FedExCup update: Phil thrilled to be back in the hunt

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Rory McIlroy made two late birdies amid the wild theatrics of Sunday at THE PLAYERS Championship and closed with a 2-under 70. McIlroy, a former FedExCup champion, earned 600 FedExCup points, a $2.25 million check and is the proud owner of the redesigned PLAYERS trophy. McIlroy could not afford to make a mistake over the final hour because of Jim Furyk, 48, nearly pulled off a stunner. Furyk, one of the last players to get in the strongest field in golf, capped off a 67 with a shot so good into the 18th that he started walking when he hit it. It plopped down 3 feet from the hole for a birdie to take the lead. But not for long. McIlroy, one of eight players to have at least a share of the lead in the final round, was coming off a bogey on the 14th to fall behind and was in trouble with a tee shot that found a bunker right of the fairway. He responded with his best shot of the day to 15 feet for birdie. Then, McIlroy hit the longest drive of the round on the par-5 16th, leaving him a 9-iron from a good lie in the rough to set up a two-shot birdie and the lead. Most important, he found dry land on the par-3 17th, the Island Green that never looks smaller than on Sunday at THE PLAYERS. He was solid to the end on a chilly, cloudy day and finished at 16-under 272 to win THE PLAYERS on his 10th try. “This is probably the deepest field of the year, with so much on the line,” McIlroy, 29, said. “I’m thankful it was my turn this week.” Furyk didn’t know he was in THE PLAYERS until one week ago, and he was on the verge of winning until McIlroy came through in the end. Furyk started the back nine with two birdies to get in the mix and finished strong. His only regret was a 3-foot par putt on the 15th. Even so, it showed he has plenty of game left. The runner-up finish moves him high enough in the rankings to qualifying for the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play in two weeks. “A shot here, a shot there, maybe could have been a little different,” Furyk said. “But ultimately, left it all out there. It was also nice to get in contention, to get under the heat, to have to hit shots under a lot of pressure, and then to respond well to that and hit some good golf shots. It’ll be a confidence boost going forward. Some of the most entertaining moments came from everyone else. Eddie Pepperell of England, in his debut on the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course, ran off four birdies in a five-hole stretch to briefly share the lead, none bigger than a putt from just inside 50 feet on the 17th. But it wasn’t the best. One group later, Jhonattan Vegas holed a putt from the bottom left to the top right pin position, just under 70 feet, the longest putt made on the Island Green since the PGA TOUR had lasers to measure them. That gave him a share of the lead, too. “Magic,” Vegas said. “If I tried it a thousand times I wouldn’t even come close to making it, but I’m pretty happy that it happened today.” Both shot 66 and tied for third. Jon Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood lost their way early, and then late. Rahm, who had a one-shot lead, started with three bogeys in four holes and kept his cool until one curious decision. Tied for the lead, he was in a bunker, 220 yards away, partially blocked by trees on the par-5 11th when he decided to go for the green. It never had a chance, finding the water and leading to a bogey. Rahm was still in the game until he failed to birdie the 16th, and then put his tee shot in the water on the 17th. He closed with a 76 and tied for 12th. Fleetwood opened with a three-putt bogey and made all pars until hitting into the water on the 11th for bogey. He made eagle on the 16th to have a fleeting chance until coming up short of the island. He shot 73 and tied for fifth with Brandt Snedeker (69) and Dustin Johnson (69). McIlroy emerged as the winner, his 15th on the PGA TOUR and 23rd in his career worldwide. In six tournaments this year, McIlroy has not finished worse than sixth. He has practiced patience the last three months, and he needed it after hitting into the water at No. 4 and making double bogey. “I almost liked today because it was tough,” McIlroy said. “I knew guys weren’t going to get away from us. I knew there was some chances coming up. I stayed patient. Anytime I looked at a leaderboard, I was pleasantly surprised because I hadn’t fallen two, three, four shots behind.” Nothing was sweeter than the sight of the leaderboard when he finished.

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CROMWELL, Conn – CROMWELL, Conn. – Given the disparity of their resumes and PGA TOUR travels, it was easy to look at the final pairing in the Travelers Championship Sunday – Brendon Todd and Dustin Johnson – and find yourself searching for ways to accentuate the contrast. One thought jumped out at me: Todd once missed the cut in 25 consecutive tournaments – nine to end the PGA TOUR season in 2009, all 13 Korn Ferry Tour starts in 2010, then the first three KFT events in 2011. Johnson, meanwhile, has never gone more than 30 PGA TOUR starts without winning. RELATED: Winner’s Bag: Dustin Johnson | Frustrated McIroy says ‘decision-making was terrible’ | Gordon finishes T3, earns Special Temporary Membership Digest that one more time – the biggest drought in Johnson’s 13-year career is 30 tournaments. And that’s only happened once. In fact, only three times has he had winless stretches of 24 or more tournaments. OK, the human spirit loves the underdog, so it was easy – and almost mandatory – to embrace Todd and how he twice has traveled back from the abyss to find success on the PGA TOUR. From the early turbulence in his career, Todd won on the PGA TOUR in 2014. Then over the next four seasons he missed the cut in 43 of 55 starts. Yet here he was again, bouncing back with remarkable character, the winner of two tournaments in the fall portion of the 2019-20 season, at 18-under and leading Johnson by two strokes as they began the final round at TPC River Highlands. What wasn’t to love about how Todd personifies the human spirit? Nothing, of course, except that sometimes you find yourself guilty of taking things for granted and Johnson’s record is one such example. It is, especially in this age of remarkable balance in professional golf, impressive how consistent he has been since joining the PGA TOUR in 2008. I would argue that inasmuch as there is hoopla over Bryson DeChambeau’s physique and marvel about Phil Mickelson’s longevity and fascination with all things Tiger Woods and infatuation with the Rory McIlroy’s warmth, what gets the short end far too often is Johnson’s uncanny steadiness. Might we say he’s a freak of nature? Austin Johnson, his brother’s caddie, laughed, but shook his head in agreement. “He is that, for sure.” It was twilight at TPC River Highlands, no more than a hundred people on hand in these strange pandemic days to witness what was Johnson’s 21st PGA TOUR victory. Starting two behind, Johnson made four birdies on the front, turned in 32 to overtake Todd, then seemingly headed into runaway victory with another birdie at the 10th. Ah, but this is the Travelers Championship, where wildness always happens – and it did so again. No surprise that Johnson hit some turbulence coming home – he pulled his drive OB and bogeyed the par-5 13th and he hit a 3-hybrid nearly into water at the short, par-4 15th, then had to roll up his pants and go in and hack his second shot back into play. “I hit (that tee shot) very poorly,” bemoaned Johnson, who did salvage par at the 15th with a deft third shot. “I don’t know what was going on with my tee shots.” He clearly didn’t come up with a remedy, because after a brief delay for dangerous weather, Johnson returned with his worst swing of the week – a sliced tee shot into a bunker at the par-3 16th. His third bogey of the day left him at 19-under, just one ahead of Kevin Streelman, who had burned the edge of the hole from 26 feet at the par-4 17th. Come on, if you know Johnson’s saga, a part of you was wondering if this would be yet another of those squanders. The 2010 U.S. Open, the 2011 Open Championship, the 2015 U.S. Open. Heartache, each one. But here is what sits at the heart of Johnson – he took ownership of all those mishaps and he has never failed to shake it off. But forget the slips at 13 and 15 and 16. What Johnson did at the par-4 17th (fairway, green, two putts from 32 feet) and the par-4 18th (on a day when he hit just 7 of 14 fairways he thumped it 351 yards dead center, wedged it to 18 feet, and two-putted for 67 – 261) speaks to the talent that has stood front and center on the PGA TOUR stage for 13 seasons now. It was career win No. 21 for a guy who arguably is the purest athlete on the PGA TOUR, a guy whose swagger along should be considered one of his 14 clubs. Oh, there were contributing factors on this day (Todd struggled mightily, failed to make a birdie, shot 75, and plummeted into a share of 11th; Streelman couldn’t birdie any of the final five holes; and Mackenzie Hughes produced too little, too late to fall two shy) but don’t dismiss the specialness to Johnson’s win. To start, there is something that shouldn’t get caught up in a logistical tug-of-war. This is Johnson’s 13th season on the PGA TOUR and he’s won at least once in each of them. Only Arnold Palmer (17), Jack Nicklaus (17) and Tiger Woods (14) have started their careers with wins in more consecutive seasons. No, he hasn’t won every “calendar year,” because he didn’t prevail in 2014. What he did do was win the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in the fall of 2013, which was part of the 2013-14 season. But while you’re splitting hairs and tackling either side of that debate, my intrigue shifts over to wonderment. Has this man ever – and I mean ever – played an entire season of shoddy golf? “No,” he said. “I don’t think so – and I hope I don’t start anytime soon. I mean, I put in the work, so I feel that my game should be spot-on all the time.” He indicated that was great to win, because it’s been a while, but guess what? It’s only been 20 tournaments since his last win, the WGC-Mexico Championship in 2019. When he won the U.S. Open at Oakmont in 2016 it ended his worst dry spell, a whopping 30 tournaments. He then went five tournaments before he won again, then he went six before winning not one, not two, but three in a row. His dry spells since then? Nine tournaments, four, eight, two, 11 and the record one of 20. Honestly, enough about guys bulking up, crushing it long, playing into their 50s, and all the other storylines. How about deep appreciation for a guy who consistently provides a high caliber of play? We are told it’s tough to win on the PGA TOUR but the flip side is, it would seem to be impossible not to throw in a clunker of a season here or there. Johnson might be the exception. Offer that great respect.

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