Resolute Leishman keeps lead this time
The clutch shots down the stretch in the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship belonged to everyone except the winner.
Marc Leishman didn’t really need them Sunday.
Staked to a five-shot lead, and determined to not let another FedEx Cup playoff event get away from him, Leishman did not give anyone much of a chance at Conway Farms in Lake Forest, Ill. And when Justin Rose made a late run and cut the margin to two shots, Leishman made back-toback birdies to put away the final challenge, and then added one more for a 4-under-par 67 to set the tournament scoring mark.
Leishman went wire-to-wire for the first time on the PGA Tour. The Australian moved up to No. 4 in the FedEx Cup, giving him a clear shot at the $10 million bonus next week.
This mainly was about redemption for losing a two-shot lead on the back nine at the TPC Boston two weeks ago.
“When the pressure got put on that back nine by Rosie, I reacted with birdies,” Leishman said. “Didn’t get too worried. Just tried to keep doing my own thing and give myself chances . ... Backing up what happened (in Boston) was probably the most satisfying thing for me. I was just really determined to not let that happen again.”
Leishman finished at 23under 261, breaking the 72hole tournament record that Tiger Woods set at Cog Hill in 2007.
Rose ran out of hope when he made bogey on the par-3 17th and closed with a 65. Rickie Fowler ran off three straight birdies only after he was too far back and shot 67. They finished five shots behind.
Fowler needed a birdie on the par-5 18th to grab the No. 5 seed for the FedEx Cup finale this week in the Tour Championship. He ripped driver off the fairway and over the stream to the back rough. It was a bold play that preceded two meager efforts: a chip that was 25 feet short, and a birdie putt that didn’t get to the hole.
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 have only to win the Tour Championship to grab the FedEx Cup title.
The only drama was who made it to East Lake. Those who surged to move into the top 30 or keep their spots were Tony Finau, Sergio Garcia and rookies Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.
Not as lucky was Phil Mickelson, who made three bogeys on the front nine and tried to get back in the game with an eagle on the reachable par-4 15th. Needing an eagle on the 18th hole to make it to East Lake, Mickelson’s 140-foot pitch-and-run hit the hole and popped out. LPGA: Defying driving rain and hail in a playoff, Anna Nordqvist beat unheralded American Brittany Altomare on the first extra hole to win the Evian Championship in Evian-les-Bains, France.
Nordqvist took the season’s fifth and final major by sinking a 4-foot putt for a bogey-5 on the soaked 18th hole. Altomare, ranked 102nd, had a six. Champions: Jerry Kelly avoided the late trouble that derailed Lee Janzen and David McKenzie to win the Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship in Victoria, British Columbia, for his second PGA Tour Champions victory in four weeks.
Kelly closed with a 3-under 68 for a one-stroke victory. Janzen also shot 68, but dropped three late strokes to give up the lead. European Tour: Romain Wattel shot a steady 2-under 69 to finish 15-under in Spijk, Netherlands, and win the KLM Open, the Frenchman’s first victory on the European Tour. Overnight leader Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand blew his chance to win by finding the water and shooting double bogeys on Nos. 15 and 18. He finished at 12-under in a five-way tie for ninth. Wattel finished one shot ahead of Austin Connelly of Canada.