Webb Simpson said he’s surprised at the way the top five golfers in the points standings are playing, as he finished his third round at the Tour Championship on Saturday at East Lake Golf Club.
Simpson, the FedEx Cup points leader at the start of the tournament, hasn’t been able to re-create the magic that has propelled him to two victories in the past five weeks.
He began the third round seven shots off the lead and lost more ground Saturday after shooting an even-par 70. He is 1 under, eight strokes behind co-leaders Aaron Baddeley and Hunter Mahan. Simpson is projected to finish second in the final standings.
“I thought going into the week that us who were in the top five were going to play a little better,” he said.
Simpson isn’t the only one of the top five who failed to make anything happen. Each knew that they needed only to win this week to clinch the playoffs and the $10 million bonus.
However, from the start only Luke Donald and Matt Kuchar have played well enough to give themselves a chance. And neither made up any ground Saturday. Donald, the top-ranked player in the world and No. 4 in the playoff standings, shot par and is three back. Kuchar, fifth in the standings, lost ground after bogeying the final two holes Saturday. He shot 1 over for the day and is 2 under for the tournament, seven back.
“I think only being three back, I’ve still got a great chance,” Donald said. “And if I don’t get off to a good start tomorrow, then I guess I’ll be looking at potentially where I am in the FedEx Cup. But until that time happens, I’ll be pressing on to try to win.”
The other two haven’t even given themselves a chance. Rose, third in the standings, shot par Saturday and is 4 over for the tournament. Dustin Johnson, second in points, also shot par and is 3 over.
That most of the top five are floundering isn’t lost on the field, especially those who needed not only to win, but for Simpson and company to do poorly.
“It’s going to be kind of weird tomorrow since the top five guys aren’t really in contention, except for Luke,” Mahan said. “Hopefully that doesn’t take away from the tournament, no matter who wins.”
Simpson came in as the favorite because of wins at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro and at the Deutsche Bank Championship, the second of the four tournaments that make up the playoffs. He followed the Deutsche with a fifth-place finish in the BMW Championship, the last event before the Tour Championship.
Simpson usually finds the fairways 62 percent of the time, but has hit just 38 percent this week. He said he and his caddie worked on a few tweaks that seemed to smooth out his swing on the back nine Saturday. He hit four of the seven fairways and eight of the nine greens. He made a birdie on nine and another on 15. He hit a “flawless” second shot on 17 that went over the green and resulted in a bogey.
However, he bounced back with a tee shot on the par-3 No. 18 that stopped less than 11 feet from the pin. He made the tricky downhill putt for birdie to give himself some momentum entering Sunday’s final round.
“I guess that’s why it’s the playoffs. Even the last tournament so many guys have a chance to win,” Simpson said.
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