Breaking a two-and-a-half-year, 48-tournament drought, Hunter Mahan won the first event of the 2014 FedEx Cup Playoffs, claiming a two-shot victory at The Barclay’s, played at the Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey.  Ultimately prevailing over a crowded leaderboard on Sunday, Mahan began the week in style, trailing first round leader Bo Van Pelt by one after carding a five-under-par 66.  His fortunes slipped slightly on Friday following a three-birdie, three-bogey 71, but a 68 on Saturday put him in the clubhouse only one stroke behind co-54-hole leaders Jason Day and Jim Furyk.  For Furyk, the final round turned into another frustration-filled Sunday, for even after birdieing the 2nd and 3rd holes, he could manage no better than a closing 70, leaving him alone in eighth place; it was the eighth straight time he has failed to convert a 54-hole lead.  Day, for his part, did somewhat better.  Looking for his second PGA Tour victory of an injury-slowed 2014, he turned in two-under-par 33, bogeyed the par-4 11th but then added back-to-back birdies at the 13th and 14th to finish with 68 – good enough for a three-way tie for second.  Joining him there were Cameron Tringale (who might have tied Mahan with a 72nd-hole birdie, but instead made bogey) and the least likely contender of all, Stuart Appleby, who closed with a sparkling 65 to land his first top-three finish since winning the Greenbrier Classic in 2010.  Amidst this crowded competition, Mahan separated himself by logging three straight birdies at holes 15-17, allowing him the luxury of a slightly sloppy bogey at the last to still win by two………………Wales’ Jamie Donaldson won for the third time on the European PGA Tour – and clinched a spot on his first Ryder Cup team – at the inaugural playing of the D+D Real Czech Masters, closing with Sunday 68 to edge countryman Bradley Dredge by two outside of Prague.  Donaldson needed a top-seven finish to clinch the coveted Ryder Cup berth and demonstrated his determination early, taking the first round lead with an eight-birdie, two-bogey 66, then maintaining a slim one-shot margin over France’s Gregory Bourdy after posting a Friday 69.  He then began his third round with an eagle at the 538-yard 1st, but a double-bogey at the long par-4 8th and two late back nine bogeys eventually saw him home in 71 – good enough only to stand two shots behind Dredge, who followed opening rounds of 68-70 with a bogey-free 66 on Saturday. But in a final round which also saw Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen and South Africa’s Merrick Bremner factor into the mix, Donaldson quickly retook the lead by birdieing the first three holes, leaving him two ahead of Dredge at the turn.  Both men then played the final nine in 35, and with neither Kjeldsen or Bremner being able to match that number, Donaldson walked home to raise the trophy.