NEW YORK -- Jordan Spieth never missed so many putts and felt so excited leaving a golf tournament.I hit the ball so good, Spieth said as he signed autographs at Bethpage Black. I was Tiger Woods in 2000.He signed another autograph, looked back and grinned.OK, I was exaggerating a little on that, he said.The Barclays was one of those rare tournaments that Spieth had slightly lower expectations with his putter. His practice in Dallas was limited to a 12-foot strip of artificial turf because the greens where he normally practices were closed.Plus, he is still working on his relationship with poa annua.Im Bermuda, and then Im bent, he said of the grasses on which he putts his best. And then theres probably six other kinds. And then Im poa.The two-time major champion is not hopeless on poa. Spieth missed a playoff by one shot at Riviera, the same course where he helped lead Texas to an NCAA title. He has a pair of top 10s at Pebble Beach and he had the 36-hole lead one year at Torrey Pines.When its softer, I have a harder time trusting the shorter length putts because I know theyre going to hop so I change my stroke, which I probably shouldnt, he said. But its hard for me to trust it. I hit putts where I wanted to, but I either under-read them or over-read them. Just bad timing.He missed six birdies chances from the 10-foot range or closer in the final round. But the fact he had that many chances was good news for him.I knew coming in the putting was going to be down because I hadnt worked on it to the extent I usually do, he said. I told Michael (Greller) on 10 that I wanted to have a good look at birdie on every hole coming in, which on this back nine is really hard to do. And I had a legitimate chance, other than 16, on making birdie on every hole.That he made only one of those didnt bother him.I leave here on a big-time high, Spieth said.He headed to Friars Head for a game with Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler and Smylie Kaufman on Monday before making his way up to the TPC Boston. Spieth and Brandt Snedeker in 2013 are the only FedEx Cup champions to start the playoffs in the top 5 the following year.Spieth stayed at No. 5 in his bid to become the first repeat winner of the $10 million prize.---OMINOUS WORDS: Adam Scott has thought about winning the FedEx Cup since he won back-to-back in Florida, and his desire has nothing to do with the $10 million bonus. His motivation in golf is beating everyone who enters the tournaments.I try not to play golf thinking about money at all, Scott said. If I did, and you told me 3-foot putts are worth $500,000, I probably wouldnt be able to play. So I try and play golf not thinking about money or having it have any influence on my decisions.Thats a good thing.Because when Scott finished up at The Barclays, he had a 3-foot putt on the final hole for a 70 that would have put him in a tie for second.He missed it.The cost of missing that putt was just over $300,000.---MOVING ON: Ollie Schniederjans, Trey Mullinax and Seamus Power are among the top 25 on the Web.com Tour money list who earned a PGA Tour card for the first time. Martin Flores, Brad Fritsch and Mark Anderson are among those returning.What the Web.com Tour showed this year is that winning a tournament is a big step toward finishing in the top 25. But more is required.Stephan Jaeger (28), Andrew Svoboda (29) and James Driscoll (39) all won on the Web.com Tour this year and failed to finish in the top 25 to get a PGA Tour card. They will move on to the Web.com Tour Finals, which start next week and determine the other 25 cards.Web.com Tour players and PGA Tour players will play four tournaments with a card on the line.---MCILROYS CLUBS: Rory McIlroy had a new putter for The Barclays. It could take a little longer to figure out what he wants to use through the rest of the bag now that Nike is getting out of the golf equipment business.Im not going to commit to anything, McIlroy said. I wouldnt be surprised to see me not go with a manufacturer for a year or two, just sort of play with what I want to play, what Im comfortable with, and go from there. ... No reason to start changing just because I can.It doesnt sound like hell be switching golf balls anytime soon.I got them to save me three years worth of golf balls, McIlroy said. So at least Ive got a golf ball that I like and that I know I can play well with.---SPIETH AND PIETERS: Jordan Spieth has a strong memory of Thomas Pieters from their amateur days, and not just Pieters winning the NCAA title at Riviera in 2012. Later that summer, the Belgian was playing the European Amateur in Ireland and had to get to Denver for the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills.He got there so late that he didnt have time to see the golf course, but he managed to get into a 17-for-14 playoff to advance to match play. Spieth was already in and waited to see who he would get in the opening round of matches.If youre paired against someone in the first round or the final round it doesnt matter, Spieth recalled. But he was someone youd like to wait until later to play.No such luck. He drew Pieters.The first hole can be reached with driver, and Spieth was in good shape in the rough on the left edge of the green.Thomas hooks it off the downslope of the No. 2 tee box into the rough, Spieth said. Then he hits this flop shot that lands next to where my ball is, takes a hop in the rough, rolls down and goes in for a 2. The first hole. One down. Thanks for coming.Pieters ended up winning the match on the 18th hole, and then lost in the next round.---DIVOTS: This years FedEx Cup playoff rotation features for big courses -- Bethpage Black, the TPC Boston, Crooked Stick and East Lake. This rotation last was used in 2012, when the FedEx Cup champion was Brandt Snedeker, who started at No. 19. ... U.S. Amateur runner-up Brad Dalke, Maverick McNealy and Scottie Scheffler have been selected for the U.S. team that will compete Sept. 21-24 at Mayakoba Resort in Mexico. ... Three Americans who were among the top eight in Ryder Cup points going into the 2016 failed to earn an automatic spot on the team -- Rickie Fowler (4), Kevin Kisner (6) and Bubba Watson (7).---STAT OF THE WEEK: Ian Poulter fell to No. 101 in the world ranking, his first time out of the top 100 since May 25, 2003.---FINAL WORD: Great thing about the game of golf is if you dont like where youre at, you can do something about it by simply playing better and shooting lower scores. Theres no judges here that are giving you scores that are subjective. Its all out there. Whatever your number is, just shoot it. Shoot a lower score than the other guy and youll do pretty good. You might win. -- Phil Mickelson. Puma Sneakers Australia . -- Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Farmar will be out for roughly four weeks after tearing his left hamstring. Puma Wholesale Australia . The Clippers were angry about blowing a big lead; the Kings didnt like being in that kind of hole and nearly digging themselves out only to lose. http://www.wholesalepumaaustralia.com/ . -- About a third of the way through the regular season, the Washington Wizards are at . Puma Australia Sale .J. -- Marty Brodeur beat the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again. Puma Shoes Australia Sale . Inter president Erick Thohir says in a club statement on Wednesday that Vidic is "one of the worlds best defenders and his qualities, international pedigree, and charisma will be an asset. It was one of the most compelling postseason games in baseball history.Too bad much of the nation had surely dozed off by the time it ended.Simply put, the Los Angeles Dodgers beating the Washington Nationals in the decisive contest of the NL Division Series epitomized everything thats great about the playoffs -- and everything thats wrong with a national pastime that drags on far too long.When Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw improbably ended the interminable classic with a strikeout for his first career save, Thursday had become Friday. The clock showed 41 minutes past midnight on the East Coast -- a ludicrous time to conclude a sporting event when most fans surely had to be at work or school just a few hours later.One of the best games in history is how Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez described it for those still awake, and theres no arguing that point. If nothing else, youve probably seen a couple of replay highlights by now.But it shouldnt have taken 4 hours and 32 minutes to complete, making this the longest nine-inning game in postseason annals. The seventh inning alone was like its own little game, taking up 66 minutes as the Nationals paraded one pitcher after another to the mound, six of them in all, in a desperate attempt to get three outs.The drama was undeniable.Too bad it was interrupted by all those trips to the mound, all those pitchers trotting in from the bullpen, all those requisite warmup tosses, all those batters stepping out of the box between every pitch, all those commercials filling up the dead air time for those watching at home.As good as this game was, it raised a question that baseball has been grappling with for years: Why is this taking so long?Lets start with Washingtons Dusty Baker, who provided a textbook example of Overmanaging 101 in the seventh.Hes got his best pitcher on the mound, 20-game winner Max Scherzer, and a 1-0 lead as the inning begins. Granted, Scherzer had shown some signs of tiring, pitching out of a base-loaded jam in the fifth and giving up another hit in the sixth.When Scherzer surrendered a leadoff homer to Joc Pederson in the seventh on his 99th pitch of the night, Baker decided that he no longer wanted his best pitcher in a 1-1 game. Who could blame him? This has become standard practice in an era of bloated pitching staffs filled with far too many guys playing specialized roles -- an inning here, a batter there, all of it leading to endless pitching chaanges, double-switches and other time-consuming matters.ddddddddddddAfterward, Baker didnt have to defend whether he yanked Scherzer too soon.Just the opposite.With Max at 98 pitches going into the seventh and a lefty at the plate in Pederson, did you at all consider pulling him then? a reporter asked, reflecting the way the game is played these days, to its detriment.No, I didnt think about pulling him then, Baker said. Max said he was still good. We were hoping to get another inning out of him. ... Its easy to say after the fact. If somebody had told me and Max that the guy was going to hit an opposite-field home run, wed have taken him out then. But how do you take out your (best pitcher) ... in a 1-0 game? And Max is capable of going 100-some-odd pitches.After one bad pitch, he was done.Marc Rzepczynski walked the next guy on four pitches and quickly got yanked. He probably didnt even need to shower. Blake Treinen faced two batters and retired one of them before he was pulled. Sammy Solis also faced two hitters, giving up the go-ahead hit to Carlos Ruiz. Shawn Kelley was summoned next, a move that totally backfired when Justin Turner tripled to the deepest reaches of center field, bringing in two more runs. After Kelley hurt his arm, it was left to Oliver Perez to get the third out.The Dodgers took a totally different approach.Less was more on this night.In the bottom half of the seventh, after Washington scored a pair of runs, Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts went against the book -- kudos for that -- by going to his closer, Kenley Jansen, two innings earlier than normal. Jansen made it to the ninth with a 51-pitch outing, the longest of his career, before Roberts went totally off script by bringing his best pitcher out of the bullpen to get the final two outs.Just 48 hours after throwing 110 pitches in Game 4, Kershaw finally ended the series by whiffing rookie Wilmer Difo, the last position player remaining on Washingtons bench.The craziest game Ive ever been a part of, a downcast Scherzer said.No one would disagree with that.This was baseball at its best.And its worst.---Paul Newberry is a sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at pnewberry(at)ap.org or at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul-newberry . ' ' '