McIlroy wins FexEx Cup

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, and then made birdie on the final hole for a 6-under 64 to join a three-man playoff with Ryan Moore (64) and Kevin Chappell (66).

Moore had an 8-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 268.

Dustin Johnson surprisingly was never a factor and he hit too many errant shots on the front nine and never recovered, at 12-under closing with a 73. Johnson, however, still would have won the FedEx Cup if either Moore or Chappell had won the tournament.

NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL CHAMPIONSHIP

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 regularseason 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.

Murray will be 23 on Saturday. He lost in a three-man playoff in August in the Web.com Tour event in Wichita, Kansas.

Smith also shot a 67. After finishing 157th in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cups standings, the Australian made $108,000 to go from 48th to third with $114,910 in the series race for 25 more PGA Tour cards.

Tway had a 67 to match Flores (74) at 10 under. Tway was 27th on the Web.com money list. His $58,000 check moved him from 52nd to ninth with $63,975, more than enough to secure one of the 25 cards. The last PGA Tour card went at $33,650 in 2013, $36,312 in 2014 and $32,206 last year.

EUROPEAN OPEN

BAD GRIESBACH, GERMANY >> France’s Alexander Levy won the shortened European Open, beating England’s Ross Fisher with a birdie on the second hole of a playoff.

Levy finished with a 2-under 69, and Fisher shot 64 to match at 19-under 194. The tournament was reduced to 54 holes because of fog delays over the first three days.

Levy has three career European Tour victories.