Thoughts of a Dustin Johnson runaway at the Tour Championship were dispelled on Saturday when he faltered late to fall back into a tie for the third-round lead with Kevin Chappell in Atlanta, Georgia.
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McIlroy picked up $11.53 million in one day – the $10 million FedEx Cup bonus and $1.53 million for the Tour Championship, his second victory in three weeks that made him the first player to win four FedEx Cup playoff events.
A third win of the season today would give McIlroy the first prize of $1.5m and the four-time major victor can also pocket the $10m bonus for winning the FedEx Cup if Johnson finishes joint second or worse.
Dustin Johnson surprisingly was never a factor and he hit too many errant shots on the front nine and never recovered, closing with a 73.
McIlroy carded a flawless third round of 66 at East Lake to finish six under par, two behind joint leaders Johnson and fellow American Kevin Chappell.
Fireworks first started going off when McIlroy holed out for eagle on the par-4 16th hole in regulation.
McIlroy, sixth in the points list, gave himself a crack at the $10 million with three birdies in the last six holes. Though the sting of lost millions and a disgusting final round in what was really a terrific all-around season (three wins, 15 top 10s), Johnson will likely still win Player of the Year. McIlroy stiffened his back, clutched both arms and shouted above the raucous cheers at East Lake.
In addition to the FedEx Cup, several players are trying to make their case to be the final man who will be selected to compete in next week’s Ryder Cup. Moore, a five-time US Tour champion, can focus on winning the Tour Championship to an extent, but he has the added burden of knowing a Ryder Cup debut is up for grabs. His chip over a ridge raced well past the hole, and it looked as though McIlroy would only have to two-putt for the victory. Moore made a clutch birdie putt to stay alive but Rory was on. Davis Love III was to announce his decision during halftime of the Sunday night National Football League game. McIlroy and Johnson will feature as key players on opposing teams.
Tour Championship Is Failing To Make Davis Love’s Pick Easy (read here): With only 18 holes to play at the Tour Championship, the favorites for Davis Love’s pick aren’t delivering, but some darkhorse contenders sure are.
World number one Jason Day’s season ended in disappointing fashion as the Australian walked off before completing the eighth hole with back pain. In those final rounds, Chappell’s scores were 67, 69, 69 and 66.
He was on the wrong end of a three-shot swing as Chappell birdied the same hole from 10 feet.
“Probably the most hard round I played this week in terms of ball control and positions that I was in”, Chappell said.
“This course is very hard off the tee and I missed a couple of drives on the back nine and made a couple of bogeys and a bad double-bogey there on the 17th”, he said before accentuating the positives.
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“I was so proud of myself the way I hung in there”. “It just wasn’t enough”.
