I don’t know if I will go so far as to say it was a surprise finish, but I was a little surprised by some of the play witnessed on Sunday at East Lake.  Brandt played great all day long with only a few hiccups, but those were well shadowed by his incredible flat stick.  With a double bogey on the 6th hole chopping his lead in half (could have been more but Justin Rose missed a putt to tie the lead), a lot of young players who have not been in the major spot light on the PGA Tour would crumble.  Not good ole Brandt.  He steps it up, shakes off his double and then goes on to give a putting clinic at East Lake.  Putt after Putt dropped for Sneds and the competition knew that they would have to do something special in order to catch the Vanderbilt star.  When he chipped in on 17 everyone knew that was the tournament, give the man both trophies.  However, when Brandts tee shot on the par three 18th flew into and more than likely over the grand stands we all had a little moment of panic (Brandt included) and though uh oh… but Brandt composed himself, got it on the green and two putted to victory.  Congratulations on a great weekend Mr. Snedecker, your biggest and most lucrative career win, and a invitation now to golf’s elite clubhouse.  With a solid finish in every one of the FedEx Cup playoff events, and playing well at each stage, Brandt really did deserve to win the FedEx Cup, and he has established himself as a world class golfer.  Oh did I mention that the captains pick is playing so hot right now that we could see some real damage at Medinah done by Brandt?  …but that will have to wait for another post.

The Chicago Golf Guy was also very surprised at how Rory McIlroy finished on Sunday.  He was very much in the thick of things going into Sunday’s final round.  The man has won three of his last four tournaments, that included a major victory and two playoff wins in arguably the toughest fields all year, and he shows up Sunday afternoon to card a 74???  39 on the front Rory?  What happened?  I think that Rory got off to a bad start and just could not recover.  That can happen to anyone, even the #1 player in the world.  I would venture to guess that if something would have changed, like a Justin Rose bombardment on the back nine, and if Brandt hadn’t won outright (where it didn’t matter how Rory finished) I don’t think that Rory could have won the FedEx cup either way with his 74 and ultimately T10 finish?  Not sure on the math, and it didn’t seem to matter anyways, but it makes you think.  Especially now that I am now in full Ryder Cup mode since the regular PGA Tour is now completed.  Even though I am a huge Rory fan, love you Rors, but I got to say it does bode well for the Americans that Rory has this final round to think about going into the Ryder Cup.  Could cause the kid to doubt himself a few times at Medinah…but we will have to wait and see.  4 days until the Ryder Cup.  GO USA!