The most important moves made this week involve two veterans. Despite a final-round 68, Vijay Singh worked himself into the top ten of the FedEx Cup, moving 28 spots to 8th place. On the other end of the spectrum, Padraig Harrington moved a worthy 44 spots from 124 to 80, on the strength of a t-13 finish. Both Singh and Harrington will need to recover final-round magic from yesteryear if they hope to continue on and challenge for tournament and cup titles.
The week’s most expansive move was engineered by former FedEx cup hero Camillo Villegas, who tied for 6th at Plainfield to move an mercurial 58 spots, nearly into the top 50. If Villegas can reclaim the magic that made him the star of the 2009 playoffs, he will find himself in the hunt when we reach Atlanta in three weeks.
The quietest move of the week came from Brian Davis, who inched up 27 spots to #30. That number matters as the top 30 move on to the Tour Championship after Chicago. If Davis can remain at that altitude, he will earn a series of exemptions into all four major championships in 2012.
The most striking feature of Plainfield was the number of golfers who came back from vacation. It seems like months since we heard from Dustin Johnson, Jonathan Byrd, Villegas, Justin Rose, Charley Hoffman and Y.E. Yang, yet each of them found the lightning required to earn a top ten and copious cup points. Will their resurgence continue or will other players step forward in Boston to claim rungs on the ladder?
