Live leaderboard: Final round of WGC-HSBC

FedExCup and world No. 1 Brooks Koepka leaves no doubt as he fires a final-round 65 to pass Rory McIlroy and become the season’s first three-time winner at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Meanwhile, 22-year-old phenom Collin Morikawa notches his first career victory at the Barracuda Championship. Welcome to the Monday Finish, where Koepka not only won his first WGC, he also clinched first place and $2 million in the season-long Wyndham Rewards race, and all but wrapped up the $1 million Aon Risk Reward Challenge, for a total payday of $4.75 million. Cal product Morikawa, meanwhile, won in just his sixth start as a pro. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. There was a sense of inevitability in Memphis. Although he went into the last round behind by a shot, Koepka felt like the favorite to win, given his recent form. Not to knock McIlroy; it’s just that this was Koepka’s sixth PGA TOUR victory in the last two-plus years, and four of those have been majors. “Incredible,� he said more than once. That adjective held true for his consistency this season and his total take after winning the tournament, the Wyndham Rewards and, almost certainly, the Aon Risk Reward Challenge. “The year’s not done,� he said. “I’ve still got a few things to finish off and hopefully it will go my way.� For more on Koepka’s big win, click here. 2. Beware the sick golfer. Yeah, you’ve probably heard that one, but it bears repeating after the WGC-FedEx St. Jude. Koepka picked up a bug somewhere between Portrush and TPC Southwind, but it sure didn’t negatively affect his play. In fact, after his bogey-free 65 sent him straight to the top with room to spare, you could argue the sniffles somehow helped him. “Just get on with it,� Koepka said of his credo for the week. “People go to work sick all the time.� As it has throughout this season, his game looked terrifically healthy. In the next month, he’ll see if he can improve on his FedExCup finishes in 2018 (ninth) and ’17 (10th). It looks, ahem, rather likely. 3. Simpson had a funny highlight. What was the highlight for the runner-up, Webb Simpson (64, 13 under, three back)? His eagle at the par-5 third hole? His four back-nine birdies? The fact that this was his best result since his runaway victory at THE PLAYERS Championship last year? Nah. The highlight, Simpson said, was not making a complete mess of the first round, which began on the back nine and resulted in a very scratchy, 1-under 69. “I played so poorly the first round,� he said. “… Any normal first round for me, that would have been three or four shots higher, but I hung in there. I hit it terribly, but made some big par putts and birdied the last hole, No. 9, out of the rough. So, that for me was the key to the tournament, because if you go out and shoot three or four over, you kind of knock yourself out of it.� 4. Barracuda champ off to flying start. When Matthew Wolff won the 3M Open earlier this summer, he had broken through in just three starts after leaving college. Collin Morikawa, who finished T2 at the 3M, did it in six starts. Summer on TOUR has been a game of Name That Prodigy. “This proves that I’m ready,� Morikawa said after making birdies on four of the last five holes to overtake 54-hole leader Troy Merritt in the Modified Stableford format. Morikawa, who shot up to 46th in the FedExCup, finished with 47 points, three ahead of Merritt, who himself is up to 68th in the FedExCup. For more on Morikawa, click here.  5. Morikawa showed closing speed. Just as Koepka did not make a bogey in his closing 65 at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude, Morikawa saved his best for last at the Barracuda. He said he got mad-decisive after failing to birdie the reachable, par-5 13th hole, the kick in the backside he needed to birdie four of his last five. “I just wasn’t trusting myself,� said Morikawa, who, unlike Koepka, is only 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs 170 pounds. “I wasn’t taking my usual tempo; just a little out of rhythm.� Burying a seven-foot birdie putt on 14 got him right back in it, and he kept his foot on the gas pedal all the way home. Scored conventionally, he would have shot a final-round 65, like Koepka, and tallied 22-under-par. Morikawa has shot 15 of his last 17 rounds in the 60s. FIVE INSIGHTS 1. After struggling on the greens while finishing tied for fourth at The Open Championship the previous week, Koepka led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting for the week (+9.346) at TPC Southwind. 2. Koepka becomes the first player to win on TOUR after entering the week No. 1 in the FedExCup standings since Bryson DeChambeau at the 2018 Dell Technologies Championship. He also becomes the fifth player to win a WGC event and a major in the same season, joining Tiger Woods (1999-2002, 2005-2008), Geoff Ogilvy (2006), McIlroy (2014), and Dustin Johnson (2016). 3. The solo second finish for Webb Simpson (64, 13 under, three back) marked his best finish since winning THE PLAYERS Championship last year. He was seeking his sixth career TOUR title and notched his fifth top-10 finish this season. 4. Rory McIlroy (71, T4), the overnight leader, was one of only three players in the top 20 to post an over-par score in the final round. He leads the TOUR with 12 top-10 finishes in 16 starts this season. 5. As per my colleague Sean Martin, Morikawa, had he played enough, would lead the TOUR in scoring (67.9), greens (74.1 percent), birdies per round (4.9), and Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green (+1.42). He would be second in SG: Total (+2.29) and just 100th in SG: Putting (+0.19). WYNDHAM REWARDS The Wyndham Rewards Top 10 is in its first season and adds another layer of excitement to the FedExCup Regular Season. The top 10 players at the end of the FedExCup Regular Season will earn bonus payouts from the Wyndham Rewards Top 10. Brooks Koepka locked up the top spot after the WGC-FedEx St. Jude, while Rory McIlroy and Matt Kuchar swapped places and have secured the second and third spots, respectively. But there’s a lot to play for at this week’s Wyndham Championship, which ends the regular season. Paul Casey stands to make the biggest move, from eighth all the way to fourth in the final standings, with a Wyndham win.

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Bryson DeChambeau dominated the second round, sinking nine birdies to finish Friday at 62 and take a two-shot lead at the 3M Open. Phil Mickelson missed the cut after finishing at 2 over.

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As sunset threatened to send us to a real Monday Finish in the California desert, Jon Rahm finally nailed a birdie putt on the fourth playoff hole to claim his second PGA TOUR win at the CareerBuilder Challenge. Welcome to the Monday Finish, where Rahm’s rapid rise in golf continued all the way to second place in the FedExCup and the Official World Golf Rankings with his win in La Quinta.  FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. You have to love Jon Rahm’s aggression. While we often talk about the outward passion of Spanish golfers and argue the merits of playing with your heart on your sleeve, it is Rahm’s aggressive mode of play that impresses me most. On Sunday in the desert as Rahm came down to the final few holes of regulation, one thing had been strikingly obvious. He was always trying to win the golf tournament and he was doing it by taking dead aim. Sure, not a single birdie dropped in the last four holes of regulation – or the first three of the playoff – but he created opportunities by playing fearless. On the back nine Sunday, he hit six of seven fairways and eight of nine greens in regulation – and there was nothing conservative about any of it. He gave himself decent looks at birdie on all four playoff holes. This guy is not interested in being second and certainly not afraid to win. 2. Rahm is seemingly finding the perfect balance for his temperament. Spanish people are usually wonderfully passionate. But the knock on Rahm’s countryman Sergio Garcia throughout his impressive career was his passion and emotion could get the best of him at times. As Rahm hit the elite golf landscape there was a similar feeling… the talent is immense, but would the passion get in the way? Honestly, a player should do what works best for them. But over the last year there has been a noticeable harnessing of Rahm’s fire. It certainly hasn’t gone missing – it is clearly on show – but the maturity to deal with things has grown. Saturday, he battled his way through a frustrating round in windy conditions and didn’t implode. Sunday, the par-5s were becoming a bunch of wasted chances – yet he remained focused on the job at hand and was ultimately rewarded with victory. 3. We are looking at a future No.1. Yes – I know this is not really a hot take given the fact Rahm has risen up the rankings at lightning speed, but at this stage he’s still got work to do to catch Dustin Johnson so it’s no lay down misère. And with the likes of Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day amongst many others expecting big seasons, it will be no cake walk. But still, it seems certainly likely. Three years ago Rahm ranked 1576th in the world. Two years ago he was 586th. A year ago he was 137th. He now sits second. Of course he has the benefit of not defending too many points yet and having a favorable divisor – this will change now. But he still shows enough drive and talent to become just the second player from Spain to the be the best in the world. 4. Andrew Landry is making a name for himself – again. There were plenty of people watching Landry push Rahm to the brink on Sunday thinking – “where do I know this guy from?â€� A Web.com Tour graduate this season – for the second time in his career – Landry is not in the consciousness of all golf fans. The first time around (2015-16) he failed to stay on the PGA TOUR but you might remember him as the upstart of the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont. In the middle of his rookie season on the PGA TOUR – having missed six of 11 cuts and finishing no higher than T41 – Landry took the first-round lead at the U.S. Open and was sitting second through 36 and 54 holes. A final round 78 saw him fade to T15 but it was proof his game is high caliber. Last season he won on the web.com Tour to get himself back on the big stage and while his rookie season opened with five straight missed cuts, this time around he has three top-10s from his first seven starts and sits 11th in the FedExCup. He has evolved and could easily be a first-time winner sometime soon. 5. Hadwin home in the desert. A year from now, when you are looking for who to pick as a possible winner or who to pick on your fantasy team – slate Adam Hadwin. It was refreshing to see the Canadian finish T3 this week after he failed to really kick on from his 2017 win at the Valspar Championship. The International Team member from the Presidents Cup had just two top-10 finishes after his win in March last year but this might be the start of a return to his best golf. Or it might just be he’s very much at home at La Quinta. A year ago he shot 59 on Saturday and finished runner up in the event and two years ago he was T6. He has yet to shoot an over-par score in 16 rounds at the CareerBuilder Challenge. He made a late run this time around but ultimately fell two shots shy of the playoff. An even par front nine Sunday left him pushing and while a 4-under final nine was impressive, it wasn’t enough.  FIVE INSIGHTS 1. With the win, Rahm moved from No. 20 to No. 2 in the FedExCup standings. Last season, in his first full season on TOUR, Rahm finished No. 5 in the FedExCup. Rahm also passed Jordan Spieth and moved to No. 2 in the Official World Golf Ranking. 2. It marks Jon Rahm’s second PGA TOUR title in his 38th career start at the age of 23 years, 2 months, 11 days. Rahm is the second-youngest winner of the CareerBuilder Challenge. Jack Nicklaus was 23 years, 0 months, 13 days when he claimed the title in 1963. Since his first PGA TOUR start as a professional at The National in June, 2016 (T3), Rahm has recorded 15 top-five results in 38 starts worldwide, including four victories (two on European Tour). 3. Rahm’s opening-round 62 at La Quinta matched his career low on TOUR, set in the first round of The National in 2016, and his 36-hole total of 129 surpassed his previous best, which was set at the same tournament. 4. Andrew Landry went 59 consecutive holes this week before making his first bogey at his 60th hole, the par-3 fifth at the Stadium Course. Landry has six rounds on the PGA TOUR without a bogey or worse, three coming this week. 5. Martin Piller (T3) and Sam Saunders (T8) led the field with 28 birdies for the week (Rahm had 26 and an eagle). Saunders shot a final round 8-under 64 with six birdies in his last eight holes. A year after we had a 59, 62 was the low score of the week – shot by Rahm in the opening round at La Quinta Country Club.

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