Page 6 - COA

SPORTS A19
Playoffs begin with
eye toward PGA Tour
player of the yearÂ
DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (AP) —
The Olympics are over. The
Ryder Cup in on the hori-
zon.
In between is a $10 mil-
lion payoff for winning the
FedEx Cup, a four-tourna-
ment series that starts Thurs-
day at The Barclays. Still up
for grabs is who becomes
the favorite for PGA Tour
player of the year.
Jordan Spieth wasn’t sure
who he considered the
front-runner, perhaps be-
cause the summer has
gone by so quickly due to
the Olympic schedule. He
first thought it would be
Henrik Stenson, who won
the British Open in that ex-
quisite duel at Royal Troon.
Then, he remembered
Dustin Johnson winning the
U.S. Open and a World Golf
Championship at Firestone
in consecutive starts.
Spieth could only say for
certainty that he most likely
wouldn’t be part of the
conversation this year.
“I believe the player of the
year award should go to
someone who wins at the
highest level,” Spieth said
Wednesday. “Tiger won
it in 2013 without winning
a major, but he did win
The Players, and the other
events were all some of the
best fields in golf. But I think And as Day has found
that it’s hard to not give it
to someone who has won a
Hope Solo suspended from
national team for 6 monthsÂ
CHICAGO (AP) — U.S.
women’s goalkeeper
Hope Solo was suspended
Wednesday for six months
by U.S. Soccer for disparag-
ing comments about Swe-
den following the Ameri-
cans’ early departure from
the Rio Olympics.
Solo called the Swedes “a
bunch of cowards” for fo-
cusing on defense rather
than attacking the three-
time defending champion
major championship.”
The next five weeks — there
is a one-week break be-
tween the third and the fi-
nal playoff event — figures
to go a long way in shaping
that race.
Not to be overlooked is
Jason Day, whose three
victories include The Play-
ers Championship and the
Match Play.
“I think a couple wins would
be nice — a couple more
wins should do it, yeah,”
Day said. “That should just
take everything out, even
with what Dustin has done.
To have five wins, and es-
pecially two more wins in
the playoffs, will obviously
get it done.”
He makes it sound so sim-
ple, perhaps because
that’s what he did last year. Spieth said. “The course
Spieth was a shoo-in for
PGA Tour player of the
year in 2015 until Day won
The Barclays and the BMW
Championship, and sud-
denly Spieth’s amazing run
through the majors — two
victories, a runner-up finish
and missing a playoff by
one shot at St. Andrews —
was in doubt. Spieth took
care of that by winning the
Tour Championship and
the FedEx Cup, completing
the best year in the FedEx
Cup era.
out, winning isn’t easy. He
has gone more than three
U.S. team. Sweden ousted
the U.S. 4-3 on penalty kicks fair play and respect,” Gu-
following a 1-1 draw in a
quarterfinal match.
U.S. Soccer President Sunil
Gulati said Solo’s com-
ments were “unaccept-
able and do not meet the
standard of conduct we
require from our National
Team players.”
“Beyond the athletic are-
na, and beyond the results,
the Olympics celebrate
 In this Aug. 23, 2013, file photo, Rickie Fowler hits a tee shot on the 17th hole during the third round
of The Barclays golf tournament in Jersey City, N.J.
months since his last victory.
It all starts to unfold Thurs-
day at Bethpage Black, a
course that makes nothing
seem easy. The Black came
into prominence when it
hosted the U.S. Open for
the first time in 2002, and
then seven years later in
the rain. It last hosted The
Barclays in 2012.
The course is famous for
its warning sign on the first
tee: “The Black Course is an
extremely difficult course
which we recommend only
for highly skilled golfers.”
“It should say it’s a risk even Championship at Crooked
for really good players,”
I’ve played the last two
days is up there with the
hardest, probably top-five
courses I’ve ever played
in my life. And it’s Tuesday
and Wednesday of this
week, and it’s soft.”
and represent the ideals of
lati said.
“We expect all of our rep-
resentatives to honor those
principles, with no excep-
tions.”
The 35-year-old Solo, who
was previously suspended
for 30 days early in 2015
for her conduct, will not
be eligible for selection
to the national team until
February.q
Thursday 25 August 2016
Associated Press
Spieth has won twice this Day is in the No. 1 spot go-
year and goes into the ing into the playoffs, barely
playoffs at No. 5. The trick is moving past Johnson with
to stay there. his runner-up finish at the
The top 125 players quali- PGA Championship. Now
fied for the playoffs. Four that points are quadrupled
players are not at Beth- for the next three events,
page because they want this is the time of year to be
to conserve energy (Sergio playing the best golf.
Garcia, Danny Willett) or This is the 10th year of the
play in Europe (Shane Low- FedEx Cup playoffs, and
ry), or are injured (Anirban Day says they are starting
Lahiri). to get some traction. The
Only the top 100 advance tour has created bobble-
to the next event at the heads of the eight play-
Deutsche Bank Champi- ers who have won it (Tiger
onship, and then the top Woods is the only player to
70 move on to the BMW win it twice). Then again,
it’s hard to ignore that oth-
Stick. The top 30 get to East er value of winning.
Lake for the Tour Champi- “I’m not going to lie —
onship. The points are re- there’s a big price tag at
set so that everyone has a the end of the four events
mathematical chance at that is very, very motivat-
the $10 million bonus, and ing,” Day said. “You put
the top five only have to that kind of number behind
win at East Lake to capture anything, that’s very moti-
golf’s biggest payoff. vating for most people.”q
In this Aug. 3, 2016, file photo, U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo takes
the ball during a women’s Olympic football tournament match
against New Zealand in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.Â
Associated Press