Marc Leishman wins BMW Championship, moves in to FedEx Cup contention
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Marc Leishman completed a wire-to-wire victory at the BMW Championship in Chicago, moving himself in to the top five of the FedEx rankings heading in to the final event.
For the second time in the space of three FedEx Cup play-off events, Marc Leishman held a substantial lead – but this time, he wouldn’t let it slip out of his grasp.
The Australian, who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier this year, held a five-shot lead heading in to the final round. An opening birdie from Rickie Fowler to reduce the deficit to four indicated he would be the main challenger, but it was an outstanding late charge from Justin Rose that really brought the contest to Leishman.
Leishman seemed to be in control despite challenges from both Fowler and Day, but his lead was suddenly cut to just two when Rose made his sixth birdie of the day on the 13th hole – and the leader made bogey.
The 33-year-old then made back-to-back birdies on the 15th and 16th holes to get to 22-under-par, before making his final birdie on the 18th hole to secure his 67 and a five-shot victory over both Rose and Fowler.
At the start of the week, the top five in the FedEx Cup rankings had been Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama and Jon Rahm – with Fowler and Leishman in the next two spots. Leishman’s victory pushed him in to fourth, but Rahm’s 5th place finish at the BMW Championship meant that he retained his 5th spot rankings, even with Fowler’s runner-up finish.
As a result of his victory, Leishman has now moved in to the top 15 in the World, and has become the second-highest ranked Australian golfer after Jason Day – with Adam Scott moving down to World No.22
McIlroy out of FedEx Cup, Garcia makes it in
In one of the most bizarre final-hole (and yes I’m including Jon Van De Velde), Sergio Garcia needed almost 30 minutes to work out whether he was allowed to take a drop in a lateral water hazard where his ball was nestled against a rock. The Masters Champion wasn’t able to take a swing to attempt to the shot thanks to the grand-stands, which meant he was able to take the drop inside the hazard.
Unbelievably, he ended with a five to end up tied for 12th at 11-under-par, and secured his spot in the Tour Championship in the process – moving from 34th to 26th.
“I thought I needed to make five,” Garcia said. “I was feeling bad for the people behind me and for Phil because they were waiting. But it was an important moment, and I wanted to make sure to … do what was best for me at that time, and obviously within the rules, and that’s what we did.”
The same fate did not await defending FedEx Cup champion Rory McIlroy. The Northern Irishman finished T58 at 2-under-par, putting himself well out of the top 30 at 58th in the FedEx rankings, meaning the World No.3 will not play at East Lake this week.
