subject: Forget the $10 Million. Think About Staying Dry [print this page] There was a bright spot to the gray veil of rain that covered East Lake Golf Club on Sunday during the final round of the Tour Championship. When the players contending for the FedEx Cup title reached the final holes, their focus was firmly on trying to stay dry and not on the $10 million bonus that loomed like a rainbow on the horizon for the winner.
"I wasn't really thinking about anything besides hitting good shots and keeping my grips dry and my gloves dry," said Charley Hoffman, who was third in the FedEx Cup standings at the start of the week and finished sixth in the tournament after a final-round 70.
Hoffman's playing partner was Nick Watney, who pulled within a stroke of the lead early in his back nine. Under the convoluted points system, Hoffman could have secured the FedEx Cup title without winning the tournament. If Watney had been able to edge the eventual winner, Jim Furyk, it would have helped Hoffman's cause tremendously, not that he was rooting Watney on.
"I wasn't really thinking about anything today but making good shots," Hoffman reiterated. "It was hard. Your grips are wet. Your gloves are wet. You're wet."
Playing the front nine before a weather delay of nearly two hours, Watney shot a five-under-par 30. Combined with the 28 he carded on the back nine in his third round, Watney played 18 consecutive holes in a scintillating 58.
Then the rain came and washed away Watney's momentum. He did not make a birdie on the back nine and bogeyed Nos. 16 and 17 en route to a 67 and a tie for fourth with Paul Casey, three strokes behind Furyk.
"Unfortunately, lost a bit of steam there," Watney said, adding, "If I would have had a delay yesterday, I probably wouldn't have stayed hot on the back nine."
In anticipation of the bad weather, the tee times for the final round were moved up, with the first twosome starting at 9 a.m. If play had started at 7, it is conceivable that all 30 golfers would have been done with their rounds by the time the first peals of thunder rolled across the course at 1 p.m.
"That would have been nice," Watney said, adding: "It was just stopping and starting was a little bit difficult. It was almost like two separate rounds today."
