As a practical joker, Harrington takes the prize

He’s won 14 times on the PGA Tour, and with more than $30 million in career earnings, Kenny Perry has had his share of great days at work. One of the best, though, came Tuesday, when he was given the 2009 Payne Stewart Award, which goes to a player who shares Stewart’s passion, respect, and commitment to golf.

Marc Leishman, who made an eagle on the 72d hole of the Deutsche Bank Championship to advance to the third playoff event, followed that up with a second-place tie at the BMW Championship, and is the only rookie in the 30-player field. Paired with Tiger Woods in the final round at Cog Hill and needing to play well to move on to the Tour Championship, the 26-year-old from Australia held his own, shooting 69 to Woods’s 68. “I was nervous on the first tee, I’ve probably never been that nervous in my whole life,’’ Leishman said. “But having said that, to play under that pressure, I really enjoyed it. If I’m nervous, then it must be for a reason, I’ve done something right to get into that position.’’

Heath Slocum, who won The Barclays and is fifth in the FedEx Cup points standings, made a $40,000 donation yesterday to the tournament’s Tickets Fore Charity program . . . Among the field, only Harrington has finished in the top 10 in each of the first three playoff events. He tied for second at The Barclays, tied for fourth at TPC Boston, then tied for sixth at Cog Hill . . . This year marks Jim Furyk’s fifth straight start in this tournament, tops in the field . . . Commissioner Tim Finchem, while painting an overall positive picture of the state of the PGA Tour, said the possibility exists that the Tour will lose tournaments in the upcoming seasons, and will almost certainly lose title sponsors. Finchem didn’t think it would necessarily mean an upcoming schedule with a smaller number of events. He cited the Buick Open, which ended its 51-year run on Tour this past year but is being replaced next year by the Greenbrier Classic. “We will have a good, solid schedule in 2010, but I think it’s also important to recognize that marketing budgets are still down, and with the underlying economic factors stable but not getting worse, that’s good,’’ Finchem said. “But it’s certainly going to take a while to improve. In a nutshell, I’d characterize the situation as good, maybe even comparatively quite good, when you look at other enterprises.’’ While conceding that most golf fans might not understand how the FedEx Cup points system works, Finchem said he’s pleased with how things have played out this year, with the season almost breaking down into three parts: the events leading up to the four playoff events; the first three playoff events (Barclays, Deutsche Bank Championship, BMW Championship) that determine the Tour Championship field; and now this week, with 30 players competing for the FedEx Cup, everyone eligible to win the $10 million bonus after the points were reset.