Goydos, Marino Share Lead at Barclays

The four-tournament FedEx Cup might be billed as the playoffs, but Tiger Woods (along with just about everybody else in the field) are treating it with all the reverence of a practice round. Maybe it’s the rain-soaked conditions, or the tricked-out, wannabe links-inspired course set-up. Or maybe the manufactured drama of the FedEx Cup isn’t working.

So call the next month of golf whatever you want, but it feels a lot like the PGA Tour season officially ended with last week’s Wyndham Championship. Hey, it could be worse: we could be subjected to made-for-teevee skins games.

In any event, we’re three rounds into the Barclays, and 24-year-old Webb Simpson, the 36-hole leader, stumbled through moving day, dropping two shots off the lead after signing for a 1-over, 71. Meanwhile, Paul Goydos and Steve Marino each needed 68 strokes to get around Liberty National and are tied atop the leaderboard at 9-under heading to the final day.

As for the “morose and petulant” Woods, he hit plenty of poor shots Saturday, but it was hard to tell between all the smiles. Another indication that everybody isn’t yet in “playoff mode.” Tiger’s putter did most of the heavy lifting, however, and the world’s best player signed for a 67, good for a tie for seventh (4-under).

Perhaps the most interesting story of the day: Jim Furyk started with double-bogeys on the first two holes only to finish 1-under par for his round. The 4-over start was solely because he had 15 clubs in his bag — one more than is allowed. It’s a two-stroke penalty for each hole, and Fluff and Furyk didn’t realize the transgression until they were playing No. 2. Another win for the arcane rules of golf.

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