Charley Hoffman is taking this control-your-own-destiny thing seriously. The UNLV graduate, who started the week No. 3 in the points race, will win the FedEx Cup if he wins this week's Tour Championship. He took a positive step in that direction by shooting a 3-under 67 on Friday.
Hoffman is now in red numbers, 2 under for the event, and six shots behind co-leaders Jim Furyk and Luke Donald.
Hoffman attributed much of the success to accuracy off the tee. He hit all seven fairways on the front nine, which led to a 32, and hit four others on the back nine.
“Definitely made a few putts, but driving the ball in the fairway was a key, being able to be aggressive into the greens,” Hoffman said. “If you don't hit the fairways, you're just trying to make pars. Birdie is not even on your mind.”
Hoffman is one of the flammable players on Tour. He had 11 birdies in the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship that led to a 62 and his second victory. Since the John Deere Classic in July, when Hoffman began playing his best golf, he has shot in the 60s in 16 of 29 rounds. That streak includes a 64 and four 65s.
“Golf is a funny game,” Hoffman said. “You get rolling and you feel like you can't be stopped, but there's times like the beginning of the year when you get on a bad stretch and don't feel like you're ever going to win again.”
Hoffman had a wrist injury at the beginning of the year. As a result he played poorly on the West Coast, normally his prime events, and missed five weeks.
“My wrist is healthy now and I'm not worried about it, not worried about hitting shots, and I think that has a lot to do with it,” he said.
Kuchar's day
Matt Kuchar, the FedEx Cup points leader, appeared to be on his way to making a charge. He was 3 under after a birdie at No. 15, but bogeyed the final three holes to shoot 70. The even-par effort left Kuchar at 2-over 142, but still in fourth place in the FedEx Cup bonus race.
“It looked like it was going to be a nice day,” Kuchar said. “I was 3 under with three to go and dropped three shots, but they're three tough holes.”
He missed the fairway at No. 16 and knocked his approach in the left greenside bunker and missed a 15-footer for par.
He hit a poor tee shot at No. 17, and the ball landed on the rocky bank of East Lake. Kuchar's recovery shot was short of the green, and his approach from the intermediate rough stopped 56 feet from the hole. He two-putted from there.
At No. 18, Kuchar found the right greenside bunker and failed to get up-and-down.
Etc.
Unnoticed by most was the 66 posted by 2004 Tour Championship winner Retief Goosen, which pushed the South African into a tie for fifth. Goosen made the turn in 31 after consecutive birdies at No. 7, 8 and 9. He had only one bogey on his card. "I played a lot better than yesterday," Goosen said. "Yesterday I was up-and-down on every hole, and today I had a birdie chance on every hole [on the front nine]." ... The toughest hole Friday was No. 5, a 520-yard par 4, which played 0.267 shots over par. No one made a birdie there, with six players making bogey and Zach Johnson making a double bogey. The easiest was the 525-yard par 5 15th hole, which played .600 lower than par. It gave up 17 birdies and the day's only eagle to Bo Van Pelt.
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