In the final round of the 2017 Dell Technologies Championship, Justin Thomas works his magic on Labor Day for a final-round 66 and a three-shot win over Jordan Spieth (67), who nonetheless moves into the pole position in the FedExCup standings with his second straight runner-up finish. Welcome to the special Tuesday edition of the Monday Finish, where Thomas won for the fifth time this season to stake his claim for Player of the Year. Meanwhile, players fought to the finish to make the top 10 in the U.S and International Presidents Cup team standings, and the top 70 in the FedExCup standings to qualify for next week’s BMW Championship at Conway Farms. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. Thomas, Spieth speak the truth. As great as FedExCup No. 1 Spieth has been since 2015, he’s been just as good behind the microphone. Well, don’t look now, but No. 2 Thomas—just 27 points behind Spieth—has been just as unrehearsed and insightful while commenting on his all-world season. Asked if it irked him to see Spieth’s career get off to a better start, Thomas didn’t mince words. “Any time any of my friends win and I don’t, I’m extremely happy for them, I’m pumped for them, I’m excited, but I’m jealous,â€� Thomas said. “I wish I had three majors right now. I mean, I’m obviously pleased with one but I wish I had three. I wish that I holed out a bunker shot at Travelers to win, whatever. And the same works for, I’m sure, them with me. “It’s a weird thing, but we’re all excited and happy for each other. … It definitely puts a little bit of fire in. I felt like I was getting behind, but at the same time, I was just starting and I can only do as much as I could do. You can’t say that I saw this coming. It’s not like I was like, Yeah, I know I’m going to win five or six times this year. But I felt like I had the game and capability to; it just was a matter of it happening, and, you know, everything working out.â€� 2. Spieth’s consistency is remarkable. Okay, finishing solo second two weeks in a row is blessing and a curse, but he’s still far more famous for finding ways to win tournaments. And remember, Jack Nicklaus also racked up a few second-place finishes—58, with 73 TOUR wins—while piling up those 18 major victories. Spieth, who now has 13 seconds to go with 11 career wins (three of them majors), said his loss to Dustin Johnson at THE NORTHERN TRUST last week was a different animal, given that he was the 54-hole leader and double-bogeyed the sixth hole to lose command. “I was upset after last week, really having a good opportunity,â€� Spieth said. “I felt like the shot I hit on 6 brought everyone back in when I could have cruised throughout the rest of the round. “It wasn’t the case today. Came out firing like I said we had to doâ€�—Spieth went 5 under for his first four holes—“and as we turned, 8 through 14 is the meat of the golf course, you want to get through even, and I got through over par and didn’t get any coming in when I hit some good putts. I’m pleased with the way I finished off. They just didn’t quite go in.â€� 3. The Player of the Year race isn’t over. With five victories, including a major, Thomas clearly has the inside track to Player of the Year. But it’s not over. One player could still be the hands-down choice: Spieth. With “onlyâ€� three victories, including a major, the 2015 Player of the Year Spieth would probably have to win not just next week’s BMW Championship at Conway Farms outside Chicago, but also the season finale, the TOUR Championship at East Lake. That would make him the FedExCup champion, as well, which would no doubt put him over the top. How likely is that? Spieth tied for 13th (65-66-72-70) last time the BMW was played at Conway Farms, in 2015. Thomas also tied for 13th that week. Only Spieth, though, has won the TOUR Championship at East Lake, and for what it’s worth he also leads the TOUR with a 68.8 scoring average this season. Thomas is fourth at 69.315—and finished T6 at East Lake last year. To be continued. 4. Rookie of the Year also up for grabs. Of the 12 TOUR rookies who finished in the top 125 to get to the FedExCup Playoffs, nine made it into the field at the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston. Of those, six players will move on to next week’s BMW Championship: Wesley Bryan (T69, moved from 27th to 37th in the FedExCup), Xander Schauffele (T53, 33rd to 32nd), Mackenzie Hughes (T13, 34th to 31st), Ollie Schniederjans (MC, 39th to 50th), Grayson Murray (T25, 69th to 63rd) and Patrick Cantlay (T13, 78th to 41st). Which of them will win Rookie of the Year? It’s anybody’s guess. Four—Bryan, Schauffele, Hughes and Murray—have won this season. But Cantlay might be playing better than any of them. If history is any indication, it’ll come down to the last week of the season. Before last year, all seven rookies who qualified for the season-ending TOUR Championship went on to win Rookie of the Year. Last year, both Si Woo Kim and Emiliano Grillo made it all the way to East Lake, with Grillo earning the ROY nod after each player finished T10. (Grillo, incidentally, had a good Monday, making birdies on two of the last three at TPC Boston to finish 22nd. He went from 77th to 62nd in the FedExCup standings to qualify for the BMW.) 5. The Presidents Cup loomed large. Despite a final-round 73, Adam Hadwin finished T13 to earn the 10th and final automatic berth on the International Presidents Cup team, which will take on the U.S. at Liberty National in Jersey City, N.J., later this month. On the bubble for much of this season, Hadwin became the first Canadian since Mike Weir in 2009 to qualify for the International Team. “It’s been in the forefront of my mind,â€� Hadwin said. “I’m disappointed to not play well today, but, I came out here and did what I needed to do to qualify for the team.â€� Meanwhile, Kevin Chappell barely hung on to claim the 10th spot on the U.S. side. “It’s been a range of emotions the last few days,â€� Chappell said, “but now with me having made the team, it’s a great feeling and my emotions move towards getting ready to win the Presidents Cup for the U.S. Team. The whole year has been gratifying, to have a daughter, win my first golf tournament (Valero Texas Open) and now be able to represent my country, it’s really cool.â€� FIVE INSIGHTS 1. Thomas owned the par-4s, making birdie or better a field-leading 14 times in 44 chances. Some of those birdies were among his 12 3s, the most ever recorded in a single round in the FedExCup Playoffs, as he carded a 63 in the third round—and didn’t birdie any of the course’s three par-5s. 2. You knew about the short game prowess of Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth, but Thomas got up and down 20 times in 21 chances (95.24%), tops in the field at TPC Boston. No up and down loomed larger than his flop shot to 6 ½ feet and holed putt at the par-3 16th hole on Monday. “Huge,â€� Thomas said of the par save. His two bogeys for the week set a new record for the fewest bogeys by the winner of a FedExCup Playoffs event. The previous mark, three, was shared by Phil Mickelson (2007 Dell Technologies Championship), Tiger Woods (2007 BMW Championship) and Henrik Stenson (2013 Dell Technologies Championship). 3. With Bubba Watson (T69) dropping from 72nd to 75th in the FedExCup standings and bowing out of the Playoffs, just two players have advanced to the BMW Championship every year since the inception of the FedExCup Playoffs in 2007: Phil Mickelson (T6 in Boston to move to 36th in the FedExCup) and Charley Hoffman (T47 to move to 12th in the FedExCup). 4. Four players toured the front nine in 6-under 30: Harold Varner III (67, T47), Marc Leishman (70, third), Jason Day (66, T25) and Spieth. All failed to break par on the back, with Leishman soaring to a 40. Was the front so much easier? Yes and no. It played to a 34.582 average, while the back played to a 35.443 average, on Monday. That sounds like a small difference, but the front at TPC Boston is a par 36, the back a par 35, so while players averaged nearly a shot and a half under par going out, they averaged nearly a half a shot over par on the inward nine. 5. If it seemed cruel that Zac Blair finished 126th and missed out on the FedExCup Playoffs by 1.13 FedExCup points, consider this: At the end of a two-year qualifying process to make the U.S. Presidents Cup team, the 10th and final automatic qualifier Kevin Chappell had 4,368.804 points, while No. 11 Charley Hoffman had 4,368.631—a .173-point difference. TOP 3 VIDEOS 1. One of the most agile cameramen in the world. 2. The eagle that sparked Thomas’ final round and led him to victory. 3. This conversation between Phil and a young fan is priceless.
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