-14 P Cantlay (USA); -13 S Stallings (USA); -11 X Schauele (USA), S Scheffler (USA); -ten KH Lee (Kor), C Conners (Can), A Scott (Aus). |
Others selected: -9 R McIlroy (NI), J Rahm (Spa); -8 S Lowry (Ire); -6 J. Spieth (USA) -5 T Hatton (Eng); -2 V Hovland (Nor); Level: M Fitzpatrick (Eng). |
Ranking |
American Patrick Cantlay became the first player to successfully defend a FedEx Cup post-season tournament while retaining the BMW Championship.
A final round 69 in Wilmington secured a one-stroke victory for the world number four over compatriot Scott Stallings.
He birdied 17 and although he found sand on the 18th tee he rushed to tap-in par for a total of 14 under
“I hit a lot of solid shots and then had a few breaks,” said Cantlay, who started the back nine-two with a header.
“I played a lot of golf this week and I’m happy to come out of it with the win.”
Cantlay’s triumph means he will enter next week’s season-ending Tour Championship in second place in the FedEx Cup standings.
In the single, staggered-start tournament — which is decided by each player’s FedEx performance so far — Cantlay will start eight under, two strokes behind leader Scottie Scheffler.
Scheffler finished tied for third in Wilmington, Delaware, with Olympic champion Xander Schauffele at 11 under.
Rory McIlroy will leave Atlanta on four under after a final 69 that included birdies on his last three holes to give the four-time major winner a share of eighth.
However, McIlroy’s Ryder Cup teammate Shane Lowry missed out on a spot in the 30-man field at East Lake by just one spot despite finishing 68.
The former Open champion looked set to qualify after his fifth birdie of the day on the 14th, but the Irishman netted three putts on the 17th for a costly bogey.
Tour Championship Starting Positions
-ten S Scheffler; -8 P Cantlay; –seven W Zalatoris; –6 X Schauele; –5 S Burns; –4 C Smith, R McIlroy, T Finau, S Straka, S Im; –3 J Rahm, S Stallings, J Thomas, C Young, M Fitzpatrick; –2 M Homa, H Matsuyama, J Spieth, J Niemann, V Hovland; –1 Morikawa C, Horschel B, Hoge T, Conners C, Harman B; Lev KH Lee, JT Poston, S Theegala, A Scott, A Wise.