Night Putting is First Repeat Winner of Summer Segment at Barclays

It was a close one all the way to the end on Sunday as Hunter Mahan won his first Tour event in over two years. And if anyone needed more convincing of Night Putting's dominance over the summer months they got all the proof they'll need. Not subbing once, Night Putting went with tried and true vets and accumulated 180 points to hold off second place finisher Fairway to Heaven by just 6 points. It was a rare win in that the victor received no bonus points for any of his players. This being the first Fedex Cup Playoff event there was no guarantee that a big name would finish in the top 3. But with the win Night Putting asserts his claim to the Summer Segment even more firmly and stands at over 100 points ahead of Strangers at currently in second. We were also witness to a near miraculous feat on Sunday as second place finisher Fairway to Heaven nearly won the tournament despite having BOTH his C players miss the cut. After a strong opening to the tournament most people counted Fairway out once his entire C squad missed the cut but he went on to garner 40 total points from Mahan's Sunday round and bonus points to become the first player all season to finish top 3 with only 3 players going on Saturday and Sunday. He's had a disappointing summer as he's slipped back down the standings after an early segment win but this is his second top 3 of the summer and 12th overall. Strangers would round out the top 3 - also accumulating his second top 3 of the summer and 12th overall. He stretches his season lead over Baby Draw just a bit more and now has a 75 point breathing space between himself and second. With just 3 tournaments left it'll take one hell of a charge from Baby Draw to catch up.

This week the lucky 100 qualifiers move on to the second leg of the playoffs up here in Norton, MA as the Deutsche Bank Championship rolls into town. Many teams are running out of starts for some of the big names so they will have to be judicious if they want to save a start or two for the Tour Championship in 3 weeks.