Matt Kuchar bested Martin Laird in a one-hole playoff to win The Barclays, the first round of the FedExCup playoffs.  Tiger Woods closed with a 67 on Sunday to finish T12, which moves him from 112th to 65th in the FedExCup standings and allows him to play in the second round of the playoffs. In Scotland, European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie named all 12 members of his team, and left off two big names.

Nine players automatically qualified for the European Ryder Cup team: England’s Lee Westwood (ranked 3rd in the world), 2010 PGA champion Martin Kaymer of Germany (#5), Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy (#7), England’s Ian Poulter (#12), 2010 US Open champion Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland (#14), England’s Ross Fisher (#26), Italy’s Francesco Molinari (#35), Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez (#38), and Sweden’s Peter Hanson (#40).  That left three captain’s picks for Monty, and he went for England’s Luke Donald (#11), Italy’s Edoardo Molinari (#15), and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington (#19).  Notably absent from the team are England’s Paul Casey (#8) and Justin Rose (#23).

Edoardo Molinari finished with three straight birdies to win the Johnnie Walker Championship in Scotland on Sunday, and will be paired with his brother Francesco on the European Team.  The brothers are among six Ryder Cup virgins on the European Team. Harrington, Donald, Casey and Rose were all playing in The Barclays and in the middle of their final rounds when the picks were announced.  Harrington finished a distant T47, while the other three were all in the top 15.

For Monty, picking Harrington was about experience:

Padraig has won three majors in the past two years, he has great stature in the game and when his back is up against the wall he comes out and gives tremendous performance. He is a great competitor.

Monty said if Lee Westwood isn’t recovered from his calf injury, Justin Rose would be his pick to fill in.  Rose is currently in 4th place in the FedExCup standings, while Casey is in 23rd.

In 65th place, Tiger Woods now has to worry about staying in the top 70 so he can advance to the tournament’s third round.  Overall, Tiger was pleased with his performance at The Barclays and confident he’ll continue to do well in the playoffs:

I haven’t won all year. But this is a week that I was very close. I felt that if I would have putted better for all four days, I would have been right there. … The next three events [in the playoffs], the next three venues, I’ve won on. So I’m going to three venues I’m very familiar with, and I’m looking forward to it.

Playing on a familiar venue certainly didn’t help Tiger four weeks ago at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, but he has played better since.  Two of his three lowest scores of the year came this weekend, but were unfortunately wrapped around a 73 and a 72.  Tiger did hold on to his number one ranking for another week when world #2 Phil Mickelson failed to make the cut at The Barclays.

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Meanwhile, in Canada, 20-year-old Michelle Wie won her second LPGA title with a three-stroke victory at the Canadian Women’s Open. At the end of her final round, Wie got sprayed with champagne by her friend Christina Kim and was a bit squeamish about it. “I was trying to run away from her,” Wie explained. “All I was thinking in my mind was I’m wearing white pants, please be nice Tina.”

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Finally, 25 players were eliminated from the FedExCup playoffs on Sunday, so we should all bid a fond adieu to:

• Kevin Sutherland CUT
• Jerry Kelly CUT
• Alex Cejka CUT
• Derek Lamely CUT
• Jonathan Byrd T56
• Matt Bettencourt CUT
• Robert Garrigus T52
• Jeff Maggert DNP
• Sergio Garcia DNP
• John Merrick T68
• Briny Baird CUT
• Joe Ogilvie CUT
• Bill Lunde CUT
• Dean Wilson CUT
• Corey Pavin DNP
• Bob Estes CUT
• David Duval T64
• Cameron Beckman CUT
• Ben Curtis CUT
• Michael Letzig CUT
• Nathan Green CUT
• Kevin Stadler CUT
• Woody Austin CUT
• Graham DeLaet CUT
• Scott Piercy CUT