It certainly didn’t have the final-day drama of Arnold Palmer’s U.S. Open win in 1960 — then again, very few tournaments do — or Jack Nicklaus’ U.S. Senior Open triumph in 1993. But with the BMW Championship being a FedExCup Playoff event, with all the big names and side ramifications, its last round managed to entertain despite the lead never changing hands.
Floridian Billy Horschel never trailed on Sunday at Cherry Hills Country Club in posting his second PGA Tour victory, but it was who he left in his wake that was impressive. Seven of the top 15 players in the world rankings finished in the top 10 in the BMW: Bubba Watson (second Sunday); Sergio Garcia, Rickie Fowler and Jim Furyk (tied for fourth); and Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott and Jordan Spieth (tied for eighth).
It was a welcome performance for Horschel after having a chance to win on Monday at the Deutsche Bank Championship near Boston, then hitting his approach shot on the final hole into a hazard and making bogey.
“It means a lot to win, especially an event in the FedExCup Playoffs, because it’s amplified 10 times really,” he said. “… Hopefully this win will give me some more confidence and shoot me up there into an upper-echelon player where I want to be. I want to be where the Rory McIlroys are, the Tigers are, the Phil Mickelsons, the Bubba Watsons, the guys winning majors. I want to compete with them on a Sunday at a major championship, go head to head with them and have a chance to win majors.”
After taking a three-stroke advantage into Sunday, the 27-year-old Horschel led or shared the lead throughout the final round. Ryan Palmer tied him at No. 6 and No. 11. But a bogey at No. 12 and a double bogey following a shanked shot into the water from the left rough on 13 ended his challenge.
Horschel shot a 1-under-par 69 in the final round to post a winning total of 14-under 266. The victory was worth $1.44 million and it vaulted him to second in the FedExCup point standings (behind Chris Kirk) going into next week’s season finale at the Tour Championship, where the FedExCup champ will earn a $10 million annuity. (Sept. 14 update: Horschel went on to also win the Tour Championship and the overall FedExCup title.)
Watson (left) placed second on Sunday — his best Tour showing since winning the Masters in April — at 268 by carding three consecutive rounds of 66. A day after setting the competitive course record at Cherry Hills with a 62, Morgan Hoffmann almost matched it on Sunday, settling for a 63. He shot a 6-under 30 on the back nine for the second straight day, making a 16-foot eagle on No. 17 and then missing a 9-foot birdie attempt on No. 18. He finished at 269.
Though he didn’t win, Hoffmann did something almost as impressive. After starting the week No. 68 in the FedExCup standings, his 15-under-par weekend vaulted him into the top 30 and into an improbable berth in the Tour Championship in Atlanta. He started the playoffs in the No. 124 position and now is 21st.
“It means the world to me,” said Hoffmann, a former Oklahoma State teammate of Rickie Fowler’s. “Since the beginning of the season I’ve had a goal to get to Atlanta. Coming into the weekend, I knew I had to go pretty low. My caddie and I had a really good mindset and everything was positive this week.”
As far back as Hoffmann started, he didn’t challenge Horschel’s lead on Sunday. But Palmer did, catching him for the second time with a birdie at No. 11. But going bogey-double bogey the next two holes led to him dropping five strokes in the final seven holes and finishing fourth.
Palmer called his swing on the par-3 12th “probably the worst of the day or maybe for the week.” As for his shank into the water from the rough at No. 13, “When you’re going down in rough like that on a downhill lie, it’s going to come out squirrely. And it came out straight right, obviously, with a hook from the hosel. … You know, it’s a fickle game.”
Garcia still had a chance at two behind going into the par-5 17th. But he took a snowman (an 8) on that hole after taking 6 to get down from 83 yards away in the fairway. He put his third shot over the green, then pitched into the water.
“If I was mentally sharp, the way I was at the beginning and the middle of the year, I would have talked myself into going for the green (with his second shot),” Garcia said. “But for some reason, I was trying to, but I couldn’t. Then just mistake after mistake.”
Watson crept within two with a two-putt birdie on No. 17, but he ran out of holes with Horschel parring his final 11 holes Sunday.
“I started out slow in the tournament (70), but finished strong,” Watson said. “I had a chance on the last hole to scare him a little bit, but obviously I didn’t make that (24-foot birdie) putt and he played solid.”
As for Horschel (left), the victory gave him a solid answer to people who criticized him after he fell short Monday at the Deutsche Bank Championship.
“The people on Twitter and social media … say that I choked and ‘you’re no good,'” he noted. “That doesn’t affect me, but I just like to stick it to them and it was nice to get that victory and stick it to some of those people that had some negative comments for me. That just adds fuel to my fire, and I’m going to stick it to you every time.”
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