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| -14 P Cantlay (US); -13 S Stallings (US); -11 X Schauffele (US), S Scheffler (US); -10 KH Lee (Kor), C Conners (Can), A Scott (Aus). |
| Selected others: -9 R McIlroy (NI), J Rahm (Spa); -8 S Lowry (Ire); -6 J Spieth (US) -5 T Hatton (Eng); -2 V Hovland (Nor); Level: M Fitzpatrick (Eng). |
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American Patrick Cantlay became the first player to successfully defend a tournament in the FedEx Cup post-season by retaining the BMW Championship.
A final-round 69 at Wilmington secured a one-shot victory for the world number four over compatriot Scott Stallings.
He birdied 17 and although he found sand off the 18th tee, he scrambled to make a tap-in par for a 14-under total
“I hit a lot of solid shots then I got a couple of breaks,” said Cantlay, who began the back nine two off the lead.
“I played a lot of great golf this week and I’m happy to come out of here with the win.”
Cantlay’s triumph means he will start next week’s season-ending Tour Championship in second place in the FedEx Cup standings.
In the unique staggered-start tournament – which is decided by each players’ FedEx performances so far – Cantlay will begin on eight under, two shots behind over leader Scottie Scheffler.
Scheffler finished in a tie for third in Wilmington, Delaware, with Olympic champion Xander Schauffele on 11 under.
Rory McIlroy will tee off in Atlanta on four under after a closing 69 which included birdies on his last three holes to give the four-time major winner a share of eighth.
However, McIlroy’s Ryder Cup team-mate Shane Lowry missed out on a spot in the 30-man field at East Lake by a single place despite a final round of 68.
The former Open champion looked set to qualify after his fifth birdie of the day on the 14th, but the Irishman three-putted the 17th for a costly bogey.
Tour Championship starting positions
-10 S Scheffler; -8 P Cantlay; –7 W Zalatoris; –6 X Schauffele; –5 S Burns; –4 C Smith, R McIlroy, T Finau, S Straka, S Im; –3 J Rahm, S Stallings, J Thomas, C Young, M Fitzpatrick; –2 M Homa, H Matsuyama, J Spieth, J Niemann, V Hovland; –1 C Morikawa, B Horschel, T Hoge, C Conners, B Harman; Lev KH Lee, JT Poston, S Theegala, A Scott, A Wise.
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