Hunter Mahan's best finish during this PGA season was back on January 30 at the Phoenix Open where he tied for fourth place. The 19th ranked golfer in the world changed that over the weekend with a victory at The Barclays in New Jersey.
Mahan had an excellent four rounds at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, NJ. He was never over par, shooting a 66, 71, 68 and 65 for a total of 270 and 14-under for The Barclays tournament. He beat out Stuart Appleby, Cameron Tringale and Jason Day, who all tied for second place at 12-under par. Adam Scott, last year's champion, was seven-under for the tournament thanks to a score of 75 on day three.
With the win, Mahan earned $1.44 million and moved to the No. 1 spot in the FedExCup standings after a 2,500-point boost. He's now predicted to finish ahead of Rory McIlroy (2,582 points) and Jimmy Walker (2,493) after compiling 3,276 points on the season with three playoff events remaining. The FedExCup is a yearlong competition, but the last four events offer the most money ($32 million combined) and the most points (2,500 points per event).
Extremely proud to be @TheBarclaysGolf champion. Incredible to see my wife and daughter after 18 and get to celebrate this win with them.
— Hunter Mahan (@HunterMahan) August 25, 2014
"There's really never a bad time to play good golf," said Mahan, in this ESPN article. "And this is a really, really good time to play good golf." But one thing did go wrong for Mahan after a near flawless weekend.
He broke the crystal chalice Barclays trophy.
Mahan accidentally separated the bowl from its base while posing for pictures with a fan. But he was not at all upset about it, joking with reporters shortly thereafter. How could he be upset after firing a 65 on the final day of a playoff tournament to earn a two-stroke victory? Oh yeah, and the trophy can easily be repaired, so it really wasn't that big of a deal.
With three playoff events coming in the next three weeks - the Deutsche Bank Championship, the BMW Championship, and the TOUR Championship - Mahan and the rest of the field look to earn some more cash and become the season-long champion of the PGA Tour.
You can read more about Hunter Mahan's victory at The Barclays in this NJ.com article.
