Three years ago, Hunter Mahan headed to TPC Boston and the then Deutsche Bank Championship at a high point in his career. Days before, against a field that included Jason Day, Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy and a rookie by the name of Jordan Spieth, Mahan—the only player at Ridgewood Country Club to have played in all 29 previous FedEx Cup Playoff events—shot a final-round 65 to collect his first post-season victory and his sixth career PGA Tour title. The triumph would eventually lead the 32-year-old to become a captain’s pick for Tom Watson’s ill-fated 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, the seventh time Mahan represented his country in a Ryder or Presidents Cup.
This week, Mahan once again has the playoffs on his mind, just those from a different tour. Instead of TPC Boston, Mahan is playing at the Scarlet Course at Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, competing in the first of four Web.com Tour Finals Series events, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship. This after a PGA Tour season in which he had just two top-25s in 26 starts and finished 182nd on the FedEx Cup points list.
While humbling, the next four tournaments represent an opportunity for Mahan to play his way back to exempt status and, perhaps, jumpstart a career that not long ago showed so much promise. Last fall, Mahan changed swing instructors, leaving long-time friend and counselor Sean Foley for Chris O’Connell, a one-plane swing advocate that turned around Matt Kuchar’s career. The philosophies between the two instructors—or at least the way they are explained—represent a change in methodology for the now 35-year-old Mahan, who spent eight years working with Foley. “Chris and I have done a lot of really great work,’’ Mahan acknowledged Tuesday night. “It’s been a difficult change for us at times. It’s been a frustrating change because there have been days with really good results and successes, but taking it to the course and under pressure has been a completely different animal.”