McIlroy surprises with Tour title win
ATLANTA — Rory McIlroy finally won the FedEx Cup when he least expected it.
McIlroy was three shots behind with three holes to play Sunday in the Tour Championship. Nearly two hours later, he holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the fourth extra hole to win the tournament and claim the $10 million FedEx Cup bonus.
In its 10th year, the FedEx Cup never had a finish like this.
McIlroy fittingly won on the 16th hole, where his remarkable rally began in regulation when he holed out from 137 yards for eagle, then made birdie on the final hole for a 6-under-par 64 to join a three-man playoff with Ryan Moore ( 64) and Kevin Chappell (66).
Moore had an eight- foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to win and it caught the lip and spun out. Chappell had a 20-foot birdie putt on the last hole to win and left it short. They finished at 12-under 268. 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. Johnson, however, still would have won the FedEx Cup if either Moore or Chappell had won the tournament.
Nothing was bigger than McIlroy’s birdie at the end. He stiffened his back, clutched both arms and shouted above the raucous cheers at East Lake. He earned a total of $11.53 million on Sunday, including $1.53 million for the Tour Championship.
“Just to see that ball drop, and everything that’s come together for me this year … to pull it off was really special,” McIlroy said, his voice still hoarse from screaming over so many quality shots, so many clutch moments over the final two hours.
At the start of the month, he had not won all year on the PGA Tour. He won the Deutsche Bank Championship three weeks ago, then needed a little bit of help from Johnson to capture the FedEx Cup.
Moore lost his bid to win the tournament but picked up an important consolation prize — the fourth captain’s pick and the last slot on the 12-man U.S. Ryder Cup team.
The matches tee off in five days in Minnesota. U.S. captain Davis Love planned to make the announcement during halftime of “Sunday Night Football,” but after the death of golfing great Arnold Palmer, he announced the selection in a news release.
Love had previously announced three captain’s picks: J.B. Holmes, Rickie Fowler and Matt Kuchar.
Murray wins Web.com tournament in Ohio
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Grayson Murray won the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship and Cameron Smith and Kevin Tway wrapped up PGA Tour cards.
Already guaranteed a PGA Tour card with an 18th- place finish on the Web.com Tour’s regular- season money list, Murray closed with a 3-under 68 to beat Smith by a stroke in the third of four events in the Web. com Tour Finals. Tway tied for third with third-round leader Martin Flores.
Murray finished at 12-under 272 on Ohio State’s Scarlet Course and earned $ 180,000 for his first tour victory to jump from 11th to second with $407,963 on the PGA Tour priority list among the 25 card-earners from the Web.com money list. The former Wake Forest and Arizona State player also tops the Web.com Tour Finals money list with $248,000.
Montgomerie wins Champions tourney
VICTORIA, British Columbia — Colin Montgomerie won the Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship, outlasting Scott McCarron with a birdie on the third hole of a playoff.
Montgomerie closed with a 4-under 67 to match McCarron at 15-under 198 at scenic Bear Mountain Resort, the first-year venue in the PGA Tour Champions event that was played in Hawaii from 2012 to ‘14.
McCarron bogeyed the par-5 18th in regulation for a 70.
Montgomerie and McCarron matched pars on 18 on the first two extra holes.
The 53-year-old Montgomerie’s three previous victories on the 50-and- olderer tour came in major championships.
Miguel Angel Jimenez shot a course- record 61 to tie for third at 13 under.
Levy takes playoff to win European open
BAD GRIESBACH, Germany — Alexander Levy wasted a four-shot lead but beat Ross Fisher in a playoff to win the shortened European Open.
Levy, from France, had bogeys on the 16th and the 18th and narrowly missed a birdie putt on the 17th to finish the day at 2-under 69 and 19-under overall. Fisher, from England, shot 7- under 64 in the final round but also missed a birdie putt on the 17th and tied with Levy at 19 under.
Levy made a birdie on the second playoff hole to claim the title for the tournament, which was reduced to 54 holes because of fog delays over the first three days.
Sweden’s Robert Karlsson (65) and Michael Jonzon (68), tied for third at 16 under.