Monday 8 September 2014 07:27, UK
Billy Horschel won the BMW Championship by two shots to move up into second place in the FedEx Cup standings heading into the closing Tour Championship next week.
Horschel had a great chance to win last week but a bad shot at the last cost him and he finished tied for second at the Deutsche Bank Championship, but he maintained his good form as he finished with a one-under round of 69 to close on 14-under for the week at Cherry Hills.
That solid round, which saw Horschel close with 11 straight pars in his final round, was enough to secure a two-shot win and hold off some storming finishers behind him.
Bubba Watson shot a four-under 66 to finish in second on 12-under, while Morgan Hoffman hit a blazing 63, seven-under, to pinch third place on 11-under, two shots ahead of Jim Furyk, Rickie Fowler, Sergio Garcia and Ryan Palmer.
Hoffman’s round followed up on his 62 on Saturday to make sure he moved up into the top 30 in the FedEx Cup to qualify him for next week in Atlanta – and made some history as the first man to move up inside the cut line in every event in the playoff series having started down in 124th.
With the win, Horschel secured a place in the all-important top five in the FedEx Cup standings going into the Tour Championship at East Lake – with those five the only players who know a win in the event will automatically land them the $10m bonus.
Chris Kirk leads the way in top spot, followed by Horschel, Watson, Rory McIlroy and Hunter Mahan.
"It just means a lot," Horschel told Sky Sports 4. "I haven't had the greatest season and I had my game today.
"I couldn't have had a better warm-up session this morning and I played the first couple of holes good and then I was just grinding it and I made some big putts. I can rely on my putter because I'm a good putter inside 10 feet.
"This feels good. Obviously after last week a lot of people on Twitter and out there wanted to call me a choker. I didn't choke, I just hit a bad swing at the wrong time. I was coming from behind, you don't choke coming from behind.
"To lead this thing, to have the three-shot lead, to hold on, means a lot.
"My form is really good, I'm putting good, I'm doing a lot of good things well. I've got my teacher Todd Anderson coming into town and I'm just going to clean up a couple of things.
"I like the way I'm playing. I'm a momentum player and if I can just keep what I've been doing this week and the last two weeks, who knows what's going to happen?"
McIlroy had a mixed day, as he ended up with a four-under round of 66 to finish tied eighth on eight-under but endured a four putt on the same hole for the second successive day.
The world No 1 took four putts on the 12th green on Saturday, and amazingly did exactly the same again on Sunday as he made a five on the par three.
