He bogeyed three of his last five holes to card a four-over 76 and sit 15 strokes behind leader Dustin Johnson.
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The reigning US Open champion sank a 17-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole to complete a four-under 68 and stand on 198 for the tournament at Crooked Stick.
What it means: Johnson opened the day with a three-shot lead, but two bogeys over his first three holes allowed Casey to catch up.
Casey’s last hope came on the par-5 15th when he rolled in a 25-foot eagle putt to get within one shot.
Victorian pair Marc Leishman (67) and Aaron Baddeley (76) finished 68 and 69 respectively on the FedEx Cup standing to miss out on the top-30 advancing to the Tour Championship.
Roberto Castro holed out for eagle from the seventh fairway on his way to a 67 to finish alone in third, sending the Georgia Tech grad and Atlanta resident home to play in the Tour Championship for the second time.
He has now won 12 titles on the PGA Tour since 2008 but he was pushed all the way by England’s Paul Casey. “It would have been nice to play better to make the pick a lot easier on him”. “I don’t go into that stuff”, he said.
Dustin Johnson vs. Trackman: Can He Guess His Distances? “When he gets on his game maybe he’s the best ball-striker in golf, maybe the longest, and he showed it today”.
Adam Scott of Australia and Matt Kuchar were one shot further back at 11 under.
“I couldn’t tell you in the last four years at any point in time how many points I’ve had”, he said, per Steve Hummer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Holmes looked in danger of missing the top 30 to make the Tour Championship when he doubled the 14th, but hung on for a 74 to make the finale on the number.
Rickie Fowler won’t have any chance at all.
He has gone from the guy who couldn’t close out the big tournaments to the one who has won a major championship, a World Golf Championship event and a FedEx Cup playoff event in the same season, setting up a shot at the overall FedEx Cup title and PGA Tour Player of the Year honors. “As long as it goes where I’m looking”. As we all know, that can change in golf in the blink of an eye, and I’m sure Spieth is aiming to peak at East Lake and the Ryder Cup.
Australian journalist Ben Everill reports that Day injured his back when bending over to pick up his tee.
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What Johnson has done now, in winning the U.S. Open, the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and on Sunday the BMW Championship, is figure it out. The Tour Championship for the top 30 players starts September 22 at East Lake.
