The cup -- Ryder Cup -- is all the rage in St. Louis

Doug Ferguson
Associated Press  —  9/05/2008 7:08 pm

ST. LOUIS -- Three weeks into the PGA Tour Playoffs, and all anyone can talk about is the Cup.

The Ryder Cup, that is.

Madison's Steve Stricker was on the putting green Wednesday afternoon when Chad Campbell walked by. They looked at each other, grinned and clasped hands. They are competitors this week -- even playing together the first two days of the BMW Championship -- but they now see each other as partners on the U.S. team at the Ryder Cup.

They were among four captain's picks that Paul Azinger announced Tuesday morning. The other eight players who earned a spot on the team also were at Bellerive Country Club for the third playoff event. Besides hopeful of beating Europe in two weeks at Valhalla, they had one other thing in common.

None of them has a realistic chance of winning the FedEx Cup.

Vijay Singh took most of the drama out of the chase for the $10 million prize by starting the playoffs as the sixth seed, winning The Barclays in a three-man playoff, then closing with 63 to win the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Mathematically, he is assured of being atop the standings at the Tour Championship.

Potentially, he could clinch the FedEx Cup this week.

Realistically, everyone else is playing for second.

"I know I've got to go 1-1 and Vijay has got to fall off the stairs or something," said Sergio Garcia, who is No. 2 in the standings by more than 12,000 points. "The way he's playing, he's not going to finish outside the top 10 or top 15 in these two events. ... I think it's pretty much done."

What a difference for Stricker.

A year ago, he won The Barclays to move to the top of the standings and stayed in the hunt all four weeks. Two weeks into these playoffs, Stricker is looking at consolations.

"There's still a lot of money to be won," he said. "That gets your attention really quick. I'm trying to move up as much as I can every week. Second place would be nice. Obviously, I'm going to have to throw a win in there to have any shot at getting in the top two or three or four."

What really gets Stricker's attention, though, is a tournament that doesn't pay a dime.

He was bumped out of the automatic qualifiers in the final week at the PGA Championship, then had to sweat it out over three weeks until Azinger called Stricker to tell him he was on the team.

"It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off me," he said. "I've been playing the last couple weeks with some extra pressure. Even though I've tried to not think about it too much, it's been there. It seems like every shot has counted a little more than normal, just because I didn't know if I was going to make the team."

The points structure for the FedEx Cup finale is being scrutinized, but it starts with Singh.

He had not won consecutive tournaments in four years, then ran off two in a row at the right time, just as Tiger Woods did a year ago when he demolished the field.

The only movement -- besides Singh running away with it -- has been lower-seeded players making huge strides with one big week and two made cuts, such as Kevin Sutherland and Tim Herron.

Still, the PGA Tour's hope was to give more guys a chance to win the $10 million prize.

"It's kind of funny that we made the system that was going to provide a lot of opportunities for players in the last week, and it looks like there's going to be fewer opportunities," Stricker said.

Padraig Harrington, a double major winner, might not make it to the Tour Championship unless he finishes fifth in the BMW Championship, which starts Thursday under the threat of rain. He has missed the cut the last two weeks, plunging from No. 4 to No. 44.

But even the Irishman understands the playoff system.

"I'd be more inclined if you miss the cut, go home, you're out," Harrington said. "I think I'm in a lucky position that I still have a chance at qualifying. This is the playoffs."

Not anymore. Singh has turned it into a one-man show.

The 45-year-old Fijian hasn't bothered to calculate what he has to do this week, and he is not interesting in listening when anyone tries to do the math for him. Singh just wants to keep playing the way he has since the beginning of August, with three victories in five starts.

"I'm going to go out there and play hard," Singh said. "It was a great win last week, but that was last week. This is a new week, new golf course, new conditions. So I've got to focus on this week and see what happens."

Doug Ferguson
Associated Press  —  9/05/2008 7:08 pm