PGA featured holes: The Northern Trust

In the final round of the 2018 BMW Championship at rain-soaked Aronimink Golf Club, Keegan Bradley shoots 64, then beats Justin Rose with a par on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff. Welcome to the Monday Finish, where Bradley—who hadn’t won on the PGA TOUR in over six years—notched his fourth win to break into the FedExCup Top 30 and secure a return to the season-ending TOUR Championship. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. Bradley’s final round was a miracle. At the start of his TOUR career, Bradley won three times, including the PGA Championship, in 2011 and 2012. He hoisted enormous trophies, played in the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup, and was teammates with Phil Mickelson. Then it all went away. Over six years and 160 starts, Bradley didn’t win anything. He fiddled with his swing, and his putting stroke, and had a baby boy, Logan, with his wife, Jillian. The only cups he that remained were sippy cups. Now, though, after acing the BMW Championship’s final round, which was scuttled for rain Sunday and played Monday thanks to what Billy Horschel and others called a miracle, Bradley is sixth in the FedExCup. “It was the weirdest couple of days,â€� said Bradley, who was projected 30th in the FedExCup and into the TOUR Championship after the third round. “I knew in the back of my mind if we didn’t play, I was in Atlanta. It was my goal to start the year. It was difficult to get ready to play because I was like, man, if they call it, I’m good, but then I can go out — I’m only three back. So thankfully we got out here and played, and I made it to Atlanta and more now.â€� Just over two weeks ago, Bradley went into the final round of THE NORTHERN TRUST with an outside chance four back, but shot 78 alongside eventual winner Bryson DeChambeau. Bradley was 14 shots better this time, reigniting his career in the rain. 2. Rose won for losing. Despite running his record to 4/15 at converting 54-hole leads/co-leads into victory, Justin Rose took home a nice consolation prize: he ascended to No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking. “There will be next week to win tournaments, but to get to world No. 1 is unbelievable,â€� Rose said. “It’s something I can say now in my career I’ve been the best player in the world. I’ve been to the top of the game. That’s definitely some consolation. “I just wish I could have enjoyed the moment maybe,â€� he added after the runner-up finish, which left him second in the FedExCup. “This just slightly dampens it. But tomorrow or the next day, the week after, I’ll look back at this and think it was amazing, an amazing moment in my career.â€� 3. Rain helped Horschel cool it. Billy Horschel (64, T3) is one of many successful TOUR pros who admits he may sometimes burn too hot. He knows what he’s capable of, having won the 2014 BMW, TOUR Championship and FedExCup, and so it’s hard when he sees himself come up short. He had won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with partner Scott Piercy, but hadn’t won an individual event this year. His 19-under total at the BMW was just a shot shy of the playoff. “You know, we’ve done a lot of good work with Todd Anderson, Brett McKay, a sports psychologist, some really good work with me,â€� Horschel said. “My team has done an unbelievable job to stick through some tough times that were bad, not that bad. Not being able to play to my ability I get very frustrated, very easily.â€� The long rain delay, he said, may have helped him cool the fire. “I sort of play well when we have delays and this and that,â€� he said. “Calms me down. I don’t know when we’re going to go play so I can’t get myself worked up.â€� 4. Week off could help Woods. Several players admitted to fatigue after a long BMW week. Then there was Tiger Woods, who already had reason to be tired owing to the fact that with his four back surgeries he hadn’t played this much golf in years. “I’m going to take a long break after the Ryder Cup,â€� said Woods, who won the TOUR Championship at East Lake in 1999 and 2007, and will return for the first time since 2013. “We’re going to evaluate things. But, more importantly, I need to start really lifting and getting after it and getting stronger in certain areas because playing every single week seems like every single day is maintenance at this point, war of attrition. “What you do in the off-season is what allows you to maintain it through the year,â€� he added, “especially on the backside of the year, and I really didn’t train for all this. Because I didn’t know how much I was going to be playing. I was just trying to play. “So, next year I have a better understanding of what I need to do and this off-season will be very different than it was last year.â€� 5. Aronimink was defenseless. The rain-soaked course gave up birdies in bunches. Four players shot 62: Tommy Fleetwood, Rory McIlroy, Kevin Na and Tiger Woods. Fleetwood did it twice, Friday and Saturday, and McIlroy signed for that number despite bogeying two of his last three holes Thursday. Then there was this odd bit of trivia: Amongst the top five guys on the leaderboard through the first three rounds—Rose (-17), McIlroy (-16), Schauffele (-16), Fleetwood (-15) and Fowler (-15)—it represented the career-low 54-hole score for all five. FIVE INSIGHTS 1. Bradley led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting (+1.790); he was 186th in that stat going into the BMW, although he’d had a few good putting weeks here and there. He was one of 10 players to take 100 or fewer putts in a tournament this season, doing so at the RBC Canadian Open (solo 4th). His 28 birdies were the most of his career by five (2012 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational). 2. Xander Schauffele, who came into the week 41st in the FedExCup but played his way to Atlanta with a T3 at the BMW, could impact an obscure stat. Two players, Brendan Steele at the Safeway Open and Brooks Koepka at the U.S. Open, have successfully defended their titles this season. Schauffele is heating up and has just 29 players to beat to become the third. 3. Four rookies made the 70-man BMW Championship: Aaron Wise, Austin Cook, Peter Uihlein and Keith Mitchell. Two of them had already won on TOUR this season and were in the driver’s seat for Rookie of the Year: Wise (AT&T Byron Nelson) and Cook (RSM Classic). But only Wise (67, T16, 21st in FedExCup) advanced to the season-ending TOUR Championship. 4. Tommy Fleetwood’s middle rounds of 62-62 made him just the 10th player with a 36-hole total of 124 or better in consecutive rounds. Troy Matteson tops that list, taking just 122 strokes over consecutive rounds at the 2009 Safeway Open. 5. Monday gave us the 12th playoff this season, and the first since Bryson DeChambeau won the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. It was also the 17th event with a suspension or delay of play, and the third unscheduled Monday finish. (The Dell Technologies Championship always ends on Labor Day.)

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Scott McGuinness, the caddie for PGA Tour rookie Scottie Scheffler, went down in the ninth fairway with a leg injury and had to be carted off the course in the final round of The Northern Trust.

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ATLANTA – An emotional Tiger Woods broke a five-year win drought, most of which he spent coping with debilitating back pain, and completed a long and arduous career comeback with his victory at the TOUR Championship at East Lake on Sunday. On a difficult day for most of the field, his 1-over 71 gave him a two-shot win over a surging Billy Horschel (66). Dustin Johnson (67) finished alone in third, four back. “There was a point in time I didn’t know if I’d ever do this again,â€� Woods said. He meant merely playing golf, not winning, and admitted to being near tears as he came down 18. For more on Woods’ comeback, click here. Justin Rose, who began the final day three off the lead and needing to finish in a two-way tie for fifth, at worst, struggled for most of the day. Knowing he needed to birdie either 17 or 18 to win the FedExCup, he birdied the par-5 18th after hitting the green in two. The closing birdie gave him a final-round 73 and left him in a three-way tie for fourth. It was Rose’s worst round of the week by five, but it was good enough, and he became the second European winner of the FedExCup in the last three years (Rory McIlroy, ’16). “A ton of top 10s,â€� Rose said, explaining his success. “Obviously had a couple of wins on the PGA TOUR, as well, this year, and managed to keep that going into the Playoffs with finishing the year with three top 5s. There were a lot of scenarios at play.â€� Woods’ victory at the TOUR Championship capped a season of comeback victories that included Phil Mickelson at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship and extended all the way down to Paul Casey, Gary Woodland, Kevin Na and Keegan Bradley. Woods did most of the work for this one Thursday through Saturday, when he made over 300 feet of putts and posted scores of 65-68-65. Taking a three-shot lead into the last round, he birdied the first hole and watched his closest pursuers, Rory McIlroy and Rose, slide backward. “I felt like if I just went out there and did my own thing and shot under par, the tournament would be over,â€� Woods said after he made pars at the last two holes to salt away the victory. He didn’t shoot under par, and the lead went down to two after he bogeyed the 15th and 16th holes, but he did collect his 80th PGA TOUR win, two behind all-time leader Sam Snead. The only tense moment was when the huge crowd broke free and followed Woods and McIlroy down the 18th fairway. Woods said he heard it but didn’t see it as he didn’t turn around. “That was awesome,â€� said Woods’ caddie, Joe LaCava. “I thought that was terrific. And I kept telling the cops, ‘As long as they don’t trample us, let ’em keep comin’.’ Why not?â€� It was Woods’ first win since the 2013 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational.  OBSERVATIONS FEDEXCUP PROVIDES DRAMA: The winner of the FedExCup was in doubt for most of the day after Justin Rose sputtered for the first 16 holes, throwing everything up in the air. When the wild Rose had to work hard just to salvage a bogey at the tough, par-4 14th hole, it dropped him into a three-way tie for fourth, and going the wrong direction. His struggles continued as he drove into the trees at the 16th hole and dropped his driver in disgust. At this point it began to look like Woods, who came into the week at a distant 20th in the standings, was on the verge of winning his third FedExCup in addition to the TOUR Championship. Dustin Johnson, putting cross-handed for the first time in his career, worked his way up the leaderboard but missed a six-foot birdie try at the 18th hole. Although he still shot a final-round 67, Johnson’s miss was big, taking him out of consideration for FedExCup No. 1. That left the spoils to either Woods or Rose, who finally stabilized with no time to spare. He hit the fairway at the par-4 17th hole and gave himself a birdie look but left it short. Needing to birdie the last, he crushed a 359-yard drive down the fairway and reached the green with his second shot, leaving himself a relatively easy two-putt birdie for the FedExCup. “I knew I had to birdie one of the last two,â€� Rose said, “and I actually said to myself, I’m glad we’re playing East Lake this way around, because if I had to birdie 17 or 18 the other way around, it would have been a pretty tough proposition.â€� (The nines had been switched since Woods first won the TOUR Championship at East Lake, in 2007.) “So I knew that there were two birdie holes,â€� Rose continued. “The key was hitting the ball in the fairway at No. 17. I did that, hit a wedge right over the top of the pin. I thought that was going to actually be much tighter than it actually was. And a super quick putt, but I knew it wasn’t a putt to try and race at that point because 18 is a par-5, it’s a birdie hole. And I had to play the long game in my mind and just trust the fact that I could birdie 18 to win.â€� NOTABLES PHIL MICKELSON – Shot 72 and finished last at 13 over for the week, but a three-birdie, one-bogey back nine Sunday at least provided reason for optimism at he heads to Paris for the Ryder Cup. Mickelson lingered around the tail end of the field in both Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (he hit just 25/56 fairways) and Strokes Gained: Putting. The off-week with the putter was the big surprise, given that he was second to Jason Day in that stat coming into the week. BUBBA WATSON – Three-time winner ended comeback season on a sour note with final-round 75 that left him second from last. Hit just 21/56 fairways, worst in the field. PATRICK REED – Masters champion shot a final-round 72 to finish near the back of the pack at 9-over. Reed hit just 23 fairways for the week, two fewer than Mickelson. BRYSON DECHAMBEAU – FedExCup No. 1 and two-time Playoffs winner ran off a streak of four straight birdies but hit his tee shot in the water at the 226-yard, par-3 15th hole and did well to make bogey. Three-putt from 11 feet at the 17th hole also left a sour taste. Needing help from Rose to win the FedExCup, DeChambeau didn’t get it, but his final-round 67 was another step in the right direction after a rough opening 36 holes, and left him a very respectable 2-under total. QUOTABLES I would have hit it the same way.This is a tough, tough golf course. Lots of opportunities to slip up.You know what? I could still blade this thing out of bounds. SUPERLATIVES Low round: 5-under 65 by Rickie Fowler and Hideki Matsuyama. Longest drive: 361 yards (Gary Woodland/No. 14) Longest putt: 39’ 3â€� (Bryson DeChambeau/No. 14) Toughest hole: The 455-yard, par-4 first played to a 4.300 average. Easiest hole: The 525-yard, par-5 sixth played to a 4.267 average. CALL OF THE DAY For play-by-play coverage of the PGA TOUR, listen at PGATOUR.COM. SHOT OF THE DAY

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