from 59th to second on the FedEx points list, positioning himself nicely for a run at the $10 million bonus that goes to the winner.

This week's BMW Championship in Chicago, with the field cut to 70 players, will begin with Matt Kuchar on top of the FedEx points list, followed by Hoffman, Steve Stricker, Day and Donald.

Never had Hoffman finished in the top 10 of a major championship, a World Golf Championship or a FedExCup event. But on Monday he ran off four straight birdies early to erase a four-shot deficit, took command by holing a bunker shot on the 13th and cruised to an easy win.

"I mean, the playoffs that's what you try to do," Hoffman said. " I wasn't even close to anything for the most part starting the week or starting the playoffs -- mid 70s and just trying to advance into next week. Last week, if I missed the cut last week who knows if I'm even here. Played decent last week and just got it going this week."

And then there's Tiger. And Phil. And all sorts of other interesting angles.

---

---

Woods not only survived to play another week, he continued to hold on to the world No. 1 ranking that he will now hold for 274 consecutive weeks.

In the 2004 Deutsche Bank, Vijay Singh won and unseated Woods from the No. 1 ranking he had owned for 273 weeks. Early the next year, Woods reclaimed the top spot and has held it since.

But tournament week in Boston not only brought the threat of Hurricane Earl, it welcomed a very strong possibility that Woods would again be unseated. Under the right circumstances, Phil Mickelson could have taken over the No. 1 ranking with a fifth-place or better performance.

Woods, however, again held off the threat, showing increasing signals that he has weathered the worst of his slump.

After a final-day 68, Woods had three rounds in the 60s for the first time in a tournament this year, and finished in a tie for 11th at 10 under.

"Well, I've just got to keep playing well," Woods said. "Winning takes care of everything, the world rankings, player of the year awards, all the trophies and things that come with it. That only happens when you win. Most of my career I've been able to do that, and I just haven't done it this year."

Neither has Mickelson when it came to reaching the No. 1 ranking that continues to evade him.

There were several scenarios that could have moved Lefty past Woods, but all of them revolved about bettering the struggling, scandal-plagued star on the Deutsche Bank scoreboard. Mickelson spent much of the week making that happen, only to be derailed with a final-round 76 that left him 7 under and tied for 25th.

Mickelson's day included a triple-bogey on the par-4 10th hole when he had two penalty shots after finding a hazard on the left off the tee, only to hit his third shot left into an unplayable lie.

On the par-3 11, it appeared Lefty would get a shot back when he laced his tee ball to inside five feet, but not only did he miss the birdie putt, he misfired on the come-backer and made bogey. A double-bogey on the 17th served as a capper to a lousy day.

"Well, it was a frustrating back nine for me," Mickelson said. "I got off to a poor start tripling 10. I enjoyed the tournament, I enjoyed the chance I had heading into today, and it was a fun go there. I had some opportunities the front nine that could have got the round lower."

And finally, the day's last story is one that will be continued Tuesday morning in New York when U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin announces his four wild-card picks to round out his 12-man team.

Woods and Zach Johnson (T30) are considered likely choices. The other two spots may cause Pavin some last-minute head scratching.

Anthony Kim, hoping to prove he recovered from thumb surgery that cost him three months of the season, missed the cut -- his fourth in five events since coming back. Stewart Cink helped himself with a final-round 68 and a T18. Rookie Rickie Fowler came in T41.

So what about Hoffman?

"I don't think I really have a pulse, but ironically I was sitting with (assistant captain) Paul Goydos early this week, and I go, 'Hey, Paul, do you have any influence on the captain's pick?' just joking, and he goes, 'Well, yeah.' I go, 'Well, put a good word in for me.' He goes, 'Well, you go out and win, you're going to be on the short list.' So guess what, Paul, I went out and won, and hopefully I'm on the real short list of the guys that play. "

Interesting.