Aaron Oberholser chips onto the 13th green yesterday.

Providence Journal / Gretchen Ertl

NORTON, Mass. — More changes are in store at TPC Boston.

That was the report yesterday from Seth Waugh, the chief executive officer of Deutsche Bank America and the moving force behind the Deutsche Bank Championship. Whatever is done this time will be relatively minor compared to the major course renovations that were made in the last year.

“It’s more cosmetic, changing the look rather than the playability,” Waugh said.

Because the course is used as part of the new FedEx Cup playoffs, virtually every hole was changed, to some degree, in the last year.

“The players like the course,” Barrington’s Brad Faxon said at the time, “but they have to love it.”

Faxon was hired as a player consultant to work with architect Gil Hanse, who oversaw the project. The goal was to give the six-year-old course originally designed by Arnold Palmer a more rustic, old New England feel. The changes were well received by the players.

“They love it,” Waugh said.

“I like what they’ve done,” said Aaron Oberholser, who tied for second. “I think they could do even more.”

That is exactly the plan.

“Some of the holes, you look at them and half the hole has been changed. That side has, but this side doesn’t have the same look,” Waugh said. “The course plays differently, more strategically because of Gil’s work.”

The fourth hole, which went from a dogleg 435-yarder to a 298-yard par-4, was the hole the players least liked, Waugh reported. The new hole, driveable for virtually all of the players, was much better received.

Among others, Phil Mickelson went 2, 3, 5, 3 on the hole, picking up three strokes on Tiger Woods, who went 6, 2, 4, 4. Because it provides wild swings in scoring, officials are discussing the possibility of setting up new stands behind the green and making it one of the focus holes.

The hope is to continue to modify the course, although now it becomes merely fine-tuning.

“Gil is an artist. Brad is, too. You just let them go paint the picture,” Waugh said.

Mallinger advances

Maybe no one needs to worry about figuring out exactly how the FedEx Cup works. Not much seems to change from week to week.

Only one player outside the top 70, John Mallinger, moved from the outside into a spot in Chicago this week. Mallinger, a tour rookie, began in 71st place. He fired a 68 yesterday to jump into a tie for 14th for the week. That vaulted him to 61st and earned him a trip to Chicago.

“It’s one of those things where you know you’ve got to do something, and when you do it, you feel good,” Mallinger said. “It felt kind of like I was in the leader group, that kind of pressure.”

Mallinger said he still does not fully understand the new system. But the graduate of the Canadian and Nationwide Tours does not particularly care, either.

“I have no idea. All I know is that it’s hard to move up,” he said. “It’s a playoff system. It’s for the guys on top.”

Will McKenzie missed a good chance to move on. McKenzie, a free spirit snowboarder and kayaker, began in 74th place. He started the final round at 6-under and ran off birdies on each of the first three holes to get to 9-under and in great shape. But he had a triple and four bogeys, so that not even an eagle on the final hole was enough. He finished 73rd.

A difference-maker

The day for the two leaders after three rounds, Brett Wetterich and Oberholser, got off to a weird start, one that made a huge difference in the tournament.

On the second hole, Wetterich, who was leading the tournament at the time, hit a monster 366-yard drive on the par-5. He was left with only 153 yards downwind for his second shot. He felt a wedge was enough.

His shot was short and ended up in the rocks that border the hazard in front of the green. There was a question whether it had landed over the hazard and then gone back down the bank. It if had, Wetterich would have had an easy chip and a strong chance to save par.

“It was going right at it and came up just short,” Wetterich said of the shot. “I watched it pretty good the whole way and I wasn’t sure if it crossed (the hazard line) or not. Arron felt that it didn’t cross. So we had to come to a common ground. I wasn’t sure enough to say, ‘Yeah, it did.’ Maybe it didn’t.”

After consultation with a rules official, Wetterich had to go back to the other side of the hazard and wedge on. He ended up bogeying the hole. Mickelson, just ahead of him, birdied three of the first five, took the lead and never gave it back.

kmcnamar@projo.com