Leishman dominates at BMW Championship.
Given another opportunity to win, Marc Leishman didn’t give anyone much of a chance in the BMW Championship.
Staked to a five-shot lead, Leishman made back-to-back birdies late in the final round Sunday to put away the final challenge, then closed with a birdie for a 4-under-67 to set the tournament record and win by five over Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler in Lake Forest, Ill..
It was Leishman’s second victory this year, and it sends him to East Lake as the No. 4 seed in the FedEx Cup, giving him a clear shot at the $10 million prize.
Leishman finished at 23-under 261, breaking the 72-hole tournament record that Tiger Woods set at Cog Hill in 2007.
The timing could not have been better for the 33-year-old Australian. In his last event two weeks ago, he lost a two-shot lead on the back nine at the TPC Boston and said that loss stung more than most.
“I had a few scars from a few weeks ago,” Leishman said. “I was just really, really determined to not let that happen again. Got it done.”
And it was never really close.
Rose is the only player who got within two shots of the lead, only for Leishman to answer with a 30foot birdie putt on the 15th hole and a 10-footer for birdie on the 16th. Rose closed with a 65.
Fowler made a late run when he was too far back, and he needed one more birdie on the 18th to grab the No. 5 seed for the FedEx Cup finale next week at the Tour Championship. He ripped driver off the fairway and over the stream to the back rough. It was a bold play that preceded a pair of meager efforts — a chip that came up 25 feet short, and a birdie putt that didn’t to the hole. He closed with a 67.
Jon Rahm birdied four of his last five holes for a 67 and will be the No. 5 seed.
Jordan Spieth shot 65 to tie for seventh and kept the No. 1 seed, followed by Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Leishman and Rahm. The points are reset to give all 30 players at East Lake a mathematical chance, but the top five seeds only have to win the Tour Championship to capture the FedEx Cup.
PGA Champions: Madison’s Jerry Kelly avoided the late trouble that derailed Lee Janzen and David McKenzie to win the Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship on Sunday for his second PGA Tour Champions victory in four weeks.
Kelly closed with a 3under 68 — rebounding from a bogey on the par-5 13th with a birdie on the par-4 15th and finishing with three straight pars — for a one-stroke victory over Janzen in Victoria, British Columbia.
The 50-year-old Kelly, a stroke behind McKenzie and Jerry Smith entering the final round, won the Boeing Classic outside Seattle last month for his first senior title. The three-time PGA Tour winner finished at 14-under 199 on Bear Mountain’s Mountain Course.
Janzen also shot 68, but dropped three late strokes to give away the lead. After making three birdies in a row, he bogeyed the 15th and made a double bogey on the par-4 17th.
McKenzie, the Australian trying to become the first qualifier to win since 2012, dropped back with double bogeys on the par-3 14th and the 17th. He birdied the par-5 18th for a 71 that left him tied for third at 12 under with Tommy Armour III.
Charles Schwab Cup points leader Bernhard Langer (68) and Esteban Toledo (67) followed at 11 under.
LPGA: Defying driving rain and hail in a playoff, Anna Nordqvist beat unheralded American Brittany Altomare at the first extra hole to win the Evian Championship on Sunday in Evian-LesBains, France.
Nordqvist took the fifth and final major of the season by sinking a 4foot putt for a bogey 5 on the soaked 18th hole.
Nordqvist and Altomare both shot 66 for 9under totals of 204.