Webb Simpson rising through the ranks

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print

Hunter Martin/Getty ImagesAfter several near-misses, including this year at New Orleans, Webb Simpson broke through for his first PGA Tour victory at the Wyndham Championship.

On Sunday afternoon, Webb Simpson got his first PGA Tour win at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., and moved from 12th to third in the FedEx Cup standings. It was just a matter of time before the 26-year-old Raleigh, N.C., native and former Wake Forest standout would get a win.

Coming into this week he had six top-10s, including a pair of second-place finishes. Simpson is the 12th first time winner in 2011 and the third straight winner on tour to play with a long putter.

"I thought my caddie and I did a really good job of coming in, choosing clubs," Simpson said after his bogey-free 3-under-par 67 earned him a three-shot win over George McNeill. "But I just thank everyone out there who supported me and cheered for me. It was just a fun week and I really couldn't think of a better place to win than here in Greensboro."

Simpson hired veteran caddie Paul Tesori at the beginning of this year -- a move that he admitted has paid major dividends. Simpson now has to be considered among that growing list of promising young American players that includes Keegan Bradley, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Scott Stallings and Anthony Kim. Now in his third year, Simpson is the 13th different player in his 20s to win on tour this season.

"You're seeing a generational change," said Simpson, who was 16th in the Presidents Cup standings coming into the week. "It's really cool because I think for a while there you had the big hitters winning almost every week. They're still playing well but [a] couple guys win that are in their 20s, it encourages other guys [to say] 'Hey, if he can do it, I think I can do it.'"

That's cause for celebration for a youth movement that should energize the tour as it begins negotiations for its TV contract that's set to expire at the end of the 2012 season.

When the PGA Tour playoffs started in 2007, I had the same disdain for it as when Major League Baseball expanded its postseason in 1995. While I don't understand all of its intricacies, I like that the allure of the $10 million payoff to the winner and the prestige of playing the Tour Championship is compelling superstars and unheralded players to continue grinding into football season for the right to play.

On any given Sunday on the PGA Tour, Simpson's win would be the biggest news. But since 2007, Greensboro -- an established PGA Tour venue since 1938 -- has been a sort of play-in game for the pros. Scott Piercy was the only player to make into the top 125 from the Wyndham last season, but in 2009, five players got in through the event.

Standing on the outside of the top 125 coming into this week, Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington and William McGirt played well enough to move on to the Barclays. Camilo Villegas, who started the week in the 125th spot, cruised to a tie for ninth to move to 109th in the ranking. Meanwhile, Matt Jones, David Mathis and Cameron Beckman can cancel their reservations to New York as they all missed the cut at the Wyndham and fell out of the top 125.

Paul Casey, an 11-time European Tour winner, didn't make the playoffs for the first time after finishing 47th. He needed a top-four finish to get into the Barclays.

"I'm in," said a relieved Els after he shot a final-round 2-over 72 for a tie for 30th that lifted him from 126th to 118th in the standings. "I thought I had to make that putt on [the] last to get in so, you know, you don't know in these playoffs. It's all screwed up."

The top 100 in the standings after the Barclays will advance to the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston. The top 70 after Boston will move on the BMW Championship in Chicago and the top 30 point leaders will play the Tour Championship.

At the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship at Westchester Country Club in Harrison, N.Y., Fred Couples beat John Cook in a three-hole playoff, earning his fifth Champions Tour win and first major on the senior circuit. Peter Senior missed the playoff by a shot.

The win for Couples comes just six weeks after he underwent a procedure on his back in Germany. He was also battling a sore hip. But through the rust and rain delays during the final round, he leaned on his experience on the tight Westchester west course.

"I can play this golf course," said Couples, who moves to 11th with the win in the Charles Schwab Cup. "It was a huge help that I've played a hundred rounds here over the 30 years I've been on tour."

Earlier in the week, Couples made news when he told reporters that Tiger Woods needed to play in a tournament prior to the Australian Open in November before he would select him with a captain's pick for the Presidents Cup team. Since Woods didn't qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs, he would have to play in one of the four Fall Series events -- which for many players is the race to save their job for next season -- or overseas in Europe or elsewhere.

You don't give Woods that kind of ultimatum and then announce it to the media. Either choose him based on his past record or you leave him off the team. There is nothing that he can show you in one tournament to prove that he's going to make a great contribution to your team.

On the Nationwide Tour, James Nitties beat Jonas Blixt and Nick Flanagan by five shots to win the Midwest Classic at the Nicklaus Golf at LionsGate, near Kansas City, Kan. Nitties, a 28-year-old Australian, shot a 26-under par total of 258 that included 30 birdies. The outrageously low scores on the junior circuit can make some players do some crazy things.

Dawie Van der Walt thought he had missed the cut Friday night after finishing at 5-under. So the 28-year-old South African caught a flight home to Houston. During his layover that night, he learned from his coach that indeed he had made the cut.

During the next several hours, Van der Walt went through an ordeal that sounded like something from "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" before he made it barefoot to the golf course on Saturday for his 9:50 a.m. tee time.

"It was crazy," he said. "Who leaves when you have a chance to make a cut? The players are so good out here and from the last few tournaments, the cut keeps going lower and lower. You think it's going to be 5-under and it always goes to 6 and almost 7.

"Lesson to be learned: stay and grind it out."

On Saturday, Van der Walt shot an 8-under 63 and hit all 14 fairways and all 18 greens in regulation. He finished in a tie for 11th, his best showing of the year.

Farrell Evans covers golf for ESPN and can be contacted at evans.espn@gmail.com

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print

Farrell Evans

Golf

• Archive

• Senior golf writer for ESPN.com
• Wrote for Sports Illustrated/Golf Magazine for 9 years
• Played college golf at Florida A&M