Hunter Mahan celebrates with his daughter. (Getty Images)
Hunter Mahan celebrates with his daughter. (Getty Images)

Hunter Mahan is the only golfer to play in all 29 FedEx Cup Playoff events and that streak will now likely continue into 2015.

Mahan won The Barclays on Sunday with a flurry of back-nine birdies to defeat the three-headed second-place trio of Cameron Tringale, Stuart Appleby, and Jason Day by two.

"I haven’t played my best this year, so to get a win at an event like this, and the timing that it was, feels unbelievable," Mahan said. "I’m extremely proud of myself right now."

He should be.

It was Mahan's first victory of the 2013-14 season and first overall since he took the crown in Houston in 2012. His wife and daughter were there to suprise him on the 18th green which made for a cool moment.

Mahan leaped from No. 62 in the FedEx Cup standings to No. 1. Here's a new look at the top five:

1. Mahan
2. Rory McIlroy
3. Jimmy Walker
4. Matt Kuchar
5. Bubba Watson

Mahan, somewhat surprisingly, called it his best win shortly afterwards.

"This is maybe my biggest win as far as everything that comes with it," he said. "A chance to win the FedEx Cup. A lot has changed overnight."

That's true. But there's still a lot of golf to be played.

The fourth round included as bunched a leaderboard as we've seen all season but Mahan took control with two birdies early and then five (!) in the first eight holes on the back nine before conservatively bogeying the last to preserve the W.

Here's a look at his card:

The Oklahoma State grad was borderline flawless on Sunday. The 65 was the third time he's shot that number on a Sunday to win a tournament which is just bonkers. Also, this seems like it would normally get the job done:

The dagger came at No. 17 when he birdied for the third straight hole and went three up with just one hole left for him to play.

So now Mahan is looking at the likelihood of making it to the Tour Championship (he'll almost assuredly be there) and a probable top five finish overall (if history holds) which means at least $1 million.

Not to mention the fact that he's thrown his name in Tom Watson's Uncle Sam-shaped hat for Ryder Cup consideration.

All in all a pretty decent Sunday for Mahan.

Here are our grades for The Barclays:

PlayerGradeAnalysis
A Hunter Mahan will jump inside the top 26 on the all-time money list with over $27 million. All-time! Thanks, Tiger. Finish: Win
A What are the odds Tom Watson can convince the European Team that Adam Scott and Jason Day are actually Americans? Seems like a decent thing to try, no? Finish: T2
A You know whose bandwagon I'm leaping onto? Patrick Reed's bandwagon. The dude might be arrogant but he doesn't seem to give many craps about anything other than winning. I'm all in on him at Gleneagles. Finish: T9
A It's odd to me that Hunter Mahan now has a win and Rickie Fowler still doesn't. A Friday 73 was the only thing standing in the way of him and a very orange playoff with Mahan. Finish: T9
B What is the meaning of this non-top 10 finish by Rory McIlroy? A leaky first-round 74 had him way back and even though he played well on Friday he couldn't finish things out. I guess he's still had a decent summer.  Finish: T22
F Not the best time for Brandt Snedeker to miss a cut. Tom Watson is sitting on about 39 guys for his Ryder Cup picks and Snedeker could make it easy on him by playing (and putting) well in the playoffs. He did neither this week. Finish: CUT

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