W

e have to roll the clock all the way back to July 2009 when Webb Simpson, an unknown young American player happened to be paired with the more seasoned American player Sean O’Hair.

The occasion is perhaps notable not in the meeting of the players but the fact that O’Hair’s veteran caddie Paul Tesori first met Simpson that day. Interestingly enough after Tesori was unceremoniously fired by O’Hair in late 2010 he received a call from Simpson.

The two hit it off instantly and Tesori found himself on Simpson’s bag at their first PGA Tour outing in Hawaii in January 2011. Since then, it’s been the stuff of fairy tales. The 26-year-old Simpson has rocketed from being a relatively unknown to the top of the PGA Tour’s 2011 money list.

He notched his biggest win last week at the Fedex Cup Deutsche Bank Championship to catapult himself to the top of the Fedex Cup Rankings. Simpson now has two wins out of his last three starts and has posted an astounding nine top-ten finishes in 22 events this year.

This also includes two second-place finishes. Webb’s consistent play is remarkable and he attributes his success in some measure to Tesori’s steady hand and said as much recently: “My caddie has helped me a ton.”

With two events remaining in the four-event Fedex Cup playoffs Simpson signaled that he liked his chances going forward: “You know, to be at number one in the FedEx Cup with two weeks to go, I couldn’t expect anything more. You know, the goal for us is to be in the top five going into Atlanta, and it looks like I’m in a good position to do that, so I’m thrilled.”

If Webb finishes at the top of the Fedex Cup point standings after the final event, the Tour Championship in Atlanta on September 25th he will pocket a cool US $10 million.

Simpson won the prestigious Deutsche Bank Championship in a nerve-wracking playoff after birdieing the second playoff hole, the par four 17th, against fellow American Chez Reavie.

Webb’s path to the playoff was not exactly a straight line if you will. At 14 under par, he was two strokes behind Reavie at the 18th and final hole when he made a lengthy birdie putt from eight meters.

Reavie then faltered on the same hole and made bogie to finish tied with Simpson at 15 under par resulting in a sudden death playoff.

Webb made light of the long putter he uses, widely known as the belly putter, a reference to the fact that it is so long a player usually tucks it against the stomach area to stabilize it when putting.

When asked how he uses a belly putter without having a large belly Simpson put his sense of humor on display to say: “Well, I’m in a win-win situation because the more weight I gain, the better the belly putter should feel. So I try to stick it in there and it sometimes slides out. But I make sure to keep eating pizza once a week.”

Simpson topped this off by saying that he had gone to a Wendy’s fast food restaurant to celebrate his first ever victory on Tour only two weeks before.

This naturally prompted a follow up as he was asked if he was going to dine at a Wendy’s after this victory, to which he comically said: “Yeah, Wendy’s or McDonald’s probably. Got to keep it going, you know.”

His US $1.4 million winner’s cheque could buy more than a few burgers. ‘Magnificent’ is one way to describe the year that Simpson has had thus far. At this time last year Webb had not even secured a spot on Tour for the 2011 season. Tesori, his caddie put it best when he said: “We started the year as new friends, new team, few expectations and 213th in the world. We’re now 14th in the world. Blessed Beyond Belief.”

Call it karma, fate or whatever you will at this stage but with two weeks to go until the climactic conclusion of the Fedex Cup in Atlanta, team Simpson-Tesori does believe in one thing: “Impossible is nothing!