Scotland’s Laird wins playoff for PGA Shriners crown

ATLANTA – Rory McIlroy is seeking history at this week’s TOUR Championship as he tries to become the first three-time winner of the FedExCup. McIlroy arrived at East Lake ranked seventh in the FedExCup after wins at THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT and RBC Canadian Open. He had top-10s in all four majors and finished outside the top 25 just three times in his 15 starts, a level of consistency that was reminiscent of his second FedExCup-winning season, in 2019. “I’m back to playing the golf that I’m used to playing and the golf that I know that I can play,” McIlroy said two weeks earlier at the first event of the FedExCup Playoffs, the FedEx St. Jude Championship. “This year feels very similar to the way I played in 2019. It’s a carbon copy in terms of the consistency and the numbers and the strokes gained numbers, but my finishes in the majors have been better and that’s been a real positive looking ahead into next year and the future.” McIlroy started this week six shots back of FedExCup leader Scottie Scheffler, a large deficit but not an insurmountable one. McIlroy should know. He was five back to start the 2019 TOUR Championship, the first one using the Starting Strokes format. His 72-hole score of 267 was the lowest of the week by three shots and gave him a four-shot win over Xander Schauffele. The gap between McIlroy and Scheffler quickly grew Thursday, however, after McIlroy hit his opening tee shot out of bounds. He made a triple-bogey on the first hole and a bogey on the next. He didn’t make his first par until the seventh hole, sandwiching a bogey on the fourth hole between birdies on Nos. 3 and 5. Then he eagled the par-5 sixth by holing a 35-yard pitch shot from the rough. Another birdie on the eighth hole got him to even par for the day but he bogeyed No. 9 to make the turn in 1-over 36. McIlroy and Tiger Woods, who earlier this week announced a partnership to start an indoor, data-driven golf league, are the only players to win the FedExCup twice.

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WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — Joaquin Niemann became the first player from Chile to win on the PGA TOUR, shooting a 6-under 64 on Sunday for a six-stroke victory in A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier. The 20-year-old Niemann entered the final round of the season opener with a two-stroke lead and Niemann held off challenges from Tom Hoge and Richy Werenski. Niemann birdied the final three holes to finish at 21-under 259 at Old White TPC. It marks the first year since 1931 that there has been more than one TOUR winner under 21. Matthew Wolff won the 3M Open in June at 20 years, 2 months. Niemann is the first third-round leader to win at The Greenbrier since its debut in 2010. Hoge shot 65 and finished second at 15 under. Werenski faded to a 69 and finished in a four-way tie for third at 14 under.

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JACKSON, Miss. — Cameron Champ birdied five of the last six holes to win the Sanderson Farms Championship, recovering for his first PGA TOUR victory after giving up a four-shot lead Sunday. The 23-year-old Champ won in his ninth career tour start, closing with a 4-under 68 for a four-stroke victory. He finished at 21-under 267 in the wire-to-wire victory at the Country Club of Jackson. Champ began the day four shots ahead, but played the front nine in 1 over to fall into a tie. Corey Conners pulled even on No. 9 with a 13-foot birdie putt, but Champ pulled away on the back nine with four straight birdies on Nos. 13-16. Conners had a 68 to finish second. Carlos Ortiz (64) and Sam Burns (68) were six shots back.

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