Donald misses out on FedEx Cup glory

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Luke Donald narrowly missed out on the FedEx Cup crown with a tied-third finish at the Tour Championship in Atlanta.

The Englishman shot a final round 69 to finish on 7-under-par, one shot behind Amercian Bill Haas, who defeated compatriot Hunter Mahan in a playoff to win both the tournament and the FedEx Cup.

Donald, who finished runner-up in Atlanta last year, would have won the $10m bonus had he won the Tour Championship. As it turns out, solo-third place finish would also have been good enough, but it was Haas who pocketed the $11.44m (£7.38m) total prize.

“Every shot counts, especially in this last tournament,” said Donald, who ended up third in the standings. “At least I gave myself a chance with that birdie at the last.”

On a day where at least half a dozen players were projected to be the FedEx Cup champion, Haas looked odds-on to secure the title in regulation play. But bogies at 16 and 18 brought the 29-year-old back to 8-under-par.

In an extra-ordinary twist, had Mahan bogeyed his final hole to drop to 7-under, Haas would have won the Tour Championship but Donald would have won the FedEx Cup and the $10m bonus.  

But after Mahan parred the last to tie Haas for a sudden-death playoff, both players made brilliant up-and-downs on the first playoff hole.

Then on second playoff hole, the 17th, Haas’ approach trickled into the water hazard left of the green while Mahan found the putting surface. Undeterred, Haas played a brilliant splash shot, his ball semi-submerged in the water, to two feet for a certain par.

A two-putt from Mahan took them back down the 18th. Haas found the back fringe off the tee while Mahan found the right-hand bunker and could only blast out to 15-feet. Haas calmly putted down to two feet and after Mahan missed for par, was left with a simple tap-in to secure the biggest payday in golf.

On his escape at the 17th, Haas said: “The second shot, I actually thought I hit a pretty decent shot, I just overhit it a little and maybe pushed it a bit.

“I got an unbelievably fortunate lie, it was basically a bunker shot and it was all or nothing. There was a bit of luck involved – I got some spin on it, I didn’t know that – I was very lucky. I hung in there, I was very fortunate and it’s pretty unbelievable.”

Webb Simpson came into the tournament leading the standings, but the American slumped to a final round 73 to finish 22nd, just 15 points behind Haas.

Donald can take consolation that he finished top of the PGA Tour money list thanks to his 13th top ten of the season, earning over $5.8m (£3.7m) in 18 starts. He heads to the Dunhill Links on the European Tour this week to extend his lead in the Race to Dubai, the European Tour money list.

Tour Championship final-round leaderboard
-8: B Haas (US), H Mahan (US) *Haas wins after three extra holes -7: L Donald (Eng), KJ Choi (Kor), A Baddeley (Aus) -6: C Howell III (US), J Day (Aus), A Scott (Aus) -5: B Van Pelt (US) -4: P Mickelson (US)

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