Kevin Na didn’t win the FedEx Cup, but his third-place finish may have tipped the scales in his favor for making his first U.S. Ryder Cup team.
“I couldn’t have played any better,” Na said. “I had one bogey for 72 holes, last three rounds bogey-free (57 holes in a row). … That’s pretty good.”
Na, 37, started the week eight strokes behind Patrick Cantlay at 2 under but fired four rounds in the 60s at East Lake, including a final-round 67, and shot 14 under, which tied Jon Rahm for the low 72-hole aggregate at the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
“I was trying to win that secret leaderboard, where everybody started from even par, to get Captain Stricker’s attention, so I could get a captain’s pick,” said Na, who ranked 19th in the U.S Ryder Cup point standings.
Na reached the par-5 18th in two and coaxed his eagle putt near the hole for a finishing birdie that was worth $1 million – the difference between third and fourth place in the FedEx Cup. Na, one of the shorter hitters on the PGA Tour (No. 172 in driving distance), said he drove it beautifully all week, which set up birdie opportunities. It taught him an important lesson.
“No matter what golf course I play, if I’m on, I can play,” he said. “This is a golf course that I always felt like it didn’t really suit my game. Hitting 2 to 3 clubs more than everybody else on every hole, greens are firm, if you miss the fairway for me there’s no chance out of the rough for me.”
Na, who won the Sony Open in January, is playing some of the best golf of his career at the right time. He has made a strong case for one of six captain’s picks allotted to Steve Stricker to round out the U.S. 12-man team, which will be announced on Wednesday. Can Stricker really justify not taking the player who finished third in the FedEx Cup and did everything but win during the last six weeks?
“I did the best I could,” said Na, who said he plans to text Stricker. “I have two runner-up finishes in the last six starts, another Top-10 at a playoff event and maybe win or second here (in the 72-hole stroke-play aggregate.) So, I mean, from where I started to finish third in the FedEx Cup, eight shots back, I think I’m looking strong for a pick.”
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