Leishman fends off Rose for BMW crown
CHICAGO: Marc Leishman fired a finalround 67 on Sunday to complete a wire-to-wire victory in the BMW Championship, beating Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler by five strokes.
Australia’s Leishman had seized control of the penultimate event in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup play-offs with a scintillating 62 on Thursday.
He started the fourth round at Conway Farms with a five stroke lead that twice dwindled to two shots over Rose before Leishman finished confidently, with birdies in three of the last four holes.
He rolled in a 19-footer from the fringe at the 72nd hole to celebrate his third PGA Tour title with a 23-under par total of 261.
The victory was a vindication after Leishman was unable to close out a win two weeks ago at TPC Boston after five bogeys on the back nine.
“There’s probably a few little scars from two weeks ago,” Leishman said. “I was really determined to not let that happen again, to try and give myself a big enough buffer that I could get it done. “And I got it done.”
Leishman’s 261 was a record total for the tournament and his 23-under tied the tournament low in relation to par, set by Dustin Johnson last year.
England’s Rose had seven birdies — and an ill-timed bogey at 17 — in a 65 for 266.
Fowler had five birdies in his four-under 67 to join Rose on 18-under. Former world number one Jason Day of Australia was alone in fourth after a 69 for 268.
Leishman, who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, moved to fourth in the FedEx Cup standings going into the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta.
Only the top 30 players in the standings advance to the season finale, where a $10 million play-off bonus will be up for grabs.
The four players who moved into the top 30 this week included Masters champion Sergio Garcia, who jumped from 34th to 25th in the standings with a tie for 12th.