Missing the Point?

In a sense, Singh and Garcia bailed out everyone with their strong performances down the stretch. Vijay entered the postseason seventh in the standings, Sergio 12th, and the two now reside atop the list, which was pared to 120 for the Deutsche Bank Championship (see page 52). However, if Kevin Streelman, who missed the playoff by a stroke, had won the Barclays, he would have leapt from 102nd into the top three, depending on where Singh and Garcia finished. It's not about what you have done, but what you have done lately. Last year, just two guys who entered the playoffs between 121st and 144th advanced to the following week. This year there were 15 such survivors. Is that good? Bad? Does it really matter? The answer to that last question is definitely yes -- because the 30 who qualify for the Tour Championship are automatically exempt for next year's Masters, which is potentially the biggest reward-turned-flaw of all.

On the downside of this competitive earthquake, you'll find back-to-back major champion Harrington, the co-favorite for the PGA Tour's Player of the Year award (see accompanying story). He entered the Barclays in fourth place, missed the cut and tumbled to 23rd. Harrington is now 15 spots behind Ben Curtis, who has played well of late but hasn't won a thing. The inactive Woods fell from first to 15th. Geoff Ogilvy, meanwhile, did play, although not very well, and in missing the cut by two shots, dropped from 10th to 32nd. If you're looking for justice, you'd better hire a private eye.

What's done is done, however, and Singh apparently is not. After a superb final round carried him to a victory at Bay Hill in March 2007, the question wasn't how many more trophies he would collect, but how long he would keep collecting them. Seventeen months would pass with Singh stuck on 31 wins, causing him to drift outside the World Ranking's top 10 for the first time in a couple of centuries.

Three weeks and two Ws later, Singh is looking younger than ever, and Garcia appears to be getting more mature by the minute. "Vijay is a good friend of mine," Sergio said as he digested this latest heartbreaker. "We enjoy each other's company. You know, if I couldn't win, I'm happy he did, I guess." For now, that will have to suffice.