Winners and losers from the Barclays

This past weekend saw a lot of great storylines and we are here to give you the good and the bad of it. Here are our winners and losers from the past week in golf.

Winners

Hunter Mahan — One of the reasons the FedEx Cup playoffs are a cool end to the season is it gives people a chance to still have a monumental, season-changing win. The 2014 Barclays saw a list of guys that needed a victory, including Jim Furyk, Jason Day and the man listed here in Hunter Mahan. It had been more than two years since his last win, and Mahan was in need of a solid final round to give himself a chance, but that seems to be the way he likes to win golf tournaments. With his closing 65 at the Barclays, Mahan made it four of five stroke play wins that included a final round of 65 or lower, meaning when he sees the trophy and is feeling that his game is clicking, it’s game-on when Sundays roll around.

Patrick Reed — After qualifying for his first Ryder Cup mostly on his play from earlier in the season, it has been a nice turnaround for Reed, who finished T-4 at Firestone and finished T-9 at the Barclays thanks to a closing 65 that jumped him 21 spots on the leaderboard. For a kid that has been hounded from one comment he made earlier this year, it is a huge positive for Tom Watson and the American team to see Reed playing solid golf again.

Stuart Appleby — To say you predicted a T-2 from Appleby would be a flat out lie since the man hasn’t had a top-10 on the PGA Tour since the beginning of March. Still, his 66-68-65 finish after an opening 73 gave him his best finish on the PGA Tour since the 2010 Greenbrier, when he closed with 59 to win that event by a single shot.

Phil Mickelson — Who cares how he finished, his two shots from the grandstands will be the things we remember from this week at Ridgewood Country Club.

Losers

Jim Furyk — Another 54 hole squandered by Furyk, who is looking more and more like a man that has forgotten how to close out tournaments. Furyk has had a great season in terms of finishes, but we are nearing the four-year mark since his last win, and as many times as he’s been in the conversation heading into the final day, it’s the disappointing Sunday rounds that continue to haunt the 44-year-old.

Martin Kaymer — It has been an ugly rest of the PGA Tour season for our U.S. Open champion, who missed the cut at the Barclays and how now gone 70, T-56, CUT, CUT in his four PGA Tour starts since Pinehurst. Is it crazy to think that the man that won the U.S. Open by eight shots is currently the weakest member of the European Ryder Cup team?

Webb Simpson and Brandt Snedeker — Trying hard to prove to Tom Watson that both are worthy of a Ryder Cup captain’s pick, Simpson and Snedeker both missed the cut at the Barclays, not exactly what they were looking for when they got to Ridgewood.

Devil Ball Golf – Golf – Yahoo Sports