Top-20 American players to watch out for in 2012: Part-4
Simpson played stunning golf over the next two weekends, staying in contention for the remaining two events on the FedExCup Playoff Championship, the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship. He again shot back in contention at the McGladrey Classic in
October, where he lost to seasoned Ben Crane in the Playoff. His strong finish jolted him to an all time high of number one on the FedExCup points table, replacing world number one Luke Donald from the top. Donald regained the top slot at the Children’s Miracle
Networks Hospital Classic in the next month.
Simpson has a scoring average of 69.16 and has closed the season with gross earnings of $6,347,353.
Matt Kuchar
Official World Golf Rankings: 11
FedExCup Rankings: 6
PGA Tour wins in 2011: 0
Playing for the 11th consecutive year on the PGA Tour, Matt Kuchar has come out to be a formidable force in all these years and although he was not able to win a title in 2011, his strong performances all over the globe shot him to number 11th
on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR). Kuchar has won six professional events in his career, three of them coming on the PGA in the past decade. A graduate of the Georgia Tech, the 33-year-old American played brilliantly in the President’s Cup in November
this year to guide the US Team to a comprehensive victory.
Kuchar won his maiden event on the PGA in 2002 at the Honda Classic in March where he defeated Brad Faxon and Joey Sindelar by two strokes. He won his second event on the tour after a lapse of seven years, the Turning Stone Resort Championship in 2009.
Kuchar started off the year, thrashing the fields in all the three opening events, carding three top-ten finishes. He finished for a joint sixth at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, a joint fifth at Sony open in Hawaii, and a joint seventh in Bob Hope
Classic. Kuchar excelled in the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship in February where he suffered a defeat in the semi-final by the eventual winner Luke Donald of England. He again came close to lifting his first title in the year at the Memorial Tournament
but again fell back in wake of Steve Stricker’s brilliant performance at the Muirfield Village, finishing runners up. As if this wasn’t enough, Kuchar had to settle for yet another runner up finish at the Barclays where Webb Simpson took the better of him.
Kuchar finally had a breath of relief at the Omega Mission Hills World Cup of Golf in China, where he led the American team to a stunning victory playing alongside compatriot Gary Woodland. Out of the 24 appearances this year, Kuchar made the cut in no fewer
than 22 with a scoring average of 69.60. He posted 19 top-25 and nine top-ten finishes in the year, amassing total earnings of $4,233,920.
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