Golf Betting
Just two weeks removed from his maiden PGA Tour win, Webb Simpson claimed his second victory at the Deutsche Bank Classic in Norton, Mass. His sudden-death triumph over Chez Reavie earned Simpson $1.44 million and – more importantly – put him in the driver’s seat of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Simpson, who won the Wyndham Championship on August 21, emerged from a tightly packed field with a final-round 65 to finish 15-under par. After capping his day with a 30-foot birdie putt, Simpson watched Reavie bogey the 18th hole – the easiest on the TPC Boston course – to fall into a tie.
The pair matched birdies on the first extra hole; Simpson ended it with an 8-foot birdie on the next.
“I thought winning the second time would be easier,” Simpson said. “And it wasn’t that way at all.”
Not against a leaderboard so crowded with big names. Bubba Watson started the final round leading by a shot, but 23 players lurked within four. Watson foundered with a closing 74, leaving Simpson, Reavie, Brandt Snedeker, world No. 1 Luke Donald, Jason Day and a host of others battling for first.
Aside from the obvious drama, an additional storyline was Phil Mickelson’s switch to a belly putter. Using the increasingly popular wand for the first time ever, Mickelson tied for ninth on -9 while finishing in the middle of the pack in putting.
The Tour takes a break this weekend, then heads to Chicago for the BMW Championship (Sept. 15-18). The top 70 players in the FedEx Cup standings will compete for spots in the final 30, who advance to the Tour Championship.
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