"Putting" channels Dechambeau - Wins both FedexCup events to start the playoffs

It's been a wild roller coaster ride as the season race nears the finish line. With the FedexCup events providing higher payouts there's plenty of opportunity to jump way up the earnings leaderboard which is exactly what Putting w/a Long Iron has done. The Summer Segment race is about as contentious as a Brexit meeting, four teams stand on the edge of breaking an all time record and the Race for the Jackson Cup seems to be favoring a former champ. With so much talent packed tightly at the top it's hard to make final predictions on where everyone will land but, then again, speculation is what this recap is all about. 


Dell Technologies Championship

Entering the FedexCup Playoffs two weeks ago there was a log jam at the top of the season earnings leaderboard. Three teams were tied with $85 apiece - all of them collecting their cash by accumulating 4 wins. But with the fresh winds of playoff golf there came a new face who rose from near obscurity to overtake them all. Putting w/a Long Iron had done well for himself even before entering the playoffs. He'd accrued $55 in season earnings from two tournies including a WGC. Prior to the playoffs he'd only had 1 Top 3 in the previous 13 weeks but then, out of nowhere, he turned on the jets. He won the Northern Trust Open to collect $25 on the back of Bryson Dechambeau and then turned around the very next week to win the Dell Tech. Championship with Bryson yet again! He's now collected $110 in season earnings and has 4 wins in what is by far the best season of his career. Congrats Putting w/a Long Iron (aka Night Putting). 

Race for the Jackson Cup

Season Standings

Every year the season race offers up different story lines to watch, each with their own bit of drama. This year is no different as the race has offered up 7 sacrifices to the fantasy golf gods as 8 teams have led the league at varying times with all but one coughing it up. They've all come and gone except for one highlander - none other than the 2015 champ Gophers. 

With a 9th place finish at the Dell Technologies Gophers has clenched an unbelievable 13 Top 10s in a row. It's no wonder he's currently in first place by 86 points with that run. Strangely enough he's only had 1 Top 3 in that stretch which was his lone win of the season. But with the prize of $150 and your name forever engraved on the Jackson Cup the end certainly justifies the means. 

With two weeks to go Gophers is in good shape but nothing is a gimme. Driving Miss Daisy is on a bit of a run over the past 6 weeks with 4 Top 10s, 2 Top 3s and 1 win all falling into place over that stretch. She's got a shot at catching Gophers but it'll mean making up roughly 40 points each week over the final two tournaments. But Miss Daisy is not only trying to win her first Jackson Cup title she's also trying to keep her pursuers at bay. 

Talkeetna98 is only 2 points behind her in 3rd place after putting together perhaps his best segment to date. He's collected 8 Top 10s, 3 Top 3s and 1 win over the summer months and has charged up the leaderboard 5 spots, from 8th to 3rd overall. He also leads the Summer Segment and has a chance to capture his first ever segment title and payout. He's one of the 4 teams with 4 wins this season and stands on the cusp of breaking the all time single season win record if he can just collect 1 more. 

Whiny Little Pitch has taken a tumble over the past couple weeks and it couldn't have happened at a worse time. She'd just risen to the top of the leaderboard in week 32 but gave it up just as quickly as she'd gotten it with a 15th and 19th place finish in the past two weeks respectively. Whiny still has a shot at the Jackson Cup but it's an outsider's chance if anything. She's 117 points behind Gophers and would need not only to finish in the top 3 over the final two weeks but would also need Gophers, Miss Daisy and Talkeetna to come off the rails. An unlikely, but possible, scenario. 

Summer Segment Race

This one is tight folks. Talkeetna, V to the O and Gophers are all within 13 points and it's literally anybody's game at this point. Talkeetna leads the way and has done so for many weeks now. He's lost some ground to Gophers who's been charging hard but somehow he's hanging on by a thread. 

There's a nice payout of $40 to the segment winner which will no doubt pad the coffers of Talkeetna and Gophers but for V to the O it would amazingly be his first paycheck of the year. 

Of these three competitors only V to the O has any real success in the playoffs as he carded two Top 3s last year. He's also trending in the right direction with 4 Top 10s in the past 5 weeks. Gophers and Talkeetna have barely scraped together a handful of Top 10s combined in the playoffs over the past two years. It's sure to be a knock down drag out fight to the finish as all three are hungry for a segment championship. For Talkeetan and V to the O it would be their first, for Gophers is would be his third and if he continues his Top 10 streak he may certainly get it. 

Headlines

2018 Earnings

• The single season wins record of 4, originally set by Freeside Links and Jose Maria Oblazabong back in 2015, could be broken by Putting w/a Long Iron, Talkeetna, That's Wet and Eat My Grind who all have 4 entering the final two weeks

• 2017 BMW Championship runner up Driving Miss Daisy has good history at tournament and will need to keep her success going there if she is going to make up ground

• 9 teams have 2 weeks to capture season win before 2018 closes out: Niblick, BevGin&Tonic, V to the O, Tourball, Show and Dough, Jose Maria Oblazabong, Short Strokes, Marlowe Dubuisson, Papa Levs

• Gophers primed to overtake Short Strokes for all time money leader with either a tournament win, segment championship or top 3 season finish

• With his 3 wins this year 2 Footer has become the all time leader with 10 career tournament victories - Gophers trails by 1 at 9 career wins

• Eat My Grind has grown his career earnings by 200% going from $44 earned over three years to $85 earned in 2018 alone 

• Talkeetna could double his entire career earnings ($104 prior to 2018) in one season with one more paycheck (currently at $85)

• Havle Ouimet has grown his career earnings by 123% in 2018 going from $46 earnings from 2015-2017 to $65 earned in 2018 currently

• Kings Deer and Freeside Links have roughly matched their career earnings in a single season

• If he can finish top 10 in the final two weeks Short Strokes will be the only team to ever go three consecutive seasons with 20 or more Top 10s each year